It was September of last year when I announced a “new blaster.fm is coming”. I’d already begun working on it by that stage, so it’s taken almost a year of my spare time to make it happen, but it’s here. The new, shinier, friendlier, 1.8x more amazing blaster.fm, codenamed Vernon.

Here’s a recap of what’s changed:

• New signup and login process means you’re no longer tied to your last.fm account. Sign in with last.fm once, and then you’re free to pick a different username and password, and continue to login using these.
• New posting interface gives you much more control over how your song will appear, with a full preview before you post it.
• New follower/following relationships mean you can follow whoever you like, whether they were a last.fm friend or not. You can also amass hundreds of followers without lifting a finger.
• New amazing javascript powers mean you can post, comment, visit artist and user profiles, and come back, all without losing the track you’re currently playing.
• New shiny interface means your eyes will be happier.
• New Facebook integration means you can post a track to Facebook and your friends will be able to play it right from their timelines.

And now that’s all complete, I can move on to even more new and exciting features! Pro accounts and mobile apps are on the books.

Finally, a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me with encouragement, donations so I could keep the site up, and even just by using the site and being a part of the amazing community of music lovers that we have grown. You’re all lovely.

Wow, it’s been a year since I first registered blaster.fm (and blr.fm for short links).

I’ll expand this post with reflections on the year when I have a bit more more time.

If you would like to help me cover the costs of registration and hosting for another year, you can donate here. Thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement that’s made it worth continuing to put in the effort.

Hello. I wanted to share with you what’s been happening with blaster.fm.

We’ve watched closely with how our early users have been using blaster.fm and we’ve been making significant changes to design and functionality. Here are some of the benefits you’ll get from the next version, codenamed “Vernon”:

• New notifications list
• Easily play through all songs in your timeline
• Pick your own unique username – you’re no longer stuck with your last.fm username
• Click through to profiles, posts, and other pages without losing what’s currently playing
• Revamped “new post” dialog which lets you preview the result before you post, as well as select the most relevant youtube clip

Here’s a sneak peek:

(Click to embiggen.)

And of course, we’ve been hard at work developing Android and iPhone applications too.

Hope this has whet your appetite for some new blaster.fm goodness. Watch this space.

Good news! After months of private beta, blaster.fm is officially launching a public rollout.

What we begin

Blaster.fm was started with the idea of filling the holes in what last.fm offers. It’s not to say that last.fm is flawed, just that it doesn’t focus on some things we’d really like it to do. It seems a shame to not be able to share and discuss music with your last.fm friends, without having to shout on their wall. That’s one really awkward conversation. And if you want to find new music based on what they’re listening to, you have to stalk their page, without the benefit of their feedback. It seemed to us there was an opportunity to fill these holes by making a social service that centres around talking about music with your friends. Something like “Facebook for music”. (Please don’t sue us, Mark Zuckerberg!)

So that’s what blaster.fm is. Built on last.fm, and using Grooveshark’s fantastic streaming library, we let you share, discuss, and listen to music with your last.fm friends.

There’s also Twitter integration, so you share tracks with your friends there too.

Update: Blaster.fm is open to all! Sign up now, nothing to lose.

Visit blaster.fm and sign up now.