Why I WILL Be Paying $3 per Month for Last.FM Premium
When I first heard the news that online radio station Last.FM would begin to charge its members (from February 15th) to use its services on mobile devices, I was pretty annoyed. I felt like users were being charged for exactly the same service they were already receiving and this was enough for me to declare within another blog entry that I would not be paying for the service.
Well, I have changed my mind.
It was not until recently that I decided the check the inbox of my now almost completely defunct Hotmail email account. This email address happens to be linked to my Last.FM account so in my inbox waiting for me was an email informing me of the new charges. Turns out that as a long time user of the site, I have been offered a three month trial of the premium services – which explains why the services didn’t stop working on my HTC Desire earlier this week! This free trail achieved what it set out to do (convince me that I am a valued, long time user of their services) and I am now more inclined to pay.
And it turns out that Last.FM ARE offering their subscribers a number of extra features (my previous rant therefore; rendering me the fool). Here’s a list of what is on offer to those that are willing to part with the $3 a month:
- Uninterrupted radio listening – hopefully this means no more of the “Are you still there?” bear…
- Access to the Last.FM radio on your mobile phone.
- The ability to play the Last.FM radio on other supported hardware platforms.
- Ad-free browsing and streaming (no more of that extremely annoying Sony bass advert!)
- A record of the Last.FM users who have recently visited your profile.
- A “prestigious” black icon, apparently.
- Access to the Last.FM VIP zone with more statistics regarding your listening habits and cool infographics thanks to Last.fm Labs. The “Balloon Race” is just one example of these infographics and it uses different sized balloons arranged at different heights to represent increased/decreased scrobbles for your top artists – heavenly for complete music nerds like myself!
The other main reason I have decided to part with (the admittedly small amount of) cash each month is because Last.FM mobile is simply a service that I can’t live without. Well, I could but my train commutes to and from work every day would be far more boring as a result!
Kat Cole is a copywriter by day and a gig-goer by night. She loves getting caught in a mosh and although this has seen her break a few minor bones in her time, she has never felt the urge to make any compensation claims! Kat once broke a toe at a Deftones gig but meeting the band afterwards was the best possible injury compensation she thinks she could have ever received!
I was listen from time to time last.fm and i didn’t know they will charge me know if i want to listen. 3$ isn’t much but i will do something else with them.