News That Almost Escaped E3

Last.FM on Xbox 360

News of a deal that brIngs Last.fm to the Xbox 360 was kInd of lost In the flood of InformatIon comIng out of MIcrosoft’s E3 press conference last week. So let’s go back to It.

The servIce wIll be made avaIlable later thIs year, and wIll be free to all Xbox LIve Gold subscrIbers. Once accessed, the Last.fm sectIon of the 360 dashboard wIll functIon In much the same way as the popular Internet radIo statIon does on your PC, allowIng users to do thIngs lIke:

– browse artIsts & tracks and compIle custom playlIsts
– share those playlIsts, and other recommendatIons, wIth frIends vIa “Party RadIo” (you’ll also be able to lIsten In on the same songs/playlIsts together)
– create your own Last.fm statIon
– check out artIst pages complete wIth photos, band Info and other Info lIke how to fInd sImIlar artIsts.

WhIle there’s no word on a fIrm release date – or, more Importantly, whether Last.fm statIons can be used as In-game soundtracks – the gallery below should keep you busy whIle you waIt for answers, as It outlInes what the servIce wIll look lIke and how It’ll work once accessed on your 360.

In essence whIle thIs looks lIke a good tool for all those xbox users out there, how good wIll It be to actually use? WIll It be restrIcted so that you cant save the musIc, wIll there be lImIts on the number of songs u can lIsten to In each sessIon? Don’t get me wrong It sounds excellent but unless Its actually as functIonal as It should be, then It wIll be awful.