Pandora Radio Reviews

Pandora:  radio customized to your taste! 
It's a great time to be alive, because that's precisely what Pandora offers:  radio stations that you easily train to be "smart" and which will only play music that appeals to your particular taste!

The Music Genome Project
My new hero is Tim  Westergren, who founded The Music Genome Project.  He and several techies and musicians set out to categorize all the music they could find by its musical attributes:  melody, rhythm, instrumentation, minor/major key.........all the things that combine to make a song "move" you or leave you cold.  We're all...

I'm a lover of satellite radio.  I've been an XM subscriber since shortly after launch.  I immediately liked the idea of being able to choose the genre of the music I would be listening to.  And the ability to listen to virtually commercial-free content...priceless!  While I listen to XM primarily while driving, I also enjoy listening while I'm working on the computer.  So, if I'm in the mood to listen to oldies while I write it's pretty simple. 

But even with XM, I'll occasionally come upon a song I'm not fond of, or worse, one that reminds me of a time or episode I'd rather not remember...

I love pandora. Have you been? If not, go there now!

Pandora.com is a great website that helps you find music that you might like.

Here's how it works.
You tell it a band you like. Then, it goes to work finding you music that you may like.  It quickly and smartly finds other similar bands/songs that have common characteristics. Then, they play you each song. (like the radio) Along the way, you can give the songs thumbs up or thumbs down to make it smarter. (kind of like the GMAT.)

So, what do I like about pandora?

• You tell it what you like 
• You can learn about musicians you have never heard of...

I decided to try this after reading Libby McMillan's review (shameless plug).

Let me start by saying that I have extremely eclectic tastes in music.  A partial list of the artists I like includes: Madonna, Michael Jackson, George Strait, Kathy Mattea, Earth Wind & Fire, Ashanti, The Spice Girls, Alison Krauss, Ludacris, and Jay-Z.

Ok, so the site allows you to create multiple radio stations based on music you like.  You do this by adding "seeds" to a station.  A seed is a song or artist you like.  You then hear music that is similar to what you selected.  If you selected artists, then you hear...

The Music Genome - mapping the music you love best.

I've seen Genomes mapped out for Authors, and I've never seen the Genome which drives Pandora, but it doesn't really matter.

 What the genome does, is it shows you what you know - and then expands on it to show you what you don't know - in a related form, style, type of music.  You will learn more about different artists that you didn't know about  by listening to Pandora.

I think I made 21 different stations based on a song or an album/artist that I liked.  I could switch according to mood and circumstances.

 You can send these "radio stations"...

I LOVE Pandora!  It's a free website where you can enter a favorite artist or song and its "music genome" will select additional songs that you'd enjoy.  It's constantly adding additional music.  It even will play classical music now!  I've learned about several musicians that I'd never encountered!  I was fortunate enough to come across some information about Pandora more than a year ago in a magazine.  I use it nearly every day.  It's a great way to learn more about music and broaden your musical horizons.

There are a few drawbacks to Pandora, however.  You are subjected to advertising...

Pandora Internet Radio is a brilliant idea that doesn't live up to its promise. For example, I sekected a few of my favorite musicians and created a station for each of them; imstead of playing most of the selections by my chosen artrist, I am confronted with "we think you'll like this music that sounds like your musician." I DON"T WANT TO HEAR THAT, I WANT TO HEAR MOSTLY THE MUSICIAN I CHOSE! Just maddening, and I always end up disgusted and frustrated.

www.pandora.com is a great alternative to AM/FM radio, it is over the internet and has no static like normal radio can. Unfortunately I cannot compare Pandora Radio to Satellite radio but unlike satellite Pandora is free. On Pandora you can type in and artist or a song and it will create a music station catered around what was entered, it's so great. You'll be amazed at the variety in their song bank, so check it out, but one word of caution---don't say you like a song on their thumbs up or thumbs down rating feature. The reason I say this is because the will overplay the songs you choose...