Monday, April 19, 2010

Pandora


Continuing the A-Z Challenge from Arlee at Tossing it Out

Today is the letter P - Pandora

No, not Pandora's box, although the concept is the same. Pandora is a radio station unlike any other. And opening this box will lead you to a whole world of music you never knew existed!

Pandora is currently available three ways. (And if there's more, please let me know!) You can access their online site through here, access the site through your TV, or access it via app on your iPhone, iTouch, or iPad.

What's unique about Pandora is the type of music - it plays what you want to hear! There's a free and a paid subscription that lacks ads. Select a band you love, create a channel just for that band, and then let Pandora do its thing. It will play not only the band you selected, but other bands that sound similiar. If you like the song choice you can vote thumbs up and if you don't, you can vote thumbs down, and it will never play that song again. (This can be done only so many times, as can skipping ahead.) You can create up to one hundred different radio streams, so the musical variety is almost unlimited.

What's amazing is the number of new bands I have discovered thorugh Pandora! The type of music I like doesn't get radio play regardless, so I usually have to search for new bands. Pandora had made this process so easy!

So whatever your musical tastes, you will find something new and wonderful when you open Pandora's box!

Now, who's ready to try Pandora? Who's a Pandora addict already?

34 comments:

Christine Danek said...

That sounds interesting. I may look into that.
THanks!

DEZMOND said...

PANDORA'S BOX, by OMD is one of my all time favourite songs! And I love the lyrics and the video as well.

Never, heard of the Pandora you are speaking off, Alex.

Jan said...

Oh Alex,
I love, love , love Pandora.
I use it every day!
I guess that makes me an addict!

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

This is just up my street Alex, I love music as you can guess.
Dos Pandora only apply to the US ?Very interesting to read.

Take care.
Yvonne,

Stewart Sternberg (half of L.P. Styles) said...

I am not sure I am willing to try Pandora, but it reminds me of all the other choices out there. Right now, FM is an option for me, mostly because I use it with my XBOX. And speaking of XBOX, I think that is one way I've discovered new bands, or at least rediscovered some old ones---through my friend Guitar Hero and Rock Band

Tara said...

Thanks for the link. I'm going to give it a try after I wade through Blogdom.

Summer Frey said...

I'm such a Pandora junkie that I have extra accounts so I can extend my 40-hours-a-month and still be a cheapskate. Oh yeah. :-)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Pandora is pretty cool. I haven't listened in a while though.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Dez, you'll have to give it a try!

Yvonne, Pandora is online, so it's available everywhere.

Stweart, I think as devices like the XM and Pandora become more popular, we'll see more and more radio stations die unfortunately.

Good to hear there's so many Pandora addicts out there!

Hart Johnson said...

I definitely enjoy Pandora. I don't listen a ton, as I get sucked into the music and fail to do my work, but it is great for both new stuff, and reminding me of old stuff I love that I haven't heard for a long time.

Hannah said...

Oh yes, I am extremely familiar with Pandora. I use it predominantly at work and have something like 40 stations with a variety of musics.

It's also available on my phone, I have a Palm Pre Plus.

Southpaw said...

I'm a huge Pandora fan too. I really enjoy listening to seasonal music too.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

More Pandora fans! Yes, I downloaded the Pandora app for my iPad immediately.

Raquel Byrnes said...

I had no idea this even existed. Thanks!

Kierah Jane Reilly said...

I LOVE Pandora. I discovered Death Cab for Cutie, Band of Horses and Bloc Party through Pandora. I can't write without Pandora. I didn't know you could get it through your TV! I'll have to try that! (and great minds think alike, don't they? heehee)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Raquel, you will love it!

Kierah, yes they do! I was excited when I purchased my new Bluray DVD player and discovered I could hook up a wireless converter on get Pandora on my TV as well.

B. Miller said...

I do love me some Pandora. I've got about four stations on there that I've tweaked until they're just right. I love finding new bands via Pandora too! Great post, Alex!

Talli Roland said...

Interesting - I've never heard of it but I'll check it out!

Anonymous said...

I might have been, but I'm not in the US, so I can't... :)

Julie Dao said...

I love Pandora! I am already an addict. I've made several writing playlists on it :)

Carol Kilgore said...

I'm going to check them out. Thanks!

Creative Chronicler said...

Thanks for the info. I'm definitely going to check it out1

Maurice Mitchell said...

Pandora is an awesome site. The list that it gave me was eerily similar to my music playlist. The only thing I don't like: One, I can't choose what songs I want to hear like Yahoo music. Two, there's no way to choose a non-explicit channel and I like to listen at work. :-X

Unknown said...

OMG!! This is AWESOME! Thank you so much for turning me on to Pandora! How cool is this?? You rocked my world today, Alex :))

The Old Silly said...

Always learn something new on this blog, Alex. ;)

Cheeseboy said...

Definitely going to check it out. My bands never get airplay too. Only on my iPod.

Gregg Metcalf said...

Never heard of it. I will check it out today. Does it have hard core honky tonk down home country? That would make my day. Thanks for bringing something new to my attention.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Maurice, that could definitely be a problem!

Nicole, happy to do so!

Cheeseboy, my favorite bands never get airplay, either. We are so spoon-fed what we're supposed to hear in America.

Glad to see so many Pandora fans here! And wish I got a commission on all the new ones.

Unknown said...

I love Pandora! I listen to it all the time. Thanks for spreading the word about it. It's fantastic.

Ella said...

I would love to open this Pandora's box...sounds amazing. A Tivo/dvd-R
for music, thumbs up n' down and then
play similar artist! Wow, sounds sublime!

Arlee Bird said...

I signed up for this a while back, but haven't really used it much. I'm also signed up to a couple of other similar music services. There is so much music available online that it is totally amazing -- I can't even keep track of music like I used to.

Lee
May 3rd A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Yea, Carol!

Open the box now, Ellie.

Grammy said...

Wow! Never even heard of a music access like Pandora. I am a little leery of new stuff sometimes. (the old fogey in me, I guess). I may try this one though.
Ruby

Jamie Gibbs said...

I was hooked on Pandora for a long while, right up until they stopped allowing non US listeners from using it :( I loved it while it was there, though. I discovered a lot more in the power metal genre through Pandora (Falconer is probably the best one they gave me)but now there's nothing really for Limeys to discover music with :(

I use Spotify instead now, but it's more focused on playlists as opposed to music discovery. Damn you, country specific copyright laws!