One of the success stories of the internet has been Last.fm now with over 15 million users across the world. Although Last.fm songs are streamed, there is a way you can save them as Mp3’s on your hard drive.
TheLastRipper is a freeware audio recorder that does exactly that. After installing the program, you simply enter your Last.fm login name and password and choose one of the radio stations available. TheLastRipper can save Last.fm streams to Mp3’s, while downloading album covers, appending ID3v1 tags and organizing your music by Artist/Album/Track. It can even help you generate playlists from the data available in your Last.fm account in M3U, SMIL and PIS formats.
TheLastRipper developers also have a useful blog with info about the latest releases of the program across different platforms. One warning however – the legality of using TheLastRipper depends on which part of the world you are living in. The Danish developers claim that in their country, it is legal to record radio and/or TV ‘depending on the interpretation of the law’.
