Better late than never… I’ve finally updated my last.fm plug-in for Rhythmbox. i386, amd64, and lpia packages are available for Hardy Heron and Intrepid Ibex.

Ubuntu Hardy user can get the package by adding

deb http://blog.blackdown.de/static/debian/rhythmbox/ hardy main
deb-src http://blog.blackdown.de/static/debian/rhythmbox/ hardy main

to /etc/apt/sources.list. Ubuntu Intrepid users should use

deb http://blog.blackdown.de/static/debian/rhythmbox/ intrepid main
deb-src http://blog.blackdown.de/static/debian/rhythmbox/ intrepid main

instead.
After adding those lines, you can install the package with:

$ aptitude update
$ aptitude install rhythmbox

The repositories are signed with my GPG key which can be imported into your apt keyring with

$ wget http://blog.blackdown.de/static/gpg.asc -O - | \
    sudo apt-key add -

Please remember to disable the old Last.fm plug-in before enabling mine (New Style Last.fm Scrobbler). Also please note that my plug-in requires the lastfm client to work correctly.

Read more about the plugin and get the source code at Last.fm for Rhythmbox – New Style.

I have set up APT repositories for my new-style last.fm Rhythmbox plug-in for Ubuntu “Feisty Fawn” and “Gutsy Gibbon”.
A side effect is that there is a backport of Rhythmbox 0.11.0 for Feisty now.

You can get it by adding

deb http://blog.blackdown.de/static/debian/rhythmbox/ feisty main
deb-src http://blog.blackdown.de/static/debian/rhythmbox/ feisty main

to /etc/apt/sources.list. If you are using Ubuntu Gutsy, just replace feisty with gutsy in these two lines.
Then upgrade/install rhythmbox:

$ aptitude update
$ aptitude install rhythmbox

The repository is signed with my GPG key. The key can be imported into your apt keyring with

$ wget http://blog.blackdown.de/static/gpg.asc -O - | \
    sudo apt-key add -

If you are going to use the Last.fm integration of Rhythmbox, make sure you only enable one of the two plug-ins! If you want to use the new-style plug-in, you need the lastfm client. The latest beta package for Ubuntu is available on the Last.fm beta forum.

A new version of last.fm plug-in for Rhythmbox is available now. Changes since v2:

• Start the last.fm client in the system tray
• Try to start last.fm (beta client) before lastfm (stable client)
• Reduce bogus RESUME/PAUSE commands
• Miscellaneous small bug fixes

Read more about the plugin and get the source code or an Ubuntu package at Last.fm for Rhythmbox – New Style.

If the Rhythmbox developers are interested, I’ll start to merge this new plug-in with the old one that is bundled with Rhythmbox.

I have updated my new style last.fm plug-in for Rhythmbox. The biggest change is that the last.fm client now gets started automatically. See the original article for more information and code!

Just like a lot of other Rhythmbox users I like to scrobble my played tracks to last.fm. Unfortunately Rhythmbox provides no way to love a track. The last.fm plug-ins for Windows and OS X have been modified to scrobble through the last.fm client some time ago but the Rhythmbox plug-in still submits directly. That is until now…

I have written a new last.fm plug-in for Rhythmbox today. Instead of scrobbling directly like the old one, it submits tracks via the lastfm client application. The client displays additional information about the currently playing song and you can love and tag the song with it.

The source code is available as a patch against Rhythmbox 2.90.1 (git snapshot 20120108): scrobbler-v3t.patch
You can apply this patch with:

patch -NEp1 < ~/scrobbler-v3t.patch

Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot users can get precompiled packages from my APT repositories by running these commands in a terminal:

$ sudo add-apt-repository \
    '/static/debian/rhythmbox/ main'
$ wget /static/gpg.asc -O - | \
    sudo apt-key add -
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install rhythmbox rhythmbox-plugins lastfm

To enable the new plug-in go to Edit » Plugins. Disable the “Last.fm” plug-in and enable the “New Style Last.fm Scrobbler”.
If you enable this scrobbler plug-in, you have to disable the old Last.fm plug-in! Otherwise you will have two plug-ins which will both submit to last.fm at the same time. Only use one at a time!

Note that this first version of the plug-in does not start the lastfm client automatically! It will scrobble only if you start the client manually. I will fix this in the next version.

Feedback, postive as well as negative, is very welcome. If you want to report a bug, please include the output of “rhythmbox -D rb-scrobbler-plugin” and the tags of the song you wanted to scrobble.
If you want to report a crash, providing a gdb backtrace would be nice.

You might also want to take a look at this thread on the last.fm development forum.

May 20th, 2007: v2 of the plug-in is available now. lastfm gets launched automatically now.
May 22nd, 2007: v3 is available. The patch and the Ubuntu package have been updated: Changes since v2
May 25th, 2007: v3a: Updated patch and deb for the new Ubuntu Gutsy version of Rhythmbox.
May 29th, 2007: v3b: Updated patch and deb for the new Rhythmbox release.
May 31st, 2007: Updated patch Ubuntu package.
June 1st, 2007: Added APT repositories for Ubuntu Feisty and Gutsy.
June 28th, 2007: v3c: Updated patch and debs for the new Rhythmbox release.
August 16th, 2007: v3d: Updated patch and debs for Rhythmbox 0.11.2.
November 14th, 2007: v3e: Updated patch and debs for Rhythmbox 0.11.3. Add Hardy repository.
November 30th, 2007:Updated gusty and hardy builds. Include fixed Croatian po file from Franko Burolo.
February 7th, 2008: v3f: Updated patch and debs for Rhythmbox 0.11.4. (Thanks to Iain Buchanan for notifying me of the missing patch!)
May 31st, 2008: v3g: Updated patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.11.5. (The debs for hardy have been at 0.11.5 for quite a while).
October 15st, 2008: v3h: Updated patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.11.6. Ubuntu packages are available for i386, amd64, and lpia now.
October 20st, 2008: v3i: Updated patch to apply cleanly to the real Rhythmbox 0.11.6 release. v3h was for a later version from SVN.
April 24th, 2009: v3j: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.12.0. Provide debs for Ubuntu Jaunty.
November 4th, 2009: v3k: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.12.5 and provide debs for Ubuntu Karmic.
November 29th, 2009: v3l: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.12.6 and provide debs for Ubuntu Lucid too.
April 25th, 2010: v3m: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.12.8. Provide debs for Ubuntu Lucid.
Jun 3rd, 2010: v3n: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.12.8git20100602. Provide debs for Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat 10.10.
Jun 13th, 2010: v3o: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.12.8git20100611. Updated debs for Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat 10.10.
October 10th, 2010: v3p: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.13.1. Provide updated debs for Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat 10.10.
April 4th, 2011: v3p: Update patch to apply cleanly to Rhythmbox 0.13.3. Provide debs for Ubuntu Natty Narwhal 11.04.
October 16th, 2011: v3r: Updated patch for new plug-in infrastructure in Rhythmbox 2.90.1. Provide debs for Ubuntu Oneiric Ocelot 11.10.
December 23rd, 2011: v3s: Updated patch. Provide debs for Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04.
January 14th, 2012: v3t: Update patch and debs for Ubuntu Precise.