Volume normalization is happening as we speak, but due to the amount of tracks it's taking a while. Replay Gain is the method being used.
Mobile/lite version - that is, a version of the site optimized for browsing on cellphones - http://m.last.fm/. Currently a beta, visit the m.last.fm group for more info, feedback, etc.
Ideas which won't or can't be added
Pause button. See "Why is my listening restricted?" below.
Single-artist stations. See "Why is my listening restricted?" below.
LyricsRuss said:
@CrybKeeper: Unfortunately we've had to remove our lyrics feature in the USA and Canada. Licensing lyrics on the internet is even more crazy (and expensive) than licensing the actual music.
HTML/CSS editing of your profile page will never happen. Ever. Don't even ask. But BBCode works. ;)
Editing scrobbles (because the title was spelt wrongly, etc.) is not possible, once a scrobble enters your account you cannot alter it (but it can be deleted).
Deleting individual posts (from threads) doesn't work for technical reasons.
Artist Discussion forums. Use Group forums for this. If your artist doesn't have a group, feel free to make one. The problem with having a lot of "official" Last.fm forums is that someone needs to moderate them.
Higher quality radio streams (or lower quality, or anything which means a different format).mustaqila said:
We use custom in-house streaming software that had been made specifically to stream 128k CBR MP3s for a number of performance reasons and also as a somewhat preventative measure to stop stream ripping. Ever notice how you can only ever play the track in real time. Changing the serverside software to play other formats and bitrates would be a massive undertaking. ( http://www.last.fm/forum/21717/_/426681 )
Ideas which may be added in future
Charts reflecting track length.Russ said:
What I'm saying is that it's impractical to do at this time. It'll take a lot of effort for very little gain. But we are considering it, and I'd like to do it at some point, but there are more important things to do. ( http://www.last.fm/forum/21717/_/49226 )
Support [insert language here]! - support for new languages will be added when the staff feel there is enough demand. Read this post for an explanation of why it cannot be done by the Last.fm community - that particular thread refers to a Serbian translation, but the post applies equally to all other languages, too.
Higher quality downloads.mustaqila said:
The idea has been raised before and isn't one which we're just ignoring, so the possibility is there that it may be implemented for tracks where we have the resources to offer this service. I can't say if and when though. ( http://www.last.fm/forum/21717/_/426681 )
Free/non-commerical/independent radio (a free type of radio that only plays music from non-commerical/independent artists)Russ said: I think this is a great idea, but we're not going to implement this (at least to start with) because royalty-free music constitutes such a small percentage of our catalogue. Hopefully we will have this functionality soon though :).
( http://www.last.fm/forum/21717/_/517961 )
Changing usernames
Support [insert media player here]!
The Last.fm submission protocol is open-source, the documentation can be found at http://www.last.fm/api. If you have programming knowledge you may be able to create the plug-in yourself, if you don't it's worth asking in the community (on Last.fm or on your media player's website) if somebody else is willing to do it for you. Note that not all players support third-party plugins, it may be impossible for anybody other than the developers of the media player to add a scrobbling function.
The Ruckus player is one of these programmes which does not support third-party plug-ins, so if you want to scrobble it you'll have to ask their developers
Deezer is also closed-source, and scrobble support would have to be added by the Deezer developers. It has been suggested to them in the past, but it's not known whether they have plans to implement it.
Microsoft Zune and Creative Zen mp3 players are not officially supported by Last.fm, but the Zenses software is able to provide scrobbling support for some models
Why is my listening restricted?
The restrictions on listening are based on complex licensing regulations. The Last.fm staff allow as much freedom of listening as is possible, but the licensing issues place a limit on this.
Multiple artists with the same name
Fingerprinting will hopefully go towards fixing this, but right now it can't be done. The problem is that it has to be possible to determine which band is meant out of all the possibilities when you scrobble a song - or whether it is, in fact, an entirely new band using the same name but which has never before been scrobbled - based on the info submitted to your profile. Which doesn't necessarily have to include any of the track's info other than the artist and track name.
You promised us [insert feature here], when will it be implemented?
The generic answer to this question for EVERY idea is: As soon as it can be got to. The devs are working around the clock to get these issues resolved. (Sleep is for the weak.) What may seem like a simple thing to you may not be so simple on a system as extensive as Last.fm, so it may take time. Some bugs and ideas may also not be as important to the devs as they are to you. Add to that: If the devs give a specific date, and are unable to get it fixed by then, the whiners come out of the woodwork. So please, don't ask.
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That's it. The Previously Suggested Ideas v3.0 thread (or more like, Previously Suggested Ideas Which We Actually Know The Answer For). Written by TheMannen, DFA1979 and a little bit of leftovers from johnli. If you think something is unclear, have spotted a typo, broken link or for whatever reason think it should be edited, PM me.
Previously Suggested Ideas