A screenshot of Last.fm, an Internet radio site that will soon begin charging people $3 a month to access its music. Photograph by: www.last.fm , Canwest News Service

Juggernaut Internet radio site, Last.fm, will soon charge $3 a month for users outside of the U.S., United Kingdom and Germany.

Last.fm founder Richard Jones announced the switch to a paid service Tuesday in the site's official blog.

"There will be a 30 track free trial, and we hope this will convince people to subscribe and keep listening to the radio," he wrote.

The London-based website currently has 30 million users, who use the service to stream music catered to their tastes, recommend music and browse band biographies.

"We work with over 280,000 labels and artists, many of whom we pay directly, and have built up the largest catalogue of any web radio platform: over seven million tracks are available on Last.fm Radio stations," he wrote.

Jones said the monthly fee will give listeners unlimited access to Last.fm Radio.

The subscription charge is expected to take effect March 30.

Some users were swift to condemn the move, with many saying they were finished with the service. Others questioned why three countries would continue to receive the service for free.

"Seriously, we, the ones who live in the 192 countries, want to know why we have to subsidize those will live in the USA, the U.K. and Germany?" wrote one user. "I have some trouble understanding your logic."

Owen Parry, Last.fm's product manager, digital music, responded to some of the comments.

"Revenue from international subscriptions will be used to cover the cost of providing a radio service for international users. Revenue from advertising will be used to cover some of the cost of providing service in the three countries — subscriptions are also available," he wrote.

"While we would like to provide the same service for users of all countries — the world is a huge place and it's not cheap to deliver music over the Internet."

Last.fm was bought a year ago by CBS for $280 million.