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Xbox 360 Dashboard Last FM Preview - Vid, Screens & Info

Xbox 360 Dashboard Last FM Preview - Vid, Screens & Info
Written Monday, October 19, 2009 by Dan Webb

Like all good pleasure delayers, we’ve left the best till last. As part of the pretty extensive fall update this year, Xbox 360 owners will get chance to use the Last FM service on their Xbox 360 dashboard. Not sure what Last FM is? Simple, it’s a music service that includes access to your music library and a series of radio stations. Unfortunately, like all the other applications, Last FM is confined to the dashboard and cannot be accessed separately in-game... however, if games like the upcoming APB will have Last FM integration, then things may change in the future.

So is it free? Yes. After setting up a profile - either online or on the Xbox 360 - and importing your music into your Last FM profile you will have access to that music on your Xbox – provided you are logged on to Live.
 
As far as the radio pricing goes, it’s about as clear as mud at the moment but we assume that things will be made more specific and public, upon release. If the same rules apply from Last FM's online portal, the radio will be free to the US, UK and Germany, and those outside will have to pay £3/$3/€3 a month after they have used their free 30 tracks. At the moment, that's pure speculation.
 
The service itself is smooth, with plenty of detail on your favourite bands and you can even listen to a themed radio station of bands and music of similar ilk. The service doesn't take too long to buffer and offers you plenty of photo slideshows to accompany your music.

A few questions have already been asked today over Twitter and we'll answer them now:

Does it sync with your Last FM account?
Yes, it "scrobbles," but only inside the application. Use the standard music player on the dashboard and it doesn’t.

Can you individually select songs?
No... Well if you can, I can’t see it, and I’ve literally gone through every option. It's like clicking random on your iTunes library, which I love doing by the way.

Are there loads of adverts?
The only one I saw in a few hours of fiddling was a LastFM one, seen in the video below, that appears after a certain amount of songs.

Is Last FM free?
Yes to gold members. Silver will only have access to 3 hours of music a month.

You know the drill, the gallery with the screens and short walkthrough are below...

The Preview Program update e-mails for wave 1 are going out this week. If you haven’t signed up, check out the details here. The full update is coming soon. No specific date has been named yet, although November 17th is a good shout.

Check out the fall 2009 dashboard update gallery here for all the Last FM (and more) screens.







User Comments
Comment #1 by MartyMcFly
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:03:08 PM

Wait, so you can't even use it while you're playing a game?
That sucks.

Comment #2 by Atroxx70
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:04:54 PM

wish you could listen to it in-game, but otherwise looking forward to this one.

Comment #3 by nukefarmer
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:04:55 PM

So we get 30 free tracks or radio stations ?

Comment #5 by DarkRaven7641
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:07:39 PM

Sounds Kool, cant wait for the update

Comment #6 by Wicelow
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:08:51 PM

No scrobbling on the dashboard player...
From all the new features, it's the only one I was waiting for since I don't give a damn about facebook or twitter...

Well... Another "do not need" dashboard update for me :-(

Comment #7 by Webb
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:17:10 PM

@#3 - Depends on where you are. Firstly, you get access to your library no matter what. That's free, you just need to sync it from your PC to your Last FM account.

For the radios though, the Last FM policy is; free for those in the UK, Germany & US; and a small price (mentioned in the article) to those outside those regions. MS or Last FM have not stated whether that applies to the 360 application yet, so that's speculation.

Comment #8 by Steve-o85
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:18:23 PM

did the preview program already come out?

Comment #9 by Nathan0418
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 09:21:38 PM

@4 fail. Knowing that Last FM is dashboard only, I will probably take a look at it and then be done with it since I go on my 360 to play games. The only time I ever want to listen to music on my 360 is when I'm gunning down the bad guys lol.

Comment #10 by she haunts me
Monday, October 19, 2009 @ 11:13:14 PM

This is the only feature or "app" that I'm looking forward to.

Comment #11 by Lonewulf
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 12:10:17 AM

After reading and viewing about this new update I just have to ask what is the point? It seems to me to be a rather worthless update.

Comment #12 by Rooster425
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 01:24:26 AM

If it somehow worked in-game, it would be great. As it stands, I already have a computer in my room that plays Last.FM nicely. I assume people with XBL have a computer, so this sort of begs the point of an add-on where you sit there, listening to something could use less electricity doing on your computer, which is already on.

Comment #13 by samjustsam
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 03:29:22 AM

so is the last.fm account free? i will have to check that out. it seems cool to me. especially if you can get free songs out of the deal. but yep...i would atleast like to be able to listen to it while i play uno or something.

Comment #14 by DogsofWar999
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 04:18:37 AM

Might use when i'm talking to my girlfriend and mates in a party, while using the laptop.

Comment #15 by dirge
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 04:33:15 AM

Looking forward to this, I LOVE Last.fm!

Comment #16 by SproOve
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 05:14:20 AM

at least one update, thats fine, though they should make it available in-game

Comment #17 by chadarsenal
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 05:26:03 AM

can u import songs from your i pod straight to last fm just using usb

Comment #18 by plebster
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 05:34:51 AM

Dont think i will ever use this. I usually have my computer running Spotify while I play.
Unlimited free music and radio stations, custom playlists and the ability to select what song I want to play. Last FM has nothing on Spotify.

Comment #19 by Cringer85
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 05:57:43 AM

I usually have my computer running too, playing music, while I play on the xbox. That's why last-fm only would be interesting for me, if it worked in-game - it's a gaming console, after all. So as long, as it doesn't work in-game, it's a big fail for me :(

Comment #20 by Gackt
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 06:25:23 AM

Was hoping it would work in game...guess I wont be using it so much :(

Comment #21 by DanielDRAG
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 06:46:59 AM

rat

Comment #22 by Barry619
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 07:10:54 AM

Sounds good too me, but i only use Last.fm as a source to track what i listen too and talk to people with similar tastes, i've never used the radio system, not seen the point, but as a social networking site i've found it pretty much the best one for talking to people who actual have similar taste in things too you.

Comment #23 by hippie4life
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 08:43:58 AM

#7

Wow,how come everyone takes a shit on europe? Giving to 2 european countries only is bullshit.

Comment #24 by o24K_SNAKEo
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 08:46:51 AM

lol Michael Jackson

Comment #25 by l.maciver
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 09:06:19 AM

these features are a let down i find, you have to be on the dashboard in order to play this and it shouldve been able to play in-game and its selective, sky's rumor is evil and selective, i know alot people and they dont have zune partly cause its not seen around britian, facebook and twitter i have no problem with cause i dont use either on them.

just use a radio or your pc/laptop...

Comment #26 by WickedD365
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 09:52:03 AM

This is going to be cool, minus the fact you c an't play it in the background of games, and I am hearing they are going to start a subscription service in the next year so this won't be free for long.

I'll stick to streaming Slacker radio on my iPod.

Comment #27 by FriXionX
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 10:17:08 AM

Well... so far Vidzone > Last.fm

I know its not out yet, but Vidzone will still be better.

Comment #28 by dmister
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 10:30:54 AM

So can you just import your Itunes library?

Comment #29 by FromSoftware
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 02:07:51 PM

this is so awesome can't wait for the update hope theres a video of how sky player looks like on the 360

Comment #30 by rexxe11
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 02:09:28 PM

i want sky player not this piece of turd

Comment #31 by austen2k7
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 02:56:03 PM

thisll be nice and i like the idea of lisnin to muse whilst on msn on dashboard and at the same time in party chat sounds rather goodys

Comment #32 by Cobruh
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 03:50:45 PM

Shame you can't use it in-game. My computer is in the other room, anyway it's still better listening to music on the console because it automatically mutes all other gaming background music, I've heard nobody ever mention that.

Comment #33 by Poppygalaxy
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 04:52:29 PM

this is the best of all the update coming. looking forward too it :)

Comment #34 by I Lynch012 I
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 07:45:52 PM

http://www.last.fm/user/lynch0012

if you want to see some real music 8-)

Comment #35 by Munkapotatoes
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 09:26:21 PM

i like last FM when i'm just dicking around and need a random sound track, hell i used the browser on my Wii to access lastFM in my living room (which i haven't turned on in over 9 months due to lack of quality games)... i've also got a FAT external HDD that i USB up to my 360 so i can get my own sound tracks going while in-game. If they can add in-game functionality for lastFM down the road, that would be frigging sweet.

Comment #36 by Whatley2
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 09:38:42 PM

@23

Are you kidding me? Europe is getting the most free content out of all the other continents. More like Africa, Australia, Asia, South America and Antarctica are getting shit on.

Comment #37 by Juzt Skillz
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 09:54:45 PM

Pft. Yet again only certain places have it for free. Thats a shame, why do I pay $60 a year if the content is not going to be everywhere. But, w.e WMC :D

Comment #38 by hippie4life
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 01:23:17 AM

@36

Since when did europe get free content?

Its like when they released 2 awesomes songs on Lips (Baby got back and Ice Ice Baby) and when i scrolled down it said 'Not available in Norway,Finland and Sweden(Where i live)'

Like WTF,why the hell not?!

Comment #39 by Celestial Being
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 02:22:53 AM

hmmm. never really used Last.fm whenever i wanna listen to music i just hook up my ipod. but im looking fowards to using the facebook part of the update the most.

Comment #40 by Dragon83uk
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 04:04:41 AM

I set up a profile over on Lasts web page the other day ready for this update although I'm a bit gutted that you can't play the radio in game.

Comment #41 by Whatley2
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 03:46:44 PM

@ 38 "the radio will be free to the US, UK and Germany"

Last time I checked 2/3 of those countries are in Europe.

Comment #42 by dredgman
Friday, October 23, 2009 @ 09:26:00 AM

Without the ability to listen to it in-game, it's pointless.

Comment #43 by Youngtone 03
Friday, October 23, 2009 @ 08:44:20 PM

this seems like it will be the best application from the update

Comment #44 by Veilor
Saturday, October 24, 2009 @ 04:03:14 AM

We have to pay for Last.Fm radio...for fuck sake...This update is useless to me now, I thought I could bypass Last.Fm's new payment thing with this because I am a Gold member...but no apparently not.

Comment #45 by haxxxo 24
Sunday, October 25, 2009 @ 08:15:06 AM

is this like vidzone on ps3, because it looks like it coz i have it on my ps3 which is situated at my dads, and my 360 is gonna be situated at my mums when i get it on thw 25th of december!!


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