4 ms·

Like.fm is how Apple Ping should work

31 points by pclark 16y ago

kilian 16y ago
Congrats to Chris! I actually integrated like.fm with http://lystener.com http://lystener.com today and Chris has been super helpful with building the right API's for me to use. Both ping and last.fm have a lot of potential when it comes to social integration but neither seem to focus on that. I hope like.fm will win based on the nice facebook integration and ease of use, but they'll have to work on their on-site user experience quite a lot before getting there.
akamaka 16y ago
I love how the music player in the bottom right corner of like.fm stays open as you navigate between different pages. Does anyone know how they did this? Edit: To clarify my question, this is probably done with AJAX, but like.fm also updates the browser URL bar, without using a hash anchor fragment like gmail. Any idea how that's done?
- bmelton 16y ago
  Without looking, one easy way to do it would be to AJAX the entire site, such that when you click on a link, it loads the entire content panel dynamically, while keeping the player div active. Basically, reload everything on the page except the player, but never actually take the user to another page.
  - akamaka 16y ago
    Right. The next step is to change the URL bar in the browser with each new page, so that history, bookmarking, and link-sharing work properly. I've seen this done using anchor fragments (in other words, only changing the part of the URL after the hash symbol). That's how gmail does it (gmail.com/foo#inbox). This site seems to have some other method that doesn't require the hash. I've never seen this on any website, so I would really love to know how its done!!
    - bmelton 16y ago
      (Sorry to respond to such an old item, but I just got the chance to look) I don't know what browser you're using, or if they're doing something to mask the URL that they're using, but in IE7, the url IS updated on anchor fragments. The links themselves point to something canonical looking (e.g., like.fm/user/home), but when you actually click on it, the url you end up at is clearly implemented using anchor fragments (i.e., like.fm/#/user/home). For what it's worth, there's a bug in it on IE7, such that if I keep clicking the same link (even after I get there), it malforms, and keeps malforming with each click (though the pages still seem to work) -- like.fm/user/home#r//user//user//user//user/home
- chrischen 16y ago
  You're either using Chrome, Safari, or the Firefox 4 beta. This is the HTML5 history management API doing it's magic. If you want my uncompressed javascript to take a look let me know chris@like.fm (it's kinda messy). If you use an older browser that doesn't support HTML5 history management then it goes back to the hash thingy.
chrischen 16y ago
Thanks Peter! And also I'm looking for help: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1662965 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1662965.
niccolop 16y ago
I think spotify is also pretty close to Ping.
- ThomPete 16y ago
  Just much much better. In fact ping would probably have been fine if they had had FB connect up and running. It works like a charm in spotify and they don't seem to use any kind last.fm neighbors thingimagic.
  - MC27 16y ago
    I'm just glad Spotify has last.fm scrobbling built in.
ugh 16y ago
Or good old last.fm. Funny story: all that talk about Ping [+] got me to resurrect my old last.fm account and to start scrobbling again. [+] I tested it and it was awful. I actually like iTunes and buy all my music there but Ping is just an abomination.
- dkasper 16y ago
  Like.fm != Last.fm I have no idea about Like.fm since I've never used it, but I agree that Last.fm is better than Ping for now. However, I think that since Ping just comes with iTunes it will be able to garner a much larger userbase, which could make it much more valuable as Ping itself improves. Last.fm is just a little bit too nerdy/difficult for a lot of people to deal with.
  - chrischen 16y ago
    Yea that was my reason for making Like.fm. I didn't like all the fragmented 3rd party clients. After you sign up for Last.fm it doesn't even take you to the client download page. It really made it hard for someone not really into it all. I wanted Like.fm to be dead simple install and forget. You don't need to "love" tracks, you can just rate directly from iTunes like you normally do (if you do). And since my user base would be small, I bring Like.fm to the user base via the Facebook tab. I think someone commented before that the trick is to get the average non-enthusiast user to install a program to monitor your music. Well if tech can't be made easier to use then mother's and grandma's wouldn't be using iPads today! So Like.fm is your less nerdy, easier to setup social music site.

31 points by pclark 16y ago

Congrats to Chris! I actually integrated like.fm with http://lystener.com http://lystener.com today and Chris has been super helpful with building the right API's for me to use. Both ping and last.fm have a lot of potential when it comes to social integration but neither seem to focus on that. I hope like.fm will win based on the nice facebook integration and ease of use, but they'll have to work on their on-site user experience quite a lot before getting there.

akamaka 16y ago

I love how the music player in the bottom right corner of like.fm stays open as you navigate between different pages. Does anyone know how they did this? Edit: To clarify my question, this is probably done with AJAX, but like.fm also updates the browser URL bar, without using a hash anchor fragment like gmail. Any idea how that's done?

bmelton 16y ago
Without looking, one easy way to do it would be to AJAX the entire site, such that when you click on a link, it loads the entire content panel dynamically, while keeping the player div active. Basically, reload everything on the page except the player, but never actually take the user to another page.
- akamaka 16y ago
  Right. The next step is to change the URL bar in the browser with each new page, so that history, bookmarking, and link-sharing work properly. I've seen this done using anchor fragments (in other words, only changing the part of the URL after the hash symbol). That's how gmail does it (gmail.com/foo#inbox). This site seems to have some other method that doesn't require the hash. I've never seen this on any website, so I would really love to know how its done!!
  - bmelton 16y ago
    (Sorry to respond to such an old item, but I just got the chance to look) I don't know what browser you're using, or if they're doing something to mask the URL that they're using, but in IE7, the url IS updated on anchor fragments. The links themselves point to something canonical looking (e.g., like.fm/user/home), but when you actually click on it, the url you end up at is clearly implemented using anchor fragments (i.e., like.fm/#/user/home). For what it's worth, there's a bug in it on IE7, such that if I keep clicking the same link (even after I get there), it malforms, and keeps malforming with each click (though the pages still seem to work) -- like.fm/user/home#r//user//user//user//user/home
chrischen 16y ago
You're either using Chrome, Safari, or the Firefox 4 beta. This is the HTML5 history management API doing it's magic. If you want my uncompressed javascript to take a look let me know chris@like.fm (it's kinda messy). If you use an older browser that doesn't support HTML5 history management then it goes back to the hash thingy.

chrischen 16y ago

Thanks Peter! And also I'm looking for help: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1662965 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1662965.

niccolop 16y ago

I think spotify is also pretty close to Ping.

ThomPete 16y ago
Just much much better. In fact ping would probably have been fine if they had had FB connect up and running. It works like a charm in spotify and they don't seem to use any kind last.fm neighbors thingimagic.
- MC27 16y ago
  I'm just glad Spotify has last.fm scrobbling built in.

ugh 16y ago

Or good old last.fm. Funny story: all that talk about Ping [+] got me to resurrect my old last.fm account and to start scrobbling again. [+] I tested it and it was awful. I actually like iTunes and buy all my music there but Ping is just an abomination.

dkasper 16y ago
Like.fm != Last.fm I have no idea about Like.fm since I've never used it, but I agree that Last.fm is better than Ping for now. However, I think that since Ping just comes with iTunes it will be able to garner a much larger userbase, which could make it much more valuable as Ping itself improves. Last.fm is just a little bit too nerdy/difficult for a lot of people to deal with.
- chrischen 16y ago
  Yea that was my reason for making Like.fm. I didn't like all the fragmented 3rd party clients. After you sign up for Last.fm it doesn't even take you to the client download page. It really made it hard for someone not really into it all. I wanted Like.fm to be dead simple install and forget. You don't need to "love" tracks, you can just rate directly from iTunes like you normally do (if you do). And since my user base would be small, I bring Like.fm to the user base via the Facebook tab. I think someone commented before that the trick is to get the average non-enthusiast user to install a program to monitor your music. Well if tech can't be made easier to use then mother's and grandma's wouldn't be using iPads today! So Like.fm is your less nerdy, easier to setup social music site.