Ideas

Fm is dead... sat radio and MP3 are the future

I think you misunderstand, GodsLight. This is MP3 streamed over a 3G network based on your previous play history. Maybe you should read more than two letters of a post before rubbishing it.

I have never seen Last.FM so that is a company that already is out there? and you are adapting there service for cell phones?

With pitches you have to assume the person knows nothing about the product, like me... you need to say what last.fm is.

I like the idea, but do you think it could be profitable?

Yeah. Sorry Gods_Light. You are right. I guess I have become so wrapped up in Last.fm I assumed that everybody knew about it. I think there are several potential revenue streams:

i) Selling albums on Amazon etc or track downloads through the operator's or other download site through affiliate programs.

ii) Licensing the software direct to 3G service providers who are desperate to find ways of getting people to consume more data. This thing certainly racks up data access. I ran up a bill of around £1500 before my flat rate access kicked in which has thankfully been cancelled.

iii) Sale of the application to end users via download to mobile phone.

Hi Richard, if you take a look at the comments on this idea it looks like someone has already put together a prototype in Python for S60 Symbian phones.

http://www.cambrianh...er/ideas-id/TuItPMd/

Great Idea. I have wondered why this is not already out their.

Love to see it someday.

Good Luck.

Engtech,

Yeah. It was me. I did message you about possibly collaborating on your idea before posting this one.

Bluewookie,

If you take a look at the video you can see it working. I will be happy to provide the prototype to anyone who has a compatible phone. Indeed, it is attached to my comment on Engtech's own idea.

I have uploaded the initial prototype source code to the project svn repository.

Did you contact someone in Last.fm? Maybe they're interest in this project.

JuPolimeno: I announced it on the Last.fm developer forum to a resounding silence.

I'm not sure what to say about the idea????

What would be my cost as a cellphone user?
Streaming and cellphone don't go hand and hand with my wallet.

Could you elaborate?

A flat rate data plan would be a necessity to run this application. Otherwise it could end up costing you a shedload of money.

to much music these days. people just download music and put it up on their phones.

Yeah, but this way you can explore recommended artists all from your phone and potentially play anything. You would need a hell of an SD card to fit all the tracks on it that Last.fm carries.

"I announced it on the Last.fm developer forum to a resounding silence."

This is a scary thought to me. The hardcore Last.fm crowd didn't think it was a good enough idea to comment on.

techguy: Maybe the developer forum was the wrong place to have posted it. Marketing's not really my bag. Enough people on CH seem to like it forme to at least persevere with it.

great idea. that?'s definitely the future - you won?'t need any owned mp3?'s anymore - just streams based on your preferences and bookmarks to your favorite playlists, songs etc...accessible from anywhere

BUT: last.fm has the quasi-monopoly here...and earns the money

How do you earn money?

...I thought about this area in the last couple of months as well and stumbled about a german startup which has developped sth similar, but without feedback channel to last.fm:

http://software-portal.faz.net/ie/49968/Spodradio
http://www.spodradio.com [site seems to be not working currently...]

coiler: Thanks for the heads-up on spodradio. I had not come across this, probably because it is in German. Their site is indeed down at present but download is still available at: http://freedownload....dio_1.0.6_folder.zip

I particularly like the availability of ringtones as a possible revenue stream which I had not thought about. Probably one that wouldn't step on last.fm's toes too much too.

The networks will like this, they are very keen to drive data usage.

The networks will like this, they are very keen to drive data usage.

you should check out newmuz.com, they have already created this type of platform for independant musicians. popular songs get more exposure on the playlist by user ratings, and eventually non-popular songs drop off the playlist...

What the mobile networks want is to sell unlimited data packages. This is one way to sell it.

data is data....music or emails, the carriers are lloking to sell the big packages.

Sounds like a very expensive way to get hold of a very cheap commodity.

Also what happens when lastFm or any of these other sites (such as pandora) release their own mobile service? As a middle man youll just get cut out unless you can bring some value

astrokidd: You are probably right about this being expensive to most people at the moment. As fish99 says though, this is the sort of application that the carriers are looking forto drive take-up of flat-rate data packages. The preferred route to market with this would be in conjunction with last.fm although failing that I am sure we can implement features that would distinguish our product.

On one hand i read comments that the telco networks are very keen to drive cell data traffic. I believe it, but I also believe they are dumber than a sackful of hammers. If they want traffic, lower the cost of data packets.

If they aren't lowering the cost because their network is saturated, then I'd guess they're satisfied with the status quo.

MP3s are too big for me to justify spending data packet money on them in the current market.

If you somehow could capture FM signals on a phone (which is FM enabled) because people are tagging the live FM signals with data, then it becomes affordable for end users. But I suspect handset manufactures will never enable this in their firmware due to RIAA lawsuit concerns.

Hi anathema,

i saw this: http://www.pandora.com/on-the-go

and your idea came to my mind...

Thanks JuPolimeno. I had not seen that before which makes me think it is a recent development. Maybe this will be in our favour with last.fm not wanting to get left behind by Pandora particularly after their recent buyout.

You've got me all excited about something I've been waiting for. Pandora is making me angry because they frequently seem to tie their services to specific hardware. I'm not a fan of LastFM in the least, but I could be with the right mobile incentive!!! Five Starz!!!

I don't listen to the radio often so I can't comment really :(

Sounds like a very good idea; you really should also contact Last.FM about this, maybe they are intrested!

To Selise; Last.FM isn't on the radio, it is a webpage, you should visit it to see how it works....

I just wish LastFM worked as well as Pandora.

christopherritter: I can't promise not to be tied to specific hardware although I would like not to be. The application currently runs only on Symbian S60 2nd and third editions (for which read high end Nokia and could be ported to SonyEricsson phones with a similar OS. Unfortunately multimedia capabilities in Java vary between the very poor and the non-existant and a Java version has so far proved elusive. Unlike pandora though the application will run on any capable network including wifi where available.

JelmerBV: Unfortunately Last.fm are proving slow to realise the benefits of a mobile client and the founders persist in sayinig that the technology is not available despite their Head of Business Development having seen it with her own eyes (and ears). Perhaps a good ideawarz run would convince them of the demand for such an application.

To christopherritter: it's a shame that Pandora isn't avaible outside the US...

anathema- i'm surprised how many naysayers you have on this idea. This seems like something that would be very useful. I've used both Pandora and Last.FM as well as Rhapsody. I've stopped using Panora altogether in favor of the Last.FM desktop client. The thing I'm uncertain of on your idea is the listening experience on most cell phones though - i know the iPhone has a headphone jack but do most cell phones? The usage scenario that's interesting to me is not walking around listening to music on my phone but rather substituting it for the iPod in my vehicle. Currently i load my iPod w/ music and play it via the stereo in my truck instead of listening to the radio (and i gave up my Sirius satellite radio because it's still corporate airwaves bs with restricted selection). If i could get access to my rhapsody or Last.FM via my car, you have my interest.

For people concerned how this will make money- how does Twitter make money?? Answer: they're driving massive SMS traffic for cell carriers- there is a deal to be done there if it hasn't been done already. This is the same model. good stuff anathema.

sean

sean: Thanks for your comment. I have the system working in my car the way you describe. In my case it entailed fitting an adapter to convert the nokia data connector into a jack plug socket. I also needed oneof those fm transmitter things as my carradio does not have an input jack but it works fine.

In response to being tied down: I really hate these "hardware dependencies" that restrict certain software to a specific device. It doesn't make sense: "I'm sorry, you have a Type 668-I Digital Video Recorder. You'll need to rent a separate copy of the movie in order to view it on your model."

Being that I've never had much luck getting Last.FM to work, I don't know exactly HOW works (aside from having something to do with streaming downloads). I do know that Pandora uses Flash technology to stream music to the browser. Why can't this be done on the mobile browser? I do love my Opera Mini!!!

I love my Opera Mini too. Unfortunately the problem at the moment is with flash lite which is still some way behind the desktop version and does not support streaming mp3s. If you point Opera Mini at any mp3 stream it will simply download it rather than stream it. Hardware depedencies are a fact of life I'm afraid. The j2me platform goes some way to addressing this but multimedia implementations are,to say the least, patchy.

In short I can guarantee that your phone will be able to control the stream with a j2me front end but unless it has the capability to stream mp3s with some other piece of software it's no go I'm afraid. Not my faultl just the way it is.

well crafted!
goodluck....

5 stars....excellent work! This will happen...it is just a matter of time!

Thanks, anathema. I do realize that many of the issues I mentioned are simply the fault of the hardware manufacturer. They keep getting more and more greedy to the point where nothing works unless they're making money off the licensing agreements.

Would it be good to submit an idea where we all gather and burn these hardware manufacturers to the ground? I couldn't imagine what would have happened if one of them copyrighted bread. We'd all be buying new toasters every six months!!!

christopherritter: You're not wrong. Nokia has recently changed the size of the pin on it's power supply so now its own products aren't even compatible with each other at this fundamental level. I guess we should all buy a linux phone like OpenMoko. (http://openmoko.org/). Where would mob4hire be then though?!

it's cool....i like last f.m. but i'm not sure if i will listen it as ofter as i use laptop when i moving...

Urbanbumpkin: While driving or walking?

sounds expensive for the end user.

DividedEye: Possibly. Depends on your data plan. Unlimited data plans are becoming common in Europe and the rest of the world wil likely follow eventually.

I like it, as an audiophile, I would like it if there was a bridge between my mobile, my desktop and maybe my ipod?

i may just be airing my ignorance here, but wouldn't most phones with a "premium data plan" have internet access too? and in that case couldn't they just connect to last.fm like you would on a PC?

I am probably the last hold out in Canada not to have a cell phone so pardon my question: How much would it cost to have an "open line" on your cell while listening to music? I have heard horror stories about cell phone bills.