New addiction...I mean, addition

See that new box on the bottom right hand side of the page? That's a LastFM box. Basically, it will show you the last ten songs I have listened to on my laptop, all courtesy of the amazing website LastFM.

My complete profile is right here.

While I'm still trying to figure out how to get that box to show completely in the corner...need to resize things somehow...I'm probably going to keep that design since I tend to like it the best out of all the pre-made ones they have. They DID have a U2 themed one, but the text was way too dark for the image they used.

Ah, but I haven't explained precisely what LastFM is. It's a free service that tracks the music you listen to via a plug-in that is available in a wide variety of players. It keeps track of which artists you listen to the most (U2), both weekly (U2) and overall (U2), as well as top tracks (Kaiser Chiefs??? Wahuuuh?).

Obviously since 1 out of every 3 songs I have on my computer is a U2 song of some form, that tends to dominate the charts. My only complaint is that the program does not differentiate between different albums. A song that was played at my Minneapolis concert, like Vertigo, will just show up as Vertigo from the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb album. I could listen to 5 different versions of New Year's Day, remix, live, or single edits, and yet it will still show either War or The Best of 1980 albums. A handy plug-in that allows you to edit or supply albums and artwork would be nice.

One other nice feature of this program is the ability to choose which songs you "love", as well as tag songs. Tags can be pre-selected (rock, dance, country, whatever) or you can make up your own (all time favorite, great live, remix, spiritual - rock, etc). REALLY addictive.

I must admit, I have a little bit of apprehension putting this ticker on such a public place. I don't know if really everyone needs to see what I listen to. Most of this apprehension comes from past experiences, where someone would condemn me on the spot for listening to something with a drum beat, or was "secular" vs Christian. But you know what I figure now? I'm really not ashamed of the music I listen to. In fact, I'm rather proud of it, and desire to freely share it. U2 in particular has opened the door and allowed me to share Christ with people. I am definitely not ashamed of it. And yes, I listen to Metallica too. I have my reasons, which you can disagree with.

And besides...anything that is not of faith is sin, right? I think I have the faith to listen to rock and roll...

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Kudos to Granticus for All Because of You. We really need to get you and Dean a Memory Man unit.