Review of Pandora
Recently, a friend of mine brought up the topic of Pandora. I had been meaning to try it for awhile, but never got around to it and figured that this would be a good time to play around with it. It was a wholly uniq ue experience.
The first thing that I noticed about Pandora is that it uses the Music Genome Project to find songs that the listener may enjoy. Most services recommend songs using an algorithm similar to the following: people who liked the current song like these other songs also. Pandora, on the other hand, recommends songs based upon what other tracks have the same genes as the current song or artist. There are hundreds of genes that track all aspects of a songs sound. Some of these include gender of the vocalist, whether the instruments are primarily acoustic or electric, and whether the guitar is "clean" or "dirty".
There is room for both of these methods for song recommendation, but it is refreshing to have a choice. Sometimes listeners may want to know what other songs people similar to them like. Other times the listener may be in a particular mood of be looking for a specific sound. The two lists of recommendations – starting from the same base song – may be drastically different. For instance, I really like "Tornado of Souls" from Megadeth and "A Question of Lust" by Depeche Mode. So basing song selection purely on what eclectic people like me enjoy listening to would not give a consistent sound to those of more limited ranges of appreciation.
Pandora’s pricing model is very unusual as well. The first 40 hours each month are completely free. After this period users have 3 options: wait until the next month, pay 99 cents for unlimited access for the rest of the month, of pay $36 dollars for unlimited access for the entire year. This last option also removes all ads from the site for the duration of the subscription. I feel that 40 hours per month is enough as I can find a lot of new music in that time frame.
Pandora also has an application for many different cell phone models so users can listen to music anywhere. My Samsung M520 is supported so I decided to play around with it and am really pleased; the interface is extremely clean and easy to use. The app is but, depending on your phone plan, you may have to pay a fee to use it. Be sure to check with your service provider to make sure that you are not shocked when your bill comes.
Overall, I feel that this is a great service and, if I ever start going to the gym again, I would definitely consider paying 99 cents each month to listen to music while on the treadmill. I would encourage everyone to try out the free 40 hour advertising supported version though as there is no risk involved. There is no software to install on your computer and no credit card needed unless you want to continue using it after your 40 hours are up.