Man can't get a few dimes?

May 10, 2007 8:38 PM

I was just musically abused without my consent. Can you identify the perpetrator?

I was surfing the internet and listening to my winamp playlist today. Suddenly I heard some other music playing on my computer, so I stopped my winamp and this music continued on... and on. Programs I closed: all firefox windows (none of the sites I was on had music to play anyway), winamp, icq. Music still kept on going. It was a song that played all the way through and I managed to grab the mic and record the last minute of it. I googled one line I could understand, "Man can't get a few dimes," and I think it's a song by a group named "Garfunkel Art."

Question! What the hell just happened? Has anyone else experienced this?

Some facts that might help: I'm not schizophrenic (I managed to record part of it). I did have a lastfm app running, but does an entire song I've never heard of just randomly play through that?

posted by koshka to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

FYI: The song is "I Love Death" by Lodger.
posted by phaedon at 8:45 PM on May 10, 2007

I did have a lastfm app running, but does an entire song I've never heard of just randomly play through that?

Well, the last.fm app does play entire random songs you've never heard of, so it's entirely possible. Is it possible you accidentlly hit a keyboard shortcut that started last.fm playing? [CTRL]+P will press "play" on last.fm, but only if it's active, I assume.
posted by Jimbob at 8:54 PM on May 10, 2007

(Go have a look at your last.fm profile page - if you played "I Love Death" by Lodger on any last.fm-capable music players, it should be listed there somewhere, no?)
posted by Jimbob at 8:56 PM on May 10, 2007

Response by poster: I looked and it's not listed there. When the music started playing I had firefox open and when I hit ctrl + P it prompts me to print the page. I'm not a subscriber to last.fm radio so I couldn't have accidently hit something that would play the radio function.
posted by koshka at 9:00 PM on May 10, 2007

their video is on metacafe, youtube, etc. maybe that's how you came across it?
posted by phaedon at 9:04 PM on May 10, 2007

I'm not a subscriber to last.fm radio so I couldn't have accidently hit something that would play the radio function.

You mean you don't pay for it? You don't have to...last.fm is free unless you want to listen to a musical selection created from your own MP3 library. On a free account, it will play random selections by genre, or similar artist.

Which isn't to say you're wrong - if the song's not listed on your profile, then I guess it wasn't last.fm. I'm out of ideas.
posted by Jimbob at 9:06 PM on May 10, 2007

Response by poster: their video is on metacafe, youtube, etc. maybe that's how you came across it?

I don't think it's that because the music kept playing after I closed all browsers and the audio quality was much better than in that video.

@Jimbob: Oh I was looking at the Personal Radio and Loved Tracks Radio which say I need to be a subscriber. But still, my recently played tracks doesn't list anything. I also never opened the last.fm window before/during this fiasco.
posted by koshka at 9:11 PM on May 10, 2007

Best answer: If the only likely thing that could play music was the only thing open, then that's the only thing that likely played the music, i.e. Last.fm.

At 128K streaming, Last.fm has noticeably better quality than a lot of other music sources too, just as you said. And, of course, Last.fm's client opens with WinAmp and stays open until disabled.

Here's the deal with Last.fm's client: it's a goddam buggy piece of crap. I get sound misbehaviors (weird intermingling of songs or pulsing noises while playing), staying active but not continuing to play, incorrectly identified songs, failure to display songs being played, and crashes once or more every longish session I use it. So suspecting Last.fm autonomously played a song that its little pinhead thought up on a whim shouldn't surprise you in the least.

Standard disclaimer #502: I'm not saying Last.fm is crap, or its technology is crap. I'm just saying that their client software is in serious need of quality control attention.
posted by mdevore at 10:01 PM on May 10, 2007

If you use AIM, sometimes there are video ads that play music.
posted by !Jim at 10:43 PM on May 10, 2007

You don't share a common wall with a neighbor, perhaps the wall on which your computer speakers rest, do you?
posted by davejay at 10:51 PM on May 10, 2007

Response by poster: @mdevore: this is probably the case then.

@!Jim: I don't use AIM.

@davejay: no, the music was coming clearly out of the speakers like a high quality mp3. It was a very surreal moment.
posted by koshka at 11:08 PM on May 10, 2007

Response by poster: Wow, I think mdevore has it spot on. In my lastfm app it shows my recently played tracks correctly, but on the website it lists a days worth of songs I have definitely not listened to. Crazy!

Thanks for all the responses.
posted by koshka at 11:35 PM on May 10, 2007

For the record, it's a person named Art Garfunkel, not a group named Garfunkel Art. Art got his start when paired with Paul Simon. They were Simon and Garfunkel.

Anyway, I hope the only sound your computer is making now is silence. If you'll excuse me, I have to take a call. It's Mrs. Robinson. She's homeward bound and is about to cross the bridge over troubled water.
posted by kc0dxh at 8:28 AM on May 11, 2007 [4 favorites]