Last.fm will announce four new features in a press release tomorrow, although a few observant users will notice them going live today. Last.fm, you may recall, is a neat social network that lets you get music recommendations based on what people like you are listening to and enjoying. Tomorrow they'll announce a new flash player, an events system, free MP3 downloads and revamped profile pages that are more social. They're also highlighting the new stuff on the updates page.
The Flash player is my favorite, and will probably make the biggest difference to Last.fm's adoption. From the outset, Last.fm required a download to take full advantage of the service: that was a major hurdle and the main reason I find myself using competing service Pandora. But now they have a Flash player on every page, meaning you don't need a download, and new users can get started right away from the homepage. Existing users can choose whether to use the software or the Flash player, although the download still offers a few advantages.
These are killer features that make a good service even better. The new Flash player is my favorite innovation, and will make Last.fm far more accessible (alas, it doesn't seem to be working yet).
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