Amarok article: last.fm - when do I need a profile, how is last.fm used for dynamic playlists?

[Greg Meyer]

On Thursday 13 September 2007, Martin Steigerwald wrote:
> Hello!
>
> After some hours of using last.fm I am not completely clear when I would
> need a last.fm profile. The informations in Amarok GUIs are a bit
> contradicting.
>
> In the settings it first tells me that I need to have a profile in order
> to use last.fm in Amarok.
>
> But then below in the section with last.fm services it is written that I
> do not need a last.fm profile for the display of similar tracks in the
> context browser. And then there are two services I can enable (roughly
> translated from german version):
>
> 1) Send played tracks and update the profile this way
>
> 2) Get similar artists
>
Yes, there are two services.  One you need a profile for submitting played 
tracks to keep track of your listening, and you don't need a profile to 
retrieve suggested songs.

> Both are grayed out immediately when I delete my last.fm username from the
> settings. Now I did not yet quite crasp the difference between the
> display of similar tracks in the context browser and the service 2 "Get
> similar artists". I thought both mean the same. Graying out service 2
> seems inconsistent to me, since also the german documentation tells me
> that I do not need a last.fm profile in order to use that service.
>
You have found a bug.  I fyou clear your username and then close and re-enter 
the configuration dialog, you will see the checkboxes are no longer greyed 
out.

> When I disable both services in the settings I do neither see "Similar
> artists" and "Recommended tracks" in the context browser anymore.
>
Because you turned off retrieve similar artists.

> I would like to receive some clarification on this, as here apparently
> Amarok doesn't behave as documented. I can create a bug report once it is
> clear whether we really have a bug here or I misunderstood something.
>
Well, I think a bug is causing some confusion, but you initially had it right 
I think.

>
> My second question is about dynamic playlists and last.fm. I think I read
> that Amarok uses last.fm for getting similar artists in order to
> recommend suitable tracks when using a playlist. What does it transfer to
> last.fm, how does last.fm use it and do I need a profile to use this
> feature? 
It sends the artist and your ip address and it gets back the related artists.  
Amarok then uses that information to query your database to see if you have 
any of those similar artists.  I don't believe last.fm logs or stores any of 
that information.

> Dynamic playlists already worked very well before I created a 
> last.fm profile today, so either it doesn't need last.fm or it uses it
> without needing a profile. How is that stuff working? I still think its
> using last.fm, but does not need a profile.
>
You don't need to retireve similar artists to use dynamic playlists.  Dynamic 
playlists can be "fed" by many differnet things.  Examples:

- A large static playlist that you want to play randomly.
- A smart playlist that slects only the songs you haven't heard in six months, 
  or only the songs with scores greater than 90, or of genre = "rock", or 
  labels that match, etc.
- You can use the default dynamic playlist called suggested songs that is fed
  from the last.fm web service

I guess dynamic playlists aren't really playlists, but a mode.  You have to 
feed the mode with tracks from some source.

HTH
-- 
Greg