last.fm and tagging - what's the secret?

[stevecon]

Still looking for a way to get CORRECT tags - every time. I was directed to last.fm and to use the template for tagging.

The way I understand it, since the tag info is provided by last.fm in the browser's title bar, Replay Music will capture that info and use it for the tag data. So, presumably if the tag info is visible it will be captured and sent wherever it needs to go. Since last.fm sends the data in a way that Replay Music understands, no look up and compare need be done. Firewalls wouldn't matter, either. This is all great, except it doesn't work.

I have used the recording / tagging template as shown in the FAQ for Last.fm, and told Replay both not to do look ups - and perform look ups - it doesn't matter. The program captures the audio, converts it and I still get look ups and unidentified tracks. How can this be? What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

[Jeff Lenney]

Hi Steve

I'll ask our Replay Music person to take a look at this - thanks! :)

[stevecon]

Thanks Jeff. I'm very much interested in learning a solution.

[stevecon]

In 6 days time, this thread has been viewed 240 times. I'm curious if anyone has found they either have the same problem as I or that tagging a last.fm stream works.

I'm still waiting for a reply - apparently *something* is up..

[Jeff Lenney]

Still looking into this - don't worry you have not been forgotten. Thank you VERY much for your patience, I understand this must be frustrating so I truly do appreciate that.

[Cheryl Wester]

Please submit a ticket to tech support. They will need a log file. Also, even with that there are some songs that can't be tagged. You will always get fast assistance if you contach tech support.

[stevecon]

Still looking into this - don't worry you have not been forgotten. Thank you VERY much for your patience, I understand this must be frustrating so I truly do appreciate that.

Thanks Jeff, I appreciate the update. I suspect that the folks in tech support have been able to duplicate the problem since I haven't been asked for anything as of yet.

[stevecon]

...Also, even with that there are some songs that can't be tagged.

Cheryl, I'm perplexed by your response as it contradicts everything I've read on the site about how when using a template, Replay Music grabs the track info that is provided by last.fm in the browser title bar. Did I miss something??

Thanks,

Steve

[stevecon]

Still looking into this - don't worry you have not been forgotten. Thank you VERY much for your patience, I understand this must be frustrating so I truly do appreciate that.

Jeff, an addendum.. I also noticed that the www.last.fm stream stutters very noticeably when I listen as I record. Playback of the recorded tracks afterward however, is fine. Probably not related to the tagging issue, but I thought I'd mention it.

Any news about what is going on with the tagging issue? Have they been able to duplicate this problem? Any closer to a solution?

Thanks,

Steve

[stevecon]

Ok - for those following this thread - I have been instructed to contact tech support in a PM. If you're having this same issue, you might want to tell them about it, too.

[Cheryl Wester]

Last.fm is dependent on what it shows at the top of the player if you are using the template. Often, if it is not showing it will not work like we think it should.

[stevecon]

Last.fm is tricky sometimes in tagging. I have noticed that it does work-but franky not all the time. It appears to be dependent on the song. I have asked the developer about this issue.

The problem with tagging is having to rely on a third party. The stream provider has the correct information. Not making use of it (for whatever reason) requires that the data must be interpreted by CDDB, Gracenote, etc. That's where the problem begins - this info is only as accurate as what previous users have input. People look at the same album and see different things, so there tends to be multiple choices for the same album. If the stream provider's data could be used for tagging - the Peplay Music world would be a much happier place.

[Cheryl Wester]

With Last FM it relies on what it sees at the top of the browser. I personally use both the template and auto tag. That way it does both and I find I have really good results.

[stevecon]

I haven't been paying attention to this any longer as it has been nothing but a huge disappointment. I can't understand why it doesn't work exactly as advertised. I see the "Artist Name - Song Title - Last.Fm - Mozilla Firefox" in the title bar of my browser - exactly as I would expect. In fact, I even cancelled my Pandora account and created a Last.Fm account to use this feature.

Now, either Reply Music is going to collect this data or it isn't. Doing a lookup on this just seems counter-productive. If Replay Music gets the data from the browser and a lookup is performed; but the results differ, which data is kept? I certainly wouldn't want lookup data to over ride Last.Fm's info - which is *always* correct. I'd rather have ZERO information than the WRONG information. A lookup would never have to be performed IF the program worked as ADVERTISED and per instructions (with the template and a Last.Fm stream) which, it clearly does not. This has been a MAJOR disappointment for me and now I simply delete the songs that are unidentified. It's just not worth the aggravation. Whenever I think about this it just angers me. Whatever.