Pandora's Music Box

Pandora is an online Internet Radio website that picks music based on your selections. For those of you who are familiar with Yahoo Music Internet radio, Pandora is very similar with a few exceptions. When you initially sign up, you pick an artist to begin the Internet Radio station with. Afterwards, Pandora will play similar music, but yet at the same time allows you to thumbs up, thumbs down, the recommendation. Based on your submissions of thumbs up or down, the music engine will learn your tastes in designing a custom playlist. With Pandora, you are able to create multiple stations. The basic version is free, and there is also a paid subscription option if you do not want to be subjected to ads. Pandora also links to direct music purchase from Amazon or iTunes.

The pros are that it is a cheap way of discovering new music. In the 90s we had College Music Journal magazine to get a monthly dose of new music. It was neat having the early release of a song to find out a few months later how it suddenly became "popular".

The con is of course it's still Internet Radio, and you are not allowed to download the music to mp3/mp4. Who knows, maybe you will find that diamond in the rough and find the next big music act.

I was very hesitant at first about using Pandora, but grew to love it and listen to it all the time. It allows a refreshing perspective from the monotony of traditional radio and your cd or iTunes collection. Variety is the spice of life, and Pandora definitely offers such to its listeners.

http://www.pandora.com

Bye for now,
Gizmo.