MP3 Insider

Digital music site Last.fm is like Pandora on steroids. The site allows devoted music fans from around the world to compare tastes, stream music from their favorite artists, stay up to date on local shows, download free MP3s, and create their own custom radio stations.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Last.fm's open API has given rise to hundreds of user-created applications, plug-ins, web tools, mash-ups and widgets. No other music site offers more tools or more features to help users connect with each other and the music they love.

Unfortunately, the deep features that makes Last.fm so appealing to hardcore music nerds, can also make the site a little intimidating to first-timers and casual listeners. Like a freshman dance, folks will often just find one comfortable corner of Last.fm and lose sight of everything else going on around them.

If you're interested in breaking out of your Last.fm rut, I've put together a quick video guide and slideshow, illustrating some ways to take your experience further.

How to do more with Last.fm--screenshots

Disclosure: Last.fm is a property of CNET parent company CBS.

Will Apple drop the iPod Classic from production when the company introduces its next generation of MP3 players in the fall? That is the chief concern of the MP3 Insiders on this week's podcast. Also, Donald and Jasmine ramble on about the best non-iPod MP3 players for Macs and the best MP3 players for podcasts, and they weigh in on a fitness-friendly MP3 player from Haier and some stupendous portable headphones from Ultrasone. Finally, SweetFM and Spotify have got Donald all hot and bothered. Find out why.

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Yes, Last.fm--like CNET--is owned by CBS, but it's also pretty awesome.

In a world teeming with increasingly similar tech products, Apple is one company that seems to have no problem churning out standout products. This might be attributed to sleek designs, fun features, and friendly interfaces--or maybe you want to chalk it up to good ol' marketing tactics. However, in the case of the iPhone and the iPod Touch, there's one attribute that undeniably separates these devices from the masses: the ever-expanding cadre of third-party applications. You can find everything from cookbooks and weight-loss trackers to games and productivity tools, but the area in which the iPhone and iPod Touch really excel is music, and there are hundreds of applications to choose from in this category.

To help you sort through the mass of options, we rounded up five of our favorite iPhone music apps. To keep things simple, we limited our scope to free selections that have a heavy focus on full music playback. Not everything included here will be a perfect fit for every iPod user, but you're sure to find something that will float your boat.

Top 5 free iPhone music apps

What's not to love about the online radio site Pandora? There's simply no better way to hear great music with a minimum of fuss; just type in a song or artist that fits your mood, and Pandora creates a stream of music just for you.

Unfortunately, Pandora's emphasis on simplicity can be a turn-off for those who crave more sophisticated features. But just like the mythical box from which it's named, there's more to Pandora than meets the eye. By digging deeper into menus and settings, Pandora power users can finesse some pretty cool tricks from the deceptively simple site.

Watch our CNET How-To video for a tour of some Pandora features you may have missed.

The Ion Block Rocker in all its boxy glory.

Donald and Jasmine intersperse the silliness with details on the latest iPod Classic review, as well as information on the Sony E-Series Walkman and a very special member of the S-Series family. Also on the table: a super durable portable party speaker, a chat about podcast support, and free stuff!

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Version 2.0 of Last.fm's free music streaming and discovery application for the iPhone and iPod Touch is now available through the iTunes App Store, offering significant performance and design improvements over the original version we reviewed in August.

Last.fm hasn't added any notable new features to their application, however, a few features have been enhanced, and an overhauled design makes the user experience more intuitive and attractive. For instance, the main menu is now divided into two tabs that separate Last.fm's streaming radio features from its social networking capabilities, making the experience less confusing for first time users. The radio menu tab is the default menu screen, offering a listing of your preferred personal music channels, along with Last.fm recommendations and a prominent red button for creating a new music channels. By clicking over from the Radio tab into the Profile view, Last.fm regulars can still dig deeper into their top artists, albums, and tracks, keep tabs on local music events, and peek into the listening habits of their friends.

Last.fm's original main menu (left) was dull and a little confusing for anyone unfamiliar with Last.fm's lingo and social features. Version 2.0's main menu splits the application's radio and social features into two tabs across the bottom and emphasizes the immediate gratification of creating new personalized music stations.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

The Last.fm Now Playing screen has also undergone an extreme makeover. Album artwork is now displayed clearly and not superimposed with song information. A volume bar is a permanent fixture on the bottom of the Now Playing screen, and many controls have been consolidated for the sake of simplicity. A collapsible menu lets you add your own personal song tags directly from the playback screen, along with options to save the song to a playlist or share it among your personal contacts or Last.fm friends.

A distinction between Last.fm and other personal Internet radio applications such as Pandora, is the ability to view and save an artist's current touring information. An On Tour button appears next to the name of currently touring artists on the Last.fm playback screen, allowing you to browse tour dates on an internal calendar and flag any shows you're considering.

The Now Playing screen on the original Last.fm application (left) offered a confusing mush of buttons, hidden volume control, and obstructed album art. Last.fm 2.0 (right) offers a much cleaner interface with consolidated controls, pristine artwork, and dedicated volume slider.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Last.fm's streaming audio performance has also improved on their application. The dropouts and buffering delays experienced in the first version of the Last.fm application have all but disappeared in version 2.0. While connected over a moderately strong Wi-Fi signal, we encountered no drop outs and noticed that the buffer gaps between songs are down to around 1-2 seconds in length (about what you'd experience using Pandora). Audio quality is also quite good, with no noticeable streaming compression artifacts and a stereo sound quality comparable to 128Kbps MP3.

Overall, the updates to the Last.fm application have brought nothing but improvements. If you're looking for a personalized streaming music application for your iPhone or iPod Touch that offers more features than Pandora, Last.fm does not disappoint.

Editors' note: Last.fm is owned by CNET's parent company, CBS Interactive.

We swear, there's no reading required to expand your musical horizons these days. Well...aside from this article, at least.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

When you're young, new music is everywhere: radio, Facebook profiles, borrowed iPods, or even burned CDs. It's not hard to find tunes you love. The music appetites of 13- to 21-year-olds are voracious and the consequences of being musically unhip can be punishing.

Then something happens: you get older; work a full-time job; get married; have a mortgage; have children; adopt a particularly demanding parrot; and so on. You wake up one day and realize your taste in music hasn't budged since your early '20s and the prospect of discovering good, new music now seems like an overwhelming chore, fraught with disappointment. I know, I'm living proof.

We're all familiar with the long, depressing list of activities that seemed easy in youth that now take effort. Fortunately, finding good music isn't as tough as working off that middle-age gut. Since its inception, the Internet has helped us--mostly illegally--discover new music. Finally, tools for legal and efficient online music discovery are hitting their stride.

To help you help yourself, we've collected our favorite techniques to help the lazy, hurried, or unhip (or, face it, aging) connect with good, new music.