Got a subscription to Last.fm? Then check out the open Last.fm beta (for subscribers only). I, alas, do not have a subscriber account, but the beta forum has a good bit of discussion about new features, broken features, and the dreaded new design.

Personal aesthetics aside, the new design definitely fails at being unique. Beyond the loss of branding and novelty, though, the site seems to be going in a good direction. The two pages I have seen are clean, simple, and consistent. People are crying bloody murder over the layout (which is horrible), but I bet that will either change by the final cut, or be modifiable by the user. (Virb.com has this feature, and it is wonderful.)

But however ugly the color scheme turns out to be, the design will not be unusable, and the site update will ultimately succeed or fail because of the features and UI tweaks. The best new feature I have heard about is definitely the free mp3s feed, with a list of free recommended mp3s you can subscribe to through any news reader or podcast manager. But everyone else is probably looking forward to the big, glamorous feature: the library.

What’s the library all about? It’s a way for you to see all the music in your profile. Dig through every artist, album and track you’ve ever played, save things there to check out later and categorise your music with tags. It’s pretty fun looking at your friends’ music now too. I can now see what’s in Felix’s (not-scrobbling-yet) vinyl collection, or what music my kid sister likes—even though she doesn’t have her own computer or iPod. Your library is the home for all your music, whether you scrobble it or add it manually. It’s also the basis for all of your personalised recommendations on Last.fm.

Fine, that sounds cool. And along with it come other big things like real-time charts, and smaller things like a giant music player in the upper right-hand corner to make easier the whole Last.fm radio thing.

Last.fm has always separated itself from the crowd with its collection of sophisticated tools designed specifically to build a big community you won’t find elsewhere. Up until now, I think a lot of the Last.fm users have been using the site passively, so hopefully the new release provides an experience great enough to really compel any of these users to become more active participants. With the library, real-time charts, and who knows what other new features, this is a strong possibility.

UPDATE: Flickr: Search: last.fm beta

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