Looking for workaround/alternative to Last.FM + MM3

[TwiztidSinz]

I realize that the state of Last.FM support for MediaMonkey is less than ideal (i.e. no native support from Last.FM) and that Last.FM support really doesn't fall under the purview of the MM team but maybe with some luck someone out there will have an answer..

Just to make this clear... I -HAVE- Last.FM working with MediaMonkey, that is not the issue. I am using the older Winamp plugin and it scrobbles -most- tracks fine.

My problem is this...
When playing tracks that involve Japanese characters -or- (I have to guess at this one, as I've only tested/seen it with the "(" character) non-letter/number characters, Last.FM tells me:
"Can't scrobble: artist or title missing from ID3 tag"
However, when playing the same songs under Windows Media Player 11, Last.FM sees all the info properly and scrobbles the track without issue.
I cannot tell if this is an issue on MediaMonkey's end or with the Last.FM Winamp Plug-in, so you really can't point fingers

My question is this...
Is there an alternative to the Last.FM program for scrobbling music to Last.FM that works with MediaMonkey?
Or a workaround for the issue I'm having with the special characters?
(Searching Goggle for 'Last.FM Alternative' brings up alternative sites and various Last.FM pages)

[asmodai]

Last.fm just released new updates, and these also don't work with MM3, so the old plugin is still needed.

On the subject of this unicode support, I emailed in private with Peke, but thus far have heard little from his side aside from that he had an idea how to fix things to properly shove out UTF-8 (for all I remember of the issue it was a simple conversion from UTF-16 to UTF-8, something which is extensively documented and has encumbrance-free source code on the web).

So yeah, currently we're in limbo. All my lovely Japanese, Chinese and whatnot tracks are not properly scrobbled. And fixing up the last.fm as well as the Unicode support seems to be low on the list.

Alternatives? No idea.

[rusty]

Just to let you know:

Unicode isn't a low priority--you'll see a fair number of unicode related fixes in RC4. We may not have gotten to everything, but you should see more improvement in RC4, just as there was in RC3...

Re. last.fm/scrobbler issues: Peke has been working on a plugin (will not be bundled with MM 3.0) that adds proper scrobbling for MM3. Our priority, at the moment is on getting MM3 out the door, so this will have to wait a little bit longer. To assuage your concerns about the lack of unicode support, see most recent test results below (you'll have to trust me that this was scrobbled with the MM plugin):



-Rusty

[prinssimikko]

i used to have last.fm working just fine, but recently i had to reinstall windows and somehow i cant make MM scrobble anymore.

i have the old version of plugin, so it shouldnt be the problem. and other players scrobble just fine.

one thing came to my mind: when installing last.fm -plugin I have to choose the player to assosiate it with. I chose Winamp, then browsed for mediamonkey.exe. Isn't this the right way to do it?

I dont have winamp installed at all... could it be the problem????
Any guesses?

When i listen songs on MM, there is no activity on last.fm software (usually i can see what i am listening to....) but it does start every time i start MM, so there is a connection working...
weird?

Thanks for any help!

[Peke]

As of plugin version of 2.0 last.FM player handles everything not the plugin which is the reason why it is started each time you start Winamp, MediaMonkey,... Unless apps itself make and supports its own plugin.
There is no configuration in plugin Account info must be entered in Last.FM player. And Unicode works well only when used with winamp Media Library plugin that MM do not support. Which I never install when I test Winamp and want to have nice speed of Winamp 2.75 and updated plugins. Latin users should not be concerned as main problem was in Complex Unicode Localized tracks Like one in Screenshoot (Istrael, Chinese, Japanese and I think Turkish)

[prinssimikko]

thanks Peke, but unfortunately that didnt help me.
i do know that account information etc are done through last.fm program.

but i would really appreciate if anyone would have any clues about what i'm doing wrong? i use MM3 rc-3 (always the latest!). the last.fm winamp plugin is installed in MediaMonkey/plugins folder, it is called "gen_wa2_scrobbler.dll" and version number is 2.0.47.0 / Last.fm Winamp plugin.

there is a last.fm logfile in the directory and it says:

Elapsed Date/Time Module Debug
=====================================================================================================
0.000 12/07/2007 00:42:41 Application Information Audioscrobbler Winamp plugin v2, 0, 30, 0 (Build 634) gen_wa2_scrobbler.dll
0.031 12/07/2007 00:42:41 Application Information Winamp Version 9.9b
0.046 12/07/2007 00:42:41 Application Information Windows XP (Professional), (Uniprocessor Free) v5.1 Build:2600 Service Pack:2
0.062 12/07/2007 00:42:41 CScrobbler::ScrobSubStatus ReqID -1: Couldn't find Last.fm registry key. The Last.fm client doesn't seem to be installed.
0.078 12/07/2007 00:42:41 CScrobbler::StartScrobbling Startup Complete.
8.671 12/07/2007 00:42:50 CScrobbler::ASStart ReqID 1: Sent Start for 22 Pistepirkko - Tired of Being Drunk
196.828 12/07/2007 00:45:58 CScrobbler::ASStart ReqID 2: Sent Start for 22 Pistepirkko - Birdy
335.796 12/07/2007 00:48:17 CScrobbler::ASStop ReqID 3: Sent Stop
337.046 12/07/2007 00:48:18 CScrobbler::ASStop ReqID 4: Sent Stop

so.... i have tried to reinstall last.fm.

Thanks!

[prinssimikko]

hmmm.. the registry key thing confuses me. could it have something to do with the fact that im running windows xp on the drive D: instead of C: ???

i havent had any problems with other programs.

[prinssimikko]

ok. solved. dont ask me how.

i just once again reinstalled last.fm and now it connected!



great!

[Big_Berny]

prinssimikko:
The problem is that the new version 2.0.47.0 doesn't work in MM. More informations here: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21939

Just install this version: http://static.last.fm/plugins/ass/Winam ... 0.45.0.exe
And don't update anymore!

Big_Berny

PS: But this doesn't solve the unicode-problem mentioned above... Altough fortunately I don't have such songs.

[aidan_cage]

it really sucks that whenever I open MediaMonkey, I have to deal with LastFM nagging me to update a plugin for WinAmp
REALLY sucks..

[prinssimikko]

it really sucks that whenever I open MediaMonkey, I have to deal with LastFM nagging me to update a plugin for WinAmp
REALLY sucks..

yep, i hate this too!

[aidan_cage]

Hey I got some help on this
there is an older plugin that can be used without the LastFM application at all
it is linked to in a few threads regarding LastFM
it is an installer that will offer you two options to install
choose that General option, and make sure it is pointed toward your .MediaMonkey\Plugins\ folder
then run MediaMonkey, navigate to the plugin in the Options section (it will probably dip to the background, so just alt+tab it to get it back up front
fill in your use details and it should start scrobbling your music sans LastFM application
works for me, so I'm happy
..sorry. I can't find the page on LastFM.com, but I promise it is linked to in a few threads here in the forum. I think nohitter151 has it in his signature, though I could be completely wrong
PEACE

[TwiztidSinz]

I'd love to find that link

[aidan_cage]

http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 493#110493

here it is. Option #2

[TwiztidSinz]

Option #2
1. Download this: http://static.last.fm/plugins/audioscro ... 1.1.10.exe

2. Put plugin into Mediamonkey\Plugins\

2.5 Select 'General Version'

3. Restart MM or start it, and go into Tools -> Options -> General Plug-ins to enter your login information

4. Scrobble!

Default option doesn't work without Winamp5