Link to a Winamp Last.FM plugin for those of you that need one is at the end of the post.

This is the description of a way to scrobble traditional internet radio (shoutcast/icecast streams) with Last.fm, using Winamp with the Audioscrobbler plugin, the Last.fm for Windows application, and the Streamripper plugin for Winamp.

The problem: Though the Audioscrobbler plugin works very well on transferring the data of currently played local tracks to the Last.fm for Windows application (and thus to Last.fm), it can not do the same for streamed tracks, even when correct artist and title information is sent within the stream.

A way to a solution: Before actually playing the streamed track(s) with Winamp, have them converted to single tracks. This is done by utilizing the free Streamripper plugin for Winamp, which at the same time adds time-shifting functionality to the playpack. "Time-shifting" means, that you can skip back and forward during playback and repeat tracks, a functionality known from modern "personal video recorder" set-top boxes for digital TV.

How to: First, Winamp and the Last.fm for Windows application have to be installed, and the Audioscrobbler plugin must be present in Winamp. Easiest way to install the Audioscrobbler plugin is to use the installation wizard of the Last.fm application (menu: Tools/Get Plugin...). Check if scrobbling works for local files.

Note: I don't know if the following setup will work with the alternative Winamp plugin "AWAAS - ActiveWinAmpAudioScrobbler" (without the Last.fm application), but it probably does. I'd love to get reports.

Next is to install Streamripper, a free Open Source software. It includes a Winamp plugin. When Streamripper and its plugin is installed, it will automatically load when Winamp is started. Streamripper adds an icon ("SR") to the tray area, which provides control of the Streamripper window and settings. The Winamp plugin allows to control whether Streamripper is automatically started and enabled with Winamp. Now, use these settings in Streamripper options:

Connection Try to reconnect to the stream if it drops [yes] Create relay stream [yes if you want to be able to get playback on another computer] Don't rip over X megs [yes and a value if your hard disk space is quite limited] Local Machine Name: localhost File Output directory [choose a directory on a drive with at least 1 GB of free space, preferably not the system drive (C: usually) - or set "don't rip over X megs" to a value of at least ~1 GB less than your free space] Rip to seperate files [yes] Rip to single file [no] ! Overwrite tracks in complete: Always Add ID3 V2.3 info to the tracks [yes] Add finished tracks to winamp playlist [yes] Number of initial songs to leave incomplete: 0 Pattern Output file pattern: %1q Skins [as you wish] Splitting [leave at default] Ext/Codeset [leave at default]

Usage: Choose and start playback of an internet radio station with Winamp as usual: By clicking a link on a website, i.e. http://www.shoutcast.com/, http://somafm.com/ and many others, a saved link in a Winamp bookmark, a saved .pls or .m3u file, or from the shoutcast radio page of Winamp's media library (online services).

Make sure the radio station is playing and delivering correct artist and title information. The track info shown in Winamp must comply with this scheme: Track Artist - Track Title (Station Name and Information)

While the station is playing that you want to scrobble, click on "Start" in the Streamripper window. Note that now two streams of the same station will be received: One playing "live" in Winamp, one for recording by Streamripper. To reduce load to your favourite station, you could now switch to another station in Winamp, just temporarily for the next few minutes.

As soon as one track of your recorded station ends, it will be added to the actual playlist in Winamp. But do not start playback of the first recorded track immediately, because playback will likely end (and set Winamp to stop) when it ends before the next track is complete. Wait until 2 or more recorded tracks are added automatically to the playlist. Also note, that the playlist window will be cleared, if you open some file or other radio station now. As soon as several tracks from your ongoing Streamripper recordings are in Winamp's playlist, you can pause, skip or replay tracks at will!

Streamripper will continue recording the station until stopped, or until your hard disk is full (or until the station stops playing of course). If you applied the settings correctly, Streamripper will automatically delete old tracks. Otherwise a simple script or scheduled Windows task could be set up to clear the download directory.

EDIT:   Since this seems to be a very popular post, the link below points to the WinAmp Last.FM Scrobble Plugin that I use.  This is NOT the one from the Last.FM client (that one currently doesn't work on my machine), but  a 3rd Party alternative that works very well.  As it is 3rd party however, it is not supported by myself or by Last.FM.  Simply put the DLL in the Winamp\Plugins folder, start up Winamp, it will ask for your username/password, and you should be good to go.

WinAmp Last.FM Plugin

StreamRipper Available here:

StreamRipper

Popularity: 15% [?]