+Mystic MVC Posted July 1, 2009 MVC Share Posted July 1, 2009 I think this is a pretty fair compromise and smart on MS's part. I am really waiting to see if they follow with similar actions dealing with Facebook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George P Global Moderator Posted July 1, 2009 Global Moderator Share Posted July 1, 2009 Well, there you go, really, since most places can't seem to get it fro free, if you can get it via your 360 for free if you're a gold member at least then limiting silver is fine. Seeing as how ads alone can't pay all the bills at Last.FM (why start charging at specific countries then?) it's not a fake benefit for gold members even if you still get a few ads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 1, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 1, 2009 Well, there you go, really, since most places can't seem to get it fro free, if you can get it via your 360 for free if you're a gold member at least then limiting silver is fine. Seeing as how ads alone can't pay all the bills at Last.FM (why start charging at specific countries then?) it's not a fake benefit for gold members even if you still get a few ads. The people who have to pay for a LastFM subscription just now might still have to pay for it when using it on their Xbox 360. Post 1 mentions nothing to do with countries! LastFM said the only countries getting it for free currently are UK/Germany and USA. I can only assume certain countries have to pay due to licensing issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George P Global Moderator Posted July 1, 2009 Global Moderator Share Posted July 1, 2009 Regardless MS is adding yet more things outside of multiplayer to move Gold and Silver members more apart. Which is reasonable, those who pay should get extra services and or other things first. The debate about paying for live or not is no longer going to be just about the ability to play online or not in the future like it used to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted July 2, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 2, 2009 If they aren't charging extra for Sky tv subscribers to use it on their Xbox 360, they won't charge Last.FM subscribers either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 2, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 2, 2009 If they aren't charging extra for Sky tv subscribers to use it on their Xbox 360, they won't charge Last.FM subscribers either. That's not what we're talking about. I think GP007 thought LastFM would be free for everyone on Gold. I was saying it's likely if you need a subscription right now you'll still need it if you're on Gold. Gold is just giving you unlimited access to LastFM on MS' front, where as Silver is 3 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasethebase Reporter Posted July 2, 2009 Reporter Share Posted July 2, 2009 My XBOX is a gaming machine not a radio! That's like saying "I have no pie" in a Pie Forum... :hmmm: If you don't want to use it for Last.fm, don't complain because you have no grounds to do so. It sounds about right to give Silver members a limitation because it increases the amount of difference between paying and not paying, as well as giving more reason to subscribe for Gold. Perfect business sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d4v1d05 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 What if, like me, you're a silver user with a premium last.fm account? I take it I'll still only get 3 hours a month..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 2, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 2, 2009 What if, like me, you're a silver user with a premium last.fm account? I take it I'll still only get 3 hours a month..? Yes, MS want you to subscribe to use it fully as well. I think the question you should try to find out is this "Silver users will be able access what we're considering a trial period of three hours a month, which comes with video advertising. Gold users will have unlimited ad-supported access, so they can use it 24 hours a day" If you're paying a subscription and are on Silver or Gold do you still see ads even although you're paying LastFM to take them away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted July 2, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 2, 2009 That's not what we're talking about.I think GP007 thought LastFM would be free for everyone on Gold. I was saying it's likely if you need a subscription right now you'll still need it if you're on Gold. Gold is just giving you unlimited access to LastFM on MS' front, where as Silver is 3 hours. Who knows how they'll handle it, and its still related to Sky. What about those who are on XBL Silver but have a Sky subscription? Wait and see before making baseless assumptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kushan Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Not necessarily the same. Sky and Last.fm are completely different companies and not related in the slightest, so why would the deals made with them be the same? Also, Last.fm offers a free service anyway, but Sky do not. It's very likely that for the Sky deal to work, you'll have to pay for Sky Multiroom (about ?10 a month extra). And probably on a per-box basis, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted July 2, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 2, 2009 I never said their services were similar, although you could argue they come close when it comes to music channels ;) On the latest SentUAMessage they went through requirements and they never said anything about Multiroom. Indeed they could release all the finer details closer to launch, but again, no use arguing over baseless statements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selphj Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I thought that I read someplace last.fm would have ads even for Gold members, unless you had a subscription. Could be wrong though not sure where I read it. I tried last.fm yesterday for a while, it seems to work a bit better than pandora for me. It would be nice to have, but it being on 360 isn't a life changer for me. I already have an HTPC, so I can listen to any web music service fairly easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George P Global Moderator Posted July 2, 2009 Global Moderator Share Posted July 2, 2009 Those ads in Last.FM could be all from their side of the deal and going right to them and not MS. MS's part in this is getting more gold members probably, so the deal is structured that way. It very well could be that MS isn't getting much if any ad revenue from what you see when you visit the Last.FM part on the 360. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kushan Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The ads will most likely have to go through Microsoft, after all it's their Dash and there's nothing stopping last.fm putting up ads for something MS doesn't agree with (iPods, for example). I'd say that the ad revenue is split between them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 2, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 2, 2009 Who knows how they'll handle it, and its still related to Sky. What about those who are on XBL Silver but have a Sky subscription?Wait and see before making baseless assumptions. How is it a baseless assumption? It's a pretty solid assumption based on what we know... All MS mention themselves is Silver = Ads and 3 hours a month, Gold = Ads and unlimited listening. If you want LastFM without ads on your 360 you need a subscription, which it says costs 3 euros a month Last.fm's subscription prices are currently $3.00 US (€3 EU or ?3 GBP) per month, so you'll have to shell out an additional $36 a year if you want to avoid the ads and have full access to their service. You'll also need a Last.fm account, in case you haven't set one up already. Luckily, that part is free. That clearly means the subscription will work ON your 360, meaning those who can't access LastFM for free due to country/legal constraints will most likely need that subscription. I don't see MS subsidizing the media corporations/governments in charge of the countries that need to pay if it is indeed licensing issues. It looks like LastFM themselves didn't even want to do that, with certain people having to pay now who once got it got it for free. The only other thing I questioned was if you have a LastFM subscription, we know you won't get LastFM ads, but will there be any MS ads if you're only on Silver? It'll probably all be ad free if you pay a LastFM subscription, the only issue will be that of MS' policy between Silver/Gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunknMunky Veteran Posted July 2, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 2, 2009 How is it a baseless assumption? It's a pretty solid assumption based on what we know...All MS mention themselves is Silver = Ads and 3 hours a month, Gold = Ads and unlimited listening. If you want LastFM without ads on your 360 you need a subscription, which it says costs 3 euros a month That clearly means the subscription will work ON your 360, meaning those who can't access LastFM for free due to country/legal constraints will most likely need that subscription. I don't see MS subsidizing the media corporations/governments in charge of the countries that need to pay if it is indeed licensing issues. It looks like LastFM themselves didn't even want to do that, with certain people having to pay now who once got it got it for free. The only other thing I questioned was if you have a LastFM subscription, we know you won't get LastFM ads, but will there be any MS ads if you're only on Silver? It'll probably all be ad free if you pay a LastFM subscription, the only issue will be that of MS' policy between Silver/Gold. That's the part I'm talking about too, we don't know how they'll handle it. Will they still ask Silver members to upgrade to Gold to access more than 3hrs of music, even if they are a Last.fm subscriber. Nobody knows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Audioboxer Subscriber² Posted July 2, 2009 Author Subscriber² Share Posted July 2, 2009 That's the part I'm talking about too, we don't know how they'll handle it. Will they still ask Silver members to upgrade to Gold to access more than 3hrs of music, even if they are a Last.fm subscriber.Nobody knows! Ah right sorry I thought you were talking about the country restrictions. The last part is speculation on my part, but I'm only going off the statement MS released in post 1 detailing the differences of Gold and Silver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George P Global Moderator Posted July 2, 2009 Global Moderator Share Posted July 2, 2009 The ads will most likely have to go through Microsoft, after all it's their Dash and there's nothing stopping last.fm putting up ads for something MS doesn't agree with (iPods, for example). I'd say that the ad revenue is split between them. Sure MS has oversight of which ads go up, but as to how the ad revenue is split, we don't know. I doubt it's 50/50 though. MS would have to make it in Last.FMs interest to get them on XBL so I figure they get a bigger chunk off of the ads while MS is banking on more users going Gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magik Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I doubt they'll let you do it tbh, all downloads etc stop when you enter a muliplayer game.I'm just hoping that we can at least have it in game for single player, I don't think even that's been confirmed, all we've seen are dashboard shots. But you're able to keep downloading when playing most Single Player games. So, I think it will be the same with Last.fm integration. I just hope it really can run in the background, and doesn't require you to be sitting in the Xbox Dashboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL_ Veteran Posted July 7, 2009 Veteran Share Posted July 7, 2009 I just went there and it says that in order to listen to radio stations I have to pay those $3/Month. Is there another way to listen to music in last.fm for free? (genuinely asking) Do you have a free account? Need an account first. But I'm not a subscriber and I listen for free, five times per song (only hit that limit a couple times) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Gil Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Do you have a free account? Need an account first. But I'm not a subscriber and I listen for free, five times per song (only hit that limit a couple times) Yeah, since 2007. Back then I could listen to it all day, now things have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMELTN Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 When is the actual release date of this? Do we have any idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kushan Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Autumn/Fall 2009. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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