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Now Listening

December 12th, 2006 |  Published in Uncategorized  |  4 Comments

Last FM and iLike are both social music discovery services, which track the music you listen to on your computer and then share the stats with other users. While Last FM has been around for a while, iLike just launched its beta service at the end of October. Despite the name and the integration with iTunes only (Last FM’s music tracker plugin Audioscrobbler can be used with Windows Media Player as well), iLike is not affiliated with Apple Computer, but Garageband.com, a San Francisco-based music community.

Last FM has been recently improved, but still suffers from some small usability flaws, while iLike promises better design and ease of use. However, the real measure of these services is how well they find new music for you, as pointed in this blog. For an electronic music listener like myself, Last FM’s recommendations and artist info database seem far more interesting than the more-rock-band-and-mainstream-focused iLike.

While it’s fun to use and monitor the use of such services (iLike and Last FM being not the only two, but also Qloud, Pandora, etc), I’m waiting for better integration. Now you still have to go elsewhere to buy the music that these services help you to discover. How about putting it all – shopping, tracking, reviewing, sharing and socialising – in one neat package?

Karri Ojanen

About the author

I’m an interaction designer, information architect, strategist and creative lead, multi-skilled and versed in creative, strategy and technology. I’m also known as an electronic musician who has traveled the world from Tampere to Tokyo. I earned my experience as art director, concept designer and creative director in Scandinavia, praised for its award-hoarding digital agencies, then went on to work in the Middle East, the United States, and Canada. 

Currently, I work as Interaction Design Director at R/GA as well as a freelance interaction designer and information architect. My work has been awarded with national and international awards.

Email Karri | All posts by Karri Ojanen

  • Toby

    interesting post karri.

    we’ve (i’m one of the founders of qloud) thought about the exact same thing: having both discovery and the ability to get and listen to the music–the song you want, full-version, when you want it–all in the same place.

    so, soon after new year’s, you will find that on qloud. we hope you like it! please let us know.

    take care.

  • Toby

    interesting post karri. we’ve (i’m one of the founders of qloud) thought about the exact same thing: having both discovery and the ability to get and listen to the music–the song you want, full-version, when you want it–all in the same place. so, soon after new year’s, you will find that on qloud. we hope you like it! please let us know. take care.

  • Karri

    Hey Toby, thanks for the comment. Sounds good – I’ll be sure to check it out.

  • Karri

    Hey Toby, thanks for the comment. Sounds good – I’ll be sure to check it out.

About Conceptology

Conceptology is the personal blog of Karri Ojanen, an interaction design leader, usability consultant, creative director and digital marketing strategist. The posts cover a wide area from advertising to corporate culture, mobile technology to social media, and product design to design techniques. . Subscribe via RSS »

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