Saturday 23 February 2008

Adding the Last.FM repository

We're going to add another third-party repository here. Last.fm is an excellent Web 2.0 site - it allows you to create your own custom radio stations based on your own listening preferences, allowing you to only play the music you love, as well as recommending music based on what you are already listening to. It's a great way to discover new music. And best of all, they rely on free software, and are very Linux-friendly, so much so that they now have their own repository for Debian-based Linux distributions such as Ubuntu.


Just like with the Google repository, the first thing to do is import the key file. Open a terminal and enter the following:
wget -q http://apt.last.fm/last.fm.repo.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Now, open up your /etc/apt/sources.list again:
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Now you need to decide which version of the repository you want to go for, stable or testing. If you go for stable, enter the following on a new line:
deb http://apt.last.fm/ debian stable

If you're a bit more adventurous, and decide to go for testing:
deb http://apt.last.fm/ debian testing

Press enter afterwards to move to the next line, then save and exit. Now, update apt-get:
sudo apt-get update

Now, you can install the Last.FM player with the following:
sudo apt-get install lastfm

Note that as it streams in MP3 format, you'll need to have already installed the appropriate codecs in order to enjoy it.
If you haven't already joined, you'll need to sign up to use the service. But don't worry, it's free to use (although you get more features if you subscribe). You'll need to start listening to it to build up a profile. This is now easier as they now offer many full tracks to listen to online, and will hopefully soon be integrating this into the player.
Have fun with Last.fm, and feel free to drop by my profile to say hello!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the help, I am a long time windows user and I am trying to give Ubuntu linux a serious try. It is people like yourself that makes this move worthy while. Again thanks