LastBASH - Console player for Last.fm

LastBASH is a console/terminal based Last.fm player. Although the 
default Last.fm player is a great one, it also is a graphical one and it 
could be somewhat inadequate for the die-hard terminal users, like some 
people I know. LastBASH tries to find its place among the other Last.fm 
players, filling this gap: the missing console player.

Basically, it is no more than a TUI frontend, written in Bash. It 
displays the information of the current playing track, keeps a history 
of the played tracks and allows the user to select the desired station 
and to perform some actions on the current track, such as love, skip or 
ban. It can also create a html file containing the track information and 
album cover.

To listen to Last.fm, you can use any player capable of mp3 streaming 
(such as MPlayer, mpg123, XMMS and so on) by opening the M3U playlist 
that LastBASH saves on connecting. But the recommended way is to use the 
LastBASH frontend features and let it run some compatible player in 
background (MPlayer or mpg123), that you can control through the same 
user interface. This way you need to have only one console open to 
listen and control Last.fm.


Features
========

LastBASH is a console player for Last.fm. Even if it is beta version, it 
is quite usable.

Its purpose is to offer a simple interface to Last.fm services, to allow 
you to listen to the streams while you are working in console. Or, 
maybe, when you don't want to use any graphical player.

LastBASH features the following:
* nice and usable Text User Interface
* authentication using the md5 password encryption
* retrieves the metadata of the current playing track and displays it 
  (artist, album, track name, track duration)
* keeps a history of last played tracks
* allows you to control the Last.fm station, by issuing the 'love', 
  'skip' and 'ban' commands
* allows you to change the Last.fm station based on tags, group, 
  neighbours, recommendations, similar artists, fans or by directly 
  typing the full url
* optionally, it can run a backend player (such as MPlayer or mpg123), 
  which you can control through the same interface, or lets you choose 
  any external player you wish (capable of playing mp3 streams), such as 
  XMMS, Rhythmbox or even Amarok, if you feel to
* remote control (send commands and station changing)
* creates a html file displaying the current track information
* easy integration with web browsers


Usage
=====

Please see the INSTALL file for quick instructions about how to install 
and launch LastBASH. You must have a compatible terminal (such as linux 
or xterm) and, if you wish to use the backend player, you should have 
MPlayer too. For now.

After you have donwloaded, extracted and installed the program, run it. 
You do not need to pass any command line parameters, at least at first 
start.

$ lastbash

It will ask your Last.fm username and password. You should have one. If 
not, hmmm... go and create an account on Last.fm

There are some command line parameters you can use, please see the 
lastbash(1) man page for more details. If you want to directly tune into 
a Last.fm station, use this format (feel free to use any lastfm:// url 
you like):

$ lastbash "lastfm://group/LastBASH"

The program will try to connect. If it succeeds, it will save a playlist 
in '~/.lastbash/playlist.m3u', for you to open with some external 
player, if you don't want to use the backend it provides.

If you have MPlayer (for the moment, this is the backend), it will start 
playing. If you don't want to use the backend, you will have to tell 
LastBASH not to try to run it by setting this in the configuration file:

USE_PLAYER="n"

Then, open your favourite mp3 player, load the above-mentioned playlist 
and start playing. LastBASH will show you the current playing track, 
will keep a history of last played tracks and will allow you to control 
the stream.

For example, to run MPlayer manually (just an example), run it this way:

$ mplayer -cache 512 -playlist ~/.lastbash/playlist.m3u

If you like xmms, run it this way (or just run it and open the playlist 
using the GUI):

$ xmms ~/.lastbash/playlist.m3u

To use mpg123, the command is the following:

$ mpg123 -C -v -@ ~/.lastbash/playlist.m3u


Key bindings
============

Basic key bindings are the following:

l
    Love track
k
    Skip track
b
    Ban track
q
    Quit (and stop the backend player too)

For more keys, please see the lastbash(1) man page.


Last.fm
=======

This is shameless self-promotion, I know. You can find me on Last.fm as 
cstroie and, if you like this player and want to share your experience, 
you can join the LastBASH group and tell others about it.

