dahnielson's Last.fm Journal

Biennial Celebration

Tue, 8 Apr 2008 19:58:29 +0000

Wow. I just realized that I've been a last.fm member for two years in addition to scrobbling my 20000th track (A Day in the Life) today.

Last.fm Radio Protocol

Tue, 7 Aug 2007 22:00:36 +0000

This unofficial information is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

(Please also read the informative comments left by others below.)

Protocol Stages

The protocol consists of four stages:

Handshake

The initial negotiation with the Last.fm server to establish authentication and connection details for the session.

Adjustment

Selection of the Last.fm radio station to be played.

Playlist

Retrieval of the playlist containing stream URIs.

Scrobbling

Post track data to Last.fm and optionaly rate it.

The Handshake

The handshake consist of a GET request to http://ws.audioscrobbler.com:80/.

The request string is as follows:

http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/radio/handshake.php?
username=&passwordmd5=
Where:

username
Is the users last.fm username.

password
Is a 32-byte ASCII hexadecimal representation of the MD5 hash of the users last.fm password.

Handshake Response

The body of the server response consists of a series of \n (ASCII 10) terminated lines. A typical server response will be as follows:

session=13fd57300995f91de0ca9e122c4d35af
stream_url=http://87.117.229.85:80/last.mp3?Session=13fd57300995f91de0ca9e122c4d35af
subscriber=1
framehack=0
base_url=ws.audioscrobbler.com
base_path=/radio
info_message=
fingerprint_upload_url=http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/fingerprint/upload.php
The response consist of a series of key/value pairs:

session
Is the session ID token. "FAILED" if the handshake failed.

stream_url
Is a URL to the old-style stream. It's a regular 128 kbit/s 44.1 kHz MPEG-1 Layer 3 stream with the four character string "SYNC" spliced in between tracks to indicate a song change. The stream will probably be deprecated in the near future in favor of streams pointed to by XSPF playlists.

subscriber
Indicates whether the user is a subscriber to last.fm or not. 1 = True, 0 = False.

framehack
Unsure.

base_url
Is the base URL used to assemble URLs for functions like adjust and control.

base_path
Is the base path used to assemble URLs for functions like adjust and control.

info_message
Informative message. Usually empty.

fingerprint_upload_url
Unsure.

msg
Is an error message if the session failed, otherwise not part of the response.

The Adjustment

To listen to last.fm radio the client need to select what station should be played.

The tuning consist of a GET request to http://ws.audioscrobbler.com:80/.

The request string is as follows:

http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/radio/adjust.php?
session=&url=
Where:

session-token
Is the session ID token in the handshake server response.

lastfm-uri
Is a valid last.fm radio URI. For example: lastfm://globaltags/jazz.

Adjust Response

The body of the server response consists of a series of \n (ASCII 10) terminated lines. A typical server response will be as follows:

response=OK
url=lastfm://globaltags/jazz
The response consist of a series of key/value pairs:

response
Is "OK" if the request succeded, otherwise "FAILED".

url
Is the last.fm radio URI.

error
Is the error code if the request failed.

The Playlist

As mentioned in 'The Handshake' section, the old-style stream is assumed to be deprecated and replaced by streams pointed to by a XSPF playlist.

Playlist retrieval consist of a GET request to http://ws.audioscrobbler.com:80/.

The request string is as follows:

http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/radio/xspf.php?
sk=&dicovery=&desktop=
Where:

session-token
Is the session ID token in the handshake server response.

discovery-mode
Sets the discovery mode. 1 = True, 0 = False. For more info see http://www.last.fm/help/faq/?category=Radio#300

version
A value like '1' is required or nonsense will be returned in the response.

Playlist Response

The body of the server response consists of a XML Shareable Playlist Format (XSPF) formated playlist with zero or more tracks. Example:

http://www.audioscrobbler.net/dtd/xspf-lastfm">;
My+Recommendations
Last.fm
20http://www.last.fm/skipsLeft">20;

http://kingpin2.last.fm/user/fbf7ad270d0ebe62d335e6ed96422a5b.mp3;
We Stay Behind
104949870
Oh Perilous World (Deluxe Edition) (Disc 1)
Rasputina
199000
http://cdn.last.fm/depth/catalogue/noimage/cover_med.gif;
96ca0
3356043
1002220
http://www.last.fm/music/Rasputinahttp://www.last.fm/artistpage">http://www.last.fm/music/Rasputina;
http://www.last.fm/music/Rasputina/Oh+Perilous+World+%28Deluxe+Edition%29+%28Disc+1%29http://www.last.fm/albumpage">http://www.last.fm/music/Rasputina/Oh+Perilous+World+%28Deluxe+Edition%29+%28Disc+1%29;
http://www.last.fm/music/Rasputina/_/We+Stay+Behindhttp://www.last.fm/trackpage">http://www.last.fm/music/Rasputina/_/We+Stay+Behind;
http://www.last.fm/buyTrackURL">;
http://www.last.fm/affiliate_sendto.php?link=catch&prod=3356043&pos=65633c2c6d40fbe9c8bf27ce82d2ca5ahttp://www.last.fm/buyAlbumURL">http://www.last.fm/affiliate_sendto.php?link=catch&prod=3356043&pos=65633c2c6d40fbe9c8bf27ce82d2ca5a;
http://www.last.fm/freeTrackURL">;

The basic playlist format is documented in the XSPF specification http://xspf.org/xspf-v1.html, but the response also contain some last.fm specific extensions.

Noteworthy elements:

Unsure.

Is the new-style stream. A regular 128 kbit/s 44.1 kHz MPEG-1 Layer 3 stream.

Is the track ID in the last.fm music catalog.

Is the 5-hexdigit Last.fm recommendation key. Appended to the 'L' source ID when submitting track data via Audioscrobbler Protocol v1.2.

The Scrobbling

Submission of track data is done via the Audioscrobbler Protocol v1.2. Rating such as love or ban is also done via the protocol. However the specification states that:

Note: Currently, a web-service must also be called to set love/ban status. We anticipate that this will be phased out soon, and the submission service will handle the whole process.
Loving and banning songs via a web-service new-style is handled by XML-RPC calls.

A XML-RPC call consist of a POST request to http://ws.audioscrobbler.com/1.0/rw/xmlrpc.php with the Content-Type set to text/xml.

The request body is as follows:

method

user
challenge
auth
artist
title

Where:

method
Is the name of the method to be called: loveTrack, unLoveTrack, banTrack or unBanTrack.

user
Is the users last.fm username.

challenge
Is the current UNIX timestamp.

auth
Is the authentication token, a 32-byte ASCII hexadecimal representation of the MD5 hash of the users last.fm password and the timestamp: md5( md5(password) + timestamp )

artist
Is the artist to get love/ban.

title
Is the track title to get love/ban.

References

Jazz Notes

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 15:10:41 +0000

A long time ago I begun writing down everything I knew about scales, chords and how they relate to jazz. Yesterday I posted it to my blog. However, it's still a work in progress.

-- Holly crosspost Batman! That must mean Dr. Blog has captured Ms. LilyPond.

Irish Drinking Game

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 22:41:47 +0000

Yesterday a friend and I came up with an Irish drinking game. It is really simple:

1) While listening to The Cranberries drink whenever a track that reminds you of Zombie is being played.

2) There are no second rule.

As any true Irish drinking game it is supposed to get you really pissed.

amaroK Shuffle Survey

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 10:29:31 +0000

Since eveeerybooody is doing this, and I'm feeling particular silly today, I will use amaroK as my own magic 8-ball.

How does the world see me?
Song: Jehovah Sunrise
Artist: Soundtrack Of Our Lives
Comments: I'm a devine entity enlightening the world? I can live with that...

Will I have a happy life?
Song: They're Building Walls Around Us
Artist: Moneybrother
Comments: I guess not.

What do my friends really think of me?
Song: Golden Years
Artist: David Bowie
Comments: I'm in my golden years? Ok, then it's probably true: life ends after thirty.

Do people secretly lust after me?
Song: Give To Live
Artist: Sammy Hagar
Comments: Not sure how to interpret this.

How can I make myself happy?
Song: After Dark
Artist: Kylie Minogue
Comments: Only going out after dark? Am I that repulsive? Or will I make myself happy by go clubing. I choose the later then.

What should I do with my life?
Song: Lovesong
Artist: Snake River Conspiracy
Comments: Write lovesongs?

Why should life be full of so much pain?
Song: Jag skrek
Artist: Lisa Ekdahl
Comments: "Jag skrek", in english "I screamed", seem appropiate, but not a terrible helpful answer. Or does it point to a deeper secret of a feedback loop? More questions given than answered. (I should probably stop writing this paragraph soon... real soon... I promise... look I'm stoping... ok, not now. But now... Oh, gosh, you got me there... tra-la-la-la... ok, hereby I terminate this paragraph.)

How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?
Song: I Wanna Be Your Man
Artist: The Beatles
Comments: Obviously I would like to be a man during sex, since I'm a guy, and the "your" indicate I can maximize my pleasure by being someones man, which makes sense because being two or more is usually better than plain 'ol self-molestation.

Will I ever have children?
Song: Kung Fu Fighting
Artist: Tom Jones
Comments: Don't know what to make of this.

What is some good advice for me?
Song: Sister Disco
Artist: The Who
Comments: If I'm going out after dark, this probably tells me to go clubing.

What is happiness?
Song: The Miracle
Artist: Queen
Comments: Happiness is a miracle. I would call this a realistic answer.

What is my favorite fetish?
Song: Brother & Sister
Artist: This Perfect Day
Comments: My fetish are family members? Incestious relationships?

How will I be remembered?
Song: Summertime
Artist: Monica Zetterlund
Comments: As a summertime? Oh boy.

I don't know if it's my future, or just that my music collection is giving me bad answers. In conclusion: Don't take advice from a bunch of mp3's.

Gisela May

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 21:59:29 +0000

I just want to give a shout-out to Gisela May: If you like Barbara, Jacques Brel et al. then you might very well like Gisela May singing the songs of Kurt Weill.

Rikard Wolff

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:16:45 +0000

The way I discovered Barbara must have been through Rikard Wolff. He discovered her while living in France in his youth and started to translate her songs into swedish. Several years later and after a Edith Piaf project he decided to record the translated songs, introducing Barbara to the swedish audience, resulting in the 2000 album Min Allra Största Kärlek ('Ma plus belle histoire d'amour' in french) on EMI.

Welcome!

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 22:01:16 +0000

Welcome to the Barbara (a.k.a. Monique Serf) group devoted to her life, work and fans. In my opinion she's one of the worlds top singer-songwriters. Hopefully more people, who stil thinks french classic "contemporary" music is all about Edith Piaf, will discover Barbara too and be blown away.

What's Me?

Sun, 9 Apr 2006 21:19:01 +0000

If somebody would ask me what artist or album I would recomend to get a snap idea of what I like, then it would be Nikka Costa. I've loved her ever since I got the Like A Feather promo single in my hands back in 2001.

It's so tight. Compressed. Lovely.

Finally Bleeding Like You

Sun, 9 Apr 2006 16:07:44 +0000

Despite being a big Garbage fan I didn't buy the latest album Bleed Like Me immediately when it was released. Mostly due to the fact that I'm currently living in the outback (at least speaking music-wise) so it wasn't exactly on the shelves. And then I simply forgot about it...

But now I'm finally listening to it. And indeed, it's definitely more rockalicious and back to the roots than before. Great bare-bone production void of any obvious late night knob-twitching on behalf of Butch Vig & co.