Last.Fm API
Last.fm has made available their new API two weeks ago — and it’s a big step forward. I did apply for a preview to update my Wordpress plugin Last.Fm Records before the API hit the streets, but alas. So the last few evenings I’ve written version 1.4.
Version 1.3 had a really ugly parseHTML function to parse the HTML pages requested on last.fm. Now that the API returns relatively clean XML, the first thing I did was to update the XML parsing to the functionality available in PHP5, which means I no longer support PHP4. All the Amazon and Musicbrainz requests have been replaced by requests to the new API. Great news is that almost all relevant feeds in the new API include urls for cd covers: only user.getWeeklyAlbumChart (cds you listened to last week) is lacking those: why?
Thanks to the new API the plugin is much faster, finds more images than the previous version, and is now in beta. If you want to test drive it, let me know in the comments. I’ll release this new version after testing it thoroughly. I’ll be listening to songs with single quotes and ampersands in the title!
Oh, and yes, the request (by a human being) for a fallback option has been implemented: when the period you set in the options returns not enough cds, the plugin requests more info from longer ago.
DRNKMNKY op 
Jeroen Smeets op 
Thomas Vanparys op 
18 Jul 08 12 pm
Hi there,
I am using you widget for wordpress since quite a while, currently running 1.3.1 and I would be glad to test the new version.
I am still using Wordpress 2.3.2 though. Do I need to upgrade before?
Cheers,
Christoph
18 Jul 08 1 pm
Hi Christoph, the obvious answer would be that it’s always wise to stay updated. To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t done any upgrading to the overall structure of the plugin since 2.3, but how this works out in your case?
As I wrote earlier, you need PHP5. And if you have uploaded missing cover images yourself (on the options page of the plugin) they will not be shown in the current test version. Before I release the plugin I wil add a function to convert the images to the new caching system.
19 Jul 08 9 am
Hello.
I’ve used your Last.Fm Records for a long time.
I wanna try 1.4.
My Website is brand-new WordPress 2.6.
19 Jul 08 10 pm
Hi Dai, I’ll mail it to you. Thanks for the offer to help me out!
20 Jul 08 10 am
I would love to test out the new version, I have been a long time user for this plugin, and I would really like the chance to give 1.4 a shot.
20 Jul 08 5 pm
I’m definitely interested in this beta with WP2.6 as well…I’ve been wanting to put covers on my site for a long time!
20 Jul 08 11 pm
I’m definitely interested in testing the beta.
21 Jul 08 3 am
Hi Jeroen,
I’d love to beta test the new last.fm plugin if you are still looking for folks. I just updated to WP 2.6 too.
21 Jul 08 2 pm
ah! hola, thats the reason. i also upgraded to WP 2.6 and did see the changes on the last.fm site. as a last.fm fan i would be more than happy to test the beta. thanks for the great work with last.fm records!
21 Jul 08 11 pm
Really nice to see all this interest in the new version. Always wanted to have my own community :-)
I’ve added my latest remarks about the new version in the comments here.
23 Jul 08 3 am
Hi,
it’s a pity not to support php4, becouse my ISP is still running it and I can’t even test the new plugin… and the old one, does not work :(
Anyway,
Good work! :)