One of the things I love most about being a maker is the idea of "scratching your own itch". if I have a problem or a need, I just build a solution. This can be a piece of furniture, a 3d print or laser project, or usually, software projects.
A few weeks ago a new itch popped up.
I have been a user of LastFM since 2005. I am a sucker for data and I loved the idea that I could save my music history somewhere and DO something with it. Of course as time went on it became clear that I couldn't really DO what I wanted with that data. I don't own it. they do. I can't easily export my complete listening history, etc.
That really pisses me off.
This is my data and I should be able to do whatever I want with it, whenever I want. LastFM isn't going to fix this problem, since for them holding my data hostage isn't a problem, it's a feature.
So I fixed it.
And in doing so, thought:
hey, there have to be other folks who feel the same way.
Which lead to the creation of 716FM, a simple SAAS that imports your LastFM history and keeps it up to date. Once the data is in 716FM, you can export the entire thing as json, csv, etc. You can also export specific ranges. I have eschewed the traditional UI and UX for this stuff, and went more with a "Musical Time Machine" exploratory approach, with a more traditional archive system to back it all up.
It makes me happy. Hopefully it will make some other people happy as well.
This is v0.5 of the app, which is focused on migrating your data from LastFM and keeping it update. V1.0 will ship with native apps for Mac and Windows that will allow you to ditch LastFM completely. Can't wait for that personally.
V2.0 will ship with some interesting AI features as an optional add on for the folks who want it.
Now you might be asking yourself
Self, doesn't exposing all of a users listening history to a model hosted universe knows where, conflict with this apps primary focus?
Glad you asked. The AI features I am designing are about giving you a deeper understanding of your music, and are 100% focused on privacy.
When these features ship, the models will be hosted privately, your data won't be used for training and will never be shared, sold, etc. The entire point of this app is user control and privacy, so that will extend to the AI layer as well.
Of course you have to trust me, but hopefully I can earn that trust through transparency, etc. 716FM has a covenant (and the normal legal docs) that spell out our commitment and responsibilities in clear English.
If you don't want to use the AI features, you won't be required to, and your data will never come in contact with those systems. Only those who upgrade to that tier will have their data exposed to the models.
And yes, this is a paid service. There is no way I can run this, with even a few thousand users, for free. I am doing my best to keep things as affordable as possible, and there will be an open source, single user version of the core for folks to download and run if they want to take on the burden of running and managing this for their personal music archive.
For everyone else a minimal monthly fee will be required. Hopefully the value provided warrants 5 bucks a month. I'm kind of banking on it, no pun intended.
Okay, I think that is enough for now. Go check out the site, read about the app and let me know in the comments if you have questions.
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