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LastSharp silently downloads MP3s from Last.Fm playlists
Last.Fm is one of the better streaming music services around, but you're probably wishing you could save the tracks it plays. Brush up on your German (or just keep reading) and grab LastSharp, and you'll be downloading in no time flat.
The download link on the author's site is just below the Aktuelle Version text (to save hassles, it points to RapidShare or you can find mirrors on Rapidspread). LastSharp doesn't require installation, just extract the contents of the rar file. As you may have guessed from the name, you'll also need the .Net 2.0 runtimes to use it.
When you launch it the first time, the interface will be in German. To change it, click the tab marked Erweiterte Einstellungen. Click the dropdown marked Deutsh and change it to English, then close and restart the program.
Log in with your Last.Fm username and password, and enter your search text - results are displayed neatly in the "Tune In" box. Downloading is as simple as checking the songs you want and marking the Continue Downloading Automatically option (otherwise you'll be grabbing them one at a time).
LastSharp has a lot of useful options, including on-the-fly normalization with MP3gain, automatic scrobbling, cover downloading, and filtering. Downloads are automatically filed in a tidy Artist -> Album name folder structure.
This is a great app for music downloaders, and I hope it sticks around long enough after this post goes live for our DS readers to enjoy it.
[via gHacks]
Comments
12
Subscribe to commentsTYOct 27th 2008 6:41PM
Downloads are slow! Lots of users perhaps?
Lee MathewsOct 27th 2008 6:42PM
No, it's downloading them in realtime as far as I can tell. Seems to take as long to listen to a track as it does to grab it.
yuvalOct 27th 2008 6:43PM
hmmm.... now i don't remember my last.fm user name...
JoshOct 27th 2008 7:31PM
Is there a Mac equivalent?
ButtersOct 27th 2008 7:46PM
Lee, you have shown me two great apps in one day and single-handedly put downloadsquad's RSS feed back near the top of my reading list.
Thanks for reviewing LastSharp and FlickrDown today!
ArcyOct 27th 2008 9:13PM
Nice app, just can't get it to change to english
RandallrocksOct 27th 2008 10:34PM
Is this legal?
PierreOct 28th 2008 8:37AM
@Randallrocks : No, it isn't
PERFECT
sockatumeOct 28th 2008 12:12PM
Sadly this is the sort of thing that could get Last.fm's amazingly generous licencing agreements revoked. Not that I agree that Last.fm or the software's writer should be punished, but that's probably how the music industry will react if this sort of thing is commonplace.
nanomatrixOct 28th 2008 2:54PM
@Pierre
Whenever there is no business model for the RIA it is illegal even if there are no laws yet to define the practice.
However one could make the argument of copying streaming radio is akin to copying analog radio to mixed tape that was condoned in the past. Specifically cause the recording is done in real time. If they were to include a mild degradation in quality the analogy would be even more clear. The problem is that this quality is likely an exact copy. This is very much copyright infringement, no license obtained to retain ownership in a work. I am pretty sure LastFM must have a licensing agreement saying something along the lines as you are granted no license to ownership etc etc.... I personally believe that if a product is created with the intention of creating revenue then circumventing it is denying its owner of their workmanship.
amsOct 31st 2008 1:11PM
actually, there's an even better way to get all of last.fm's songs in full-length, anyone who knows how to use things like HttpSniffer can get the direct URL to the mp3 file.
and even better: the folks at last.fm is totally aware of this. I had an email exchange with last.fm's technical director about this a year ago showing him a simple script for downloading any of their songs. he said it's "not a priority". wtf, I mean, don't they have contracts with labels? don't they have to protect the music?
CrintNov 27th 2008 5:30PM
Re: Mac version
No and there never will be. If you want to pirate stuff stop using a proprietary machine, retard. Big brother watches mac users