Pandora.com - revolution of internet radio?

[Usagi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattigol I beg to differ. The kind of research for this methodology seems extensive. How often a year do you buy CDs that only partly satisfy your expectations or end up not being used at all? Conservately, 3-4 times? Well in my book, those 36 bucks can be much more wisely spent from now on, taking you through a world of new music and helping you avoid costly mistakes as well.

I refuse to pay for demo music. I demo and then I buy. Therefore I am!

I wouldn’t enjoy paying for music that I am unable to listen to at my leisure or prohibited from transferring to my DAP for portable use. Leasing Pandora is similar to paying for advertisements. I equate the idea of Pandora to commercials because of the inability to listen to chosen music when one chooses. In addition, you are also limited to skip a certain amount of songs per hour. I believe the number is ten. After that you’re stuck listening to Barney’s “I Love You. You Love Me”.

I listen to an abundance of ambient electronica music online, which includes Groove Salad, Beat Blender, and Drone Zone via SomaFM Radio . I also listen to dub-beautiful collective . You lack the option to skip ten times, but these stations are 100% free. If I hear a song/album I like then I will purchase it through iTunes or obtain a copy through Amazon. This is the way the stars and heavens were meant to be.

 

[elmoe]

Fun stuff. I guess it all comes down to how big their information database is... so far I've asked for songs similar to I've got a feeling by the Beatles and it gave me a Sandy Sulivan song...

 

[thecheeks]

hmm very interesting. liking it so far, itll probably take me the whole 10 hours to decide if i want to pay for it.

edit: if i pay for it, can i use it on 2 computers at the same time on the same home network? im sure my parents would LOVE this cause they like the Sirius internet radio we have also. so if they get this, then could i use it on my computer at the same time?

 

[Elephas]

Discovering new music is a fun process for me. This is great, thanks for the link. I'm signing up.

 

[blessingx]

Pandora is great. Thanks for the suggestion. BTW, for those using iTunes (Windows and Mac), I just came across Goombah, which is also a suggestion setup. Haven't tried it yet, but worth a look also.

 

[wlai]

Just want to bump this thread. I discovered Pandora (again) recently, and their business model has changed. Now you can choose to view ads and use Pandora for free, or you can pay to not see ads. It is an excellent service.

A similar service is www.last.fm. They are equally good, some say Pandora is better at balancing between introducing new acts vs. giving you the artists you like, and Last.fm is better at following your perferences.

Now if their quality is higher, it'll be really something. As it is, I guess it's comparable to good ol' FM radio, so still very listenable.

 

[Solitary1]

Yeah, I've been a Pandora fan since earlier this year. I just discovered last.fm a few weeks ago. With Internet radio and satellite radio gaining ground, has anyone noticed just how bad FM radio really is? The only FM radio I listen to is sports radio anymore, and that's in the car (especially since I sold my iPod dammit). I mean, the playlists seem to have been locked down as tight as they've ever been (obviously I can only speak for the area I live in, which is the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex). The same song is coming your way 3 times in a 2 hour span. The exception is of course the college stations.

 

[Gatticus]

I use Pandora for free and don't see any ads. Their ad server is blocked in my Hosts file. The ads they do show are not annoying like some websites anyway. I just block it because I can.

 

[wlai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatticus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use Pandora for free and don't see any ads. Their ad server is blocked in my Hosts file. The ads they do show are not annoying like some websites anyway. I just block it because I can.

Oh cool. Can you tell me what these servers are? I can use adblocker on my browser (Firefox) to do the same, I think.

 

[GreatDane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solitary1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I've been a Pandora fan since earlier this year. ... has anyone noticed just how bad FM radio really is? .

I started using the free version of Pandora early in 2006 and I agree that it is a great way to explore new music. I stopped listening to FM radio about 4 or 5 years ago...it sucks, same old songs i've heard 100 times before or songs that I don't want to hear...and the commercials to punish even more.

 

[rich1122]

I've been using Pandora for about 7 months - ever since I got my Squeezeboxes. While it's not free, I can listen to my "radio stations" through my Squeezebox/amp/headphone setup whenever I'm in the mood to try out new music.

 

[labelbassist]

Yeah I found Pandora a few months back while searching through google. It's a great site for finding new music. It's actually free though, you only have to pay if you don't want banner ads to appear.

 

[wlai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rich1122 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been using Pandora for about 7 months - ever since I got my Squeezeboxes. While it's not free, I can listen to my "radio stations" through my Squeezebox/amp/headphone setup whenever I'm in the mood to try out new music.

Can you select your Pandora stations from Squeezebox? I assume you will have to set them up via PC first. Can you vote up/down via remote control?

Also, not sure whether you mean you'll have to use the paid subscription for Pandora with the Squeezebox.

I've been looking at the Squeezebox for a few weeks and am getting close to buying one. I like the fact that it's open source, and that you can use Pandora with it.

 

[gmoffatt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobeau /img/forum/go_quote.gif Instead of editing the above... this is as good a thread as any for my 500th post. About a year back I encountered a pretty cool website which had a 'mind-mapper' like format to trace bands and their influences/connections. Anyone know what I'm talking about? I wonder if the research this project and that were derived from is the same.

Congrats on 500! Could that have been "Live Plasma"?

Anyways, Pandora and Squeezebox are a great combo. Well worth the subscription. As I believe others have noted, you can listen to Pandora on your computer, through your web browse, for free without a subscription.

Edit: to wlai -- yes to all, plus you can set up your stations directly on the squeezebox. Get a squeezebox, it is awesome.

Incidentally, while we're on the subject of music on the internet, you guys might want to check out kexp.org. It's a great independent radio station out of Seattle. They play great music, have lots of bandwidth options (including an uncompressed stream!) and archive the last two weeks of programming so you can listen to whatever you want. Lots of great indy from the northwest, but also great hip-hop, country, and world music shows.

Cheers (and happy holidays to all)
Greg

 

[gmoffatt]

Double post.