The concept is incredibly simple - you create a (free) account, and then specify a song or artist you like. Pandora then plays similar music, which you can give a thumbs up or down to. Based on your feedback, Pandora begins to figure out the music you'd like to hear, and provides you with your own customized internet radio station. You can further refine your station by specifying additional artists and songs.
From the excellent audio quality to the impressive automatically generated recommendations, Pandora music service really is worth experimenting with. I'm going to post the link to one of my radio stations in the comments section - please feel free to share yours. If you're having a hard time figuring out how to find the link to your radio station, try reading this tutorial.
Comments
This is my “roots radio” feed. The emphasis is on old blues, the music of New Orleans, and some “old time” artists.
If you like pandora, you def. like last.fm
Your write up on Pandora inspired me to listen, but alas, it is not available to those of us in Canada…..I thought this Internet thing was global darn it!
Not to be dissuaded by details such as an non-US ip address, i found something called AnchorFree that will cloak my Canadian ip address and allow me to access Pandora radio. I heard about this on CBC radio (Canada’s national radio), which lent it some legitimacy. I’ve installed it and am listening to Pandora.
Ok, last installment of my Canadian Pandora experience. Cloaking my ip address only led to a compromised firewall and ooodles of ads and a slowed down computer….however, I’ve been enjoying last.fm.
I was wondering how Dan was getting Pandora in Canada – then I looked at the bio. It seems you’ve relocated from Hamilton. When did that happen? Years ago, I bet and I missed it.
Ahh… yes. I’m in NYC… have been for some time now.
Very cool! And nice & easy to use and register. They’ve got spanish christian music selections too which is what I was looking for. Thanks again for all your great tips!
Pandora is also available as an app on the iphone, and works great as long as you have at least 3g coverage.
if its like last.fm i wont be able to hear unbroken music…
dang dial-up
I use both pandora and last.fm and love them equally.
I can get pandora radio at work but at hoem the music fades in and out. Could this be because I have dial up?
Why bother with that Pandora website? I remember I tried that one before they closed it down for all people outside the US. Trust me, you don’t miss much. I am way more content with AOL Radio. While they too reside in the US and we all still can listen to it worldwide and not to Pandora I have no clue, but who cares. With more than 350 different style music stations, very few commercials, and thank God, NO annoying dj’s!
I am happy…
Frans, Taiwan
I actually found a great windows app on http://www.pandorasbanana.com/. This thing is awesome. Allows you to minimize pandora radio to your system tray with unlimited play and has a bunch of other cool features. My favorite is the option to startup with windows while minimized to your tray. I sound like a commercial
Go internet radio!!
Our Canadian data rates, gaps in 3G coverage and the fact that Pandora is now US-only will slow acceptance here. I don’t see Ford putting IR into Canadian cars any time soon.
Also people don’t yet appreciate that digital transmissions tend to regularly cut in and out even on stationary digital radios as a result of the all-or-nothing nature of digital sound. This happens whether its IR through the web or OTA (HD FM – we get it from across the US border). There is no fix in sight for this, especially for those who care about a quality listening experience – even super-powered 1000W HD Star Radio Buffalo was in-and-out last night, and broadband audio quality IR too often seems to have annoying mini-gaps.
Also the concept of personalizing radio relies on hearing and noting good stuff in the first place – where for most of us but on conventional radio, OTA or satellite?
I doubt analog radio, in the car or elsewhere, will be gone any time soon.
For listening to Pandora from other countries, try http://www.jumpto.com it’s free. It has no problems streaming hulu in HD so Pandora should be a slam dunk.