Approximate the Sensation of Knowing Me Thru Last.fm
"I never thought he'd be able to recreate the experience of actually knowing him, but this is pretty close." - Jerry Seinfeld, regarding Kramer's "Peterman Reality Tours"
For the longest time, one of my bigger regrets has been that it is, like Jerry remarks above, difficult for me to emulate the experience of actually knowing me for those that I've never crossed paths with. But now, thanks to the fantastic techology over at last.fm it is now possible to approximate the equivalent of having my music collection on shuffle in your home or office whenever you want!
Last.fm is a website that tracks what you are listening to on your computer. Listening to an expansive collection of music on shuffle has long been a favored activity of mine. 90% of any given day in college was spent this way, and probably about 33% now. You can pick any particular song that they have already, and once you get started you can skip the ones you dislike. So far the experience has been quite akin to my collection on random, although it hasn't played any of my artists that I've listened to the most: the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan or Tom Waits. I'm still curious about how they determine what plays on your particualr radio station, but everything I've heard so far actually is stuff that I've played on my computer. Artist, song and album names and album art are all included in the standalone player, which requires a small download. Registration with last.fm is also required to listen, although you don't have to participate in their music tracking program. Thousands of other radio stations besides mine are available, based on other peoples playlists, or customized by you entering an artist or song that you like.
Sign up for last.fm here
Download the music player here
And finally, my personal user page and radio stream
