Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Search for user generated playlists in Last.fm using Google

SNR of playlists is higher than tag based last.fm radios. So I decided to hunt for playlists containing artists I want to listen.

Searching for such playlists is pretty simple, just search for:

site:last.fm "play this playlist" "aphex twin"

on Google.

For example, http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=opera&rls=en&hs=pDc&q=site%3Alast.fm+%22play+this+playlist%22+%22aphex+twin%22&btnG=Search

Replace "aphex twin" with your choice of artist.

See also: http://www.last.fm/api/playlists

Using URIs on that page, one can listen to the playlists in the last.fm software. For example, if the ID of the playlist is 2564278, go to lastfm://playlist/2564278 . (The ID is retrieved from the location bar, which will have the following form: http://www.last.fm/listen/playlist/2564278/shuffle ) This is currently broken since it only allows 30-second previews on the client software, unlike the Flash player on the web site which allows full length song listening. As a remedy, try lastfm://user/ustunozgur/playlist. Replace ustunozgur with the name of the user.

Friday, December 19, 2008