Update:
An easier way to install this is to add the daily-builds PPA
https://launchpad.net/~banshee-team/+archive/banshee-daily
An updated version of Banshee’s Last.FM plugin provides better scrobble support and “instant” now listening updates on Last.FM.
The current Last.FM plugin is prone to dropping scrobbles, not being able to update your Last.FM page instantly (has a delay of somewhere around 5-15 minutes) and, worse for me, it requires you to listen to 100% of a song in order to scrobble! Arrgh!
Thankfully this new one alleviates all of the above, scrobbling a track at the 50% point ” ideal for those with big collections and not enough time.
Installing it, however, is not for the faint hearted or those scared of screwing up their Banshee install.
All of what i’m doing can be put right with a few commands, but it’s still best to be sure that you want to do this.
Ready? Let’s begin!
First UNINSTALL any existing Banshee install.
Assumed tools: checkinstall, build-dep, git-core
Banshee-1
First off you’ll need the development version of Banshee.
You can enable it in Ubuntu Tweak or via the unstable PPA @
Dependencies
To make sure we have all of the necessary dependencies installed before compiling, run this simple command to install anything you may have missing: –
- sudo apt-get build-dep banshee
The next step is up to you. You can either clone the git source or download a tar.gz of the most recent source.
Gitting It
sudo apt-get install git-core
git clone http://gitorious.org/~bl8/banshee/bl8-clone/commits/lastfm-api-2.0
Tar.Gz very much!
Download the source as a tar.gz by clicking the following link. Once downloaded, place the downloaded folder on your Desktop.
http://gitorious.org/banshee/bl8-clone/archive-tarball/lastfm-api-2.0
Compiling
Now you need to open a terminal
- Applications > Accessories > Terminal
and depending on where you’ve downloaded your source to, navigate to it.
If you’ve downloaded the source as a tar.gz, right click on it, extract it and then use:
- cd Desktop
to get inside the folder.
Once inside, paste each of these commands one by one, allowing them to run fully.
- ./autogen.sh
- make
- sudo checkinstall
When creating the checkinstall package, follow the prompts in the terminal but don’t be alarmed if at the end it reports a package build fail. it’s purely say it couldn’t build a .deb ” which is fine in this instance since it’s merely a plugin.
Scrobble Me
Presuming all went correctly ” and if it didn’t just check the errors and install any missing packages ” you can now start Banshee.
In Tools > Last.FM ensure scrobbling is enabled, and then click ‘Authorize Account’.
Enter you username, click Authorize and you’ll be taken to your Last.FM account to grant access.
Once allowed you’re all done! Your scrobbles will show up on Last.FM instantly!
Notes
I’m not sure if it’s the unstable version of banshee or enabling this plugin but some features of Banshee’s Last.FM panel are broken. I don’t use Last.FM radio so I’m happy with this trade-off, but do note it.