Forum » Last.fm Client Support

How Much Bandwidth Is Used by Scrobbling

 
    • said...
    • User
    • 1 Apr 2008, 18:47

    How Much Bandwidth Is Used by Scrobbling

    Does anyone know if there is a large amount of bandwidth used by the Last.fm client for just scrobbling songs played from the local computer?

    Basically, hammer is coming down at work for anything that is sucking out bandwidth. Thanks in advance!

    • DFA1979 said...
    • Subscriber
    • 1 Apr 2008, 19:02
    Without being able to give an example size, I can tell you that submitting plays uses practically zero bandwidth.

    • said...
    • User
    • 1 Apr 2008, 19:20
    By example do you mean track size? I didn't think it could use much if any relevant amount...

  • I'd guess loading this page would equal about 100 tracks scroblled

    Want to listen to your playlists on last.fm? Have a look at TagBar
    • mr1134 said...
    • User
    • 1 Apr 2008, 21:28
    it's a bit below 1KB per song. 100 KB equal roundabout 120 tracks.

    • Damaged said...
    • User
    • 2 Apr 2008, 09:06
    It's more than a bit below. On average, a sub is 150-200 bytes per track. Double that for HTTP overhead and it's < 500 bytes per track.

    Assuming an average song length of 3:30, that's 17 tracks per hour. 500*17 = 8500 bytes / 1024 = 8.3KB every hour.

    IOW, the traffic is background noise.

    However, the last.fm client does load a bunch of extended information in the "Now Playing" window and that will take a lot more bandwidth (images, artist/track info, etc).

    • jabumbo said...
    • User
    • 23 Apr 2008, 15:29
    i came across a similar issue myself at work earlier today. i was told that when i am streaming the radio, the whole network starts to bog down.

    is this a common issue? i know we have a high speed line (not a very good one though) so i was surprised to hear that it was a troublesome issue.


    the complaint came from someone who connects via wireless, could that be why it effects them the most? or maybe the fact that the computer i am running on is ancient?

    • muz said...
    • Alumni
    • 23 Apr 2008, 15:34
    Scrobbling usage differs from radio usage.

    In order to stream via the radio, you're effectively downloading at a constant rate of 128kbps, which is 16Kilobytes a second.

    Given the metadata that goes on top of this, you'd be using about 60MB an hour.

    If this poses an issue on your network speed, this suggests that your connection isn't really that fast. I'd inquire with whomever maintains your network to find out just how fast your connection is and to see how much of it you're using up by streaming.

    • rafvs said...
    • User
    • 5 May 2008, 19:46

    60MB an hour :/

    Does it really average at 60MB/hour? :/

    I stream last.fm tru the software whenever i'm working on the computer and the period I listen is never less then an hour :/ :D

    Thats like 240MB for 4 hours of last.fm, never really stood still to think about that:) byebye prescious download cap. :(


  • Re: 60MB an hour :/

    rafvs said:
    (...) byebye prescious download cap. :(

    It sucks to live in Belgium...

    Remember to say "thank you" for the things you haven't had
Anonymous users may not post messages. Please log in or create an account to post in the forums.