Did a browser plugin/add-on ever make you switch your browser of choice? Well, for me one did and it’s ExtensionFM, build by Dan Kantor and Charles Smith, based out of NYC.

ExtensionFM is a Google Chrome extension that turns your browser become into a personal listening station, powered by your favorite music websites. How does it work? First, after installing the extension to your Chrome browser (direct install link), anytime you visit a website that hosts MP3 files, ExFM – which runs in the background – will detect the audio and index the piece of audio in your ExFM Library, creating your own personal music Library courtesy of your favorite websites you visit every day. I had the chance to use ExFM since its very early version and let me tell you that it has changed the way I discover and listen to music, not only because it works so well with Tumblr, where the people I follow have become my main source for new music. Not an audio creator myself, I’m currently listening to my SoundCloud Favorites via ExtensionFM. Whoop!

Watch this short video to see how it works:

Pretty cool, huh?

What’s even cooler is that with the latest update released last night, ExFM now also detects audio hosted on SoundCloud as well as our players embedded out there on the webbernet. Here’s what Dan and team are saying about the integration:

SoundCloud support is really exciting because it opens up a direct link from the artist’s studio into the listener’s music library. If we think back to when bands used to record music for ten’s of thousands of dollars in a studio, then produce millions of plastic discs, then ship those discs to thousands of stores, then have listeners spend 20 minutes trying to open the plastic surrounding those plastic discs, well anyway you get the point. Now artists can make music for the cost of a computer, upload it to SoundCloud and within seconds it’s inside their fans’ music libraries. Pretty incredible!

How does it look? Pretty cool, actually – see for yourself:

In the top right corner you’ll see that after clicking the ExFM extension icon, a player opens that has already detected the audio on the page I’m on. After clicking ‘Queue All’ I can now find the tracks in my ExFM Queue and play them in the background – closing the browser will not stop the playback.

Oh and want to see how this works for embedded players? Head over the The Recommender to check it out.

We like that, how about you? Try out ExtensionFM and let us and team ExFM know what you think in the comments.

Hello everyone out there in SoundCloud land! In case you missed it, here’s a recap of what happened last week on our SoundCloud Tumblr.

On Tuesday:

• In light of their album debut, Kiss Kiss Kiss announced a remix contest! The winner’s packages are insane. Click here for details.
• Check out “Wake Up Everybody,” the new track from John Legend’s upcoming album with The Roots, premiering on your favorite site (SoundCloud!):

• The Kavinsky remix competition winners were announced! From over 500 entries, the winners are:

On Wednesday:

• We shared some new tracks and remixes from the upcoming Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly release. Listen here:

• Wechsellook profiled our office! Check out our sweet digs (we’ve still got some desk space to share, by the way, check out our jobs page!):

• Not to be outdone, our Los Angeles-based employee Lee Martin shows off to us his transatlantic sister office:

Thursday:

• A couple of months ago we chatted to George Burl, an independent folk singer from Nebraska, who had been a Soundcloud pro user for just over a year. Today George is releasing his next EP Arrows which you can stream here:

• UK-based indie label Tough Love Records celebrated their 5th birthday! In celebration, they’re hosting a free, all day event at the Stag’s Head in London and have uploaded a compilation of their favorite tracks from the last half-decade here:

• Meetups meetups meetups! This Thursday, Soundclouders are going to be gathering in: Los Angeles, Barcelona, San Francisco, Linz, Liverpool, Medellin, Miami, Atlanta, New York, Manchester, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, and more. Head over to our Meetup page and see what’s going on near you!

And we saved the best for last…TGIFriday!

• Four Tet released this stunnin remix of a Jon Hopkins track:
• Warmest Chord is a brand-spanking new label from London, who specialize in digital releases partnered with super limited screen prints. Like what you see? Think they’ll like what they hear? Send off a track to their dropbox.

• Maximo Park’s Quicken the Heart Remixed was released on SoundCloud. Learn more about the project here.

• Got any samples to share? upload them using Scup and let me know about it!

We’re working hard on making SoundCloud the best place for samples on the web. Since our Sample Time! blog post last month a lot of new exciting libraries have been uploaded. These are all available for download and free to use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.