Pandora is an excellent Internet resource

[Orrex]

Where else can you customize a station to a specific artist of your choice and thereafter never hear another song by that artist while instead hearing The Traveling Wilburys' entire catalog daily?

Awesome!

[zanana1]

1. I agree.

Because of Pandora, I've discovered musical groups and singers I never would have found otherwise. It's an enriching experience.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

2. I could go on a 10 page fucking rant about the abomination that is Pandora

But suffice it to say - if I setup a death metal station, I don't fucking well want to hear Bon Jovi on it. Or Journey. Or Green Day. Or the Rolling Stones. If I setup a station for film scores, I don't want to hear church hymns or flamenco music. Fuck, it makes me want to tear my hair out!

[Orrex]

3. So it's not just me?

I set up a Roger Waters station, and I've heard every single Pink Floyd song post-Roger, as well as the same two songs off of Radio Kaos about three dozen times each, along with a healthy dose of Billy Joel of all goddamn people!

How many songs do I have to thumbs-up/thumbs-down before they start getting it in the ballpark?

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. Nope, it's not just you.

What sucks is that it gets worse over time. I have a U2/Coldplay channel (for when I feel like being a self-hating douchebag), and if I listen to it for too long, it's starts playing Poison and Guns 'n Roses and other shit that's vaguely from the same era, even if the genres are completely different.

And if you listen long enough, you'll start to hear the same 15 or 20 songs over and over and over, very few of which bear any resemblance to your original intent for that station.

[Orrex]

5. I also have an Ani Difranco station

I heard two yes two songs by Natalie Imbruglia in the past 90 minutes.

I have no particularly strong feelings about Ms. Imbruglia one way or the other, except to say that she's nearly the anti-Ani. So what the hell is she doing on my custom-chosen station?

[Avalux]

6. I can't quite figure out their strategy.

Do you know WHY that happens? Sometimes I'll hear something I like that I don't know; but most often it's as if the station is possessed, going off in some random direction that makes no sense at all.

[vanlassie]

7. Yep. It's possessed.

[olddots]

8. whats the bottom line --how much does it cost ??????

it sits in this computer and I glide by it because I hear negative stuff about it more than positive .

Even if you pay for a "flying scrotums " station it seems like they are going to give you some product placement for other acts whether you like it or not.

[Orrex]

9. The basic service is free

You can skip or "thumbs down" six songs per hour per station, and you get periodic ads between songs.


I understand the market forces behind offering a free service, but if they expect people to spring for the upgrade, they really need to improve their product.

[astral]

13. Their pay service is only like $35 per year.

I liked it alot before and lately I was noticing the songs that go together mostly really don't, seems like something has changed. From the comments here, it's "not just me!"

Last FM has done a better job for me of putting 'genres' together from my song picks. I haven't tried to see what paying gets you with them and probably won't as this is plenty for me, well I happen to use Sirius too so it's overkill.

On both Pandora and Last.fm you can just get lost reading bios of your artists, and of course clicking on links about artists that are associated as similar to yours.

I also love how I can learn about which artists are influenced by each other, who've played together, played each other's songs, backed each other up, who's whose kid who's also an artist... blah blah blah.

While far from perfect, they are pretty great as far as I am concerned.

[Orrex]

10. Last five songs on my Roger Waters station

Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
Going to California - Led Zeppelin
I Want You - Bob Dylan
Something in the Way She Moves - The Beatles


Notice anything missing?

[cyberswede]

11. I think they go by style elements.

...and I assume there's a computer-generated algorithm involved, which can't really make good subjective choices.

On my Caravan station, I get prog stuff, including an occasional Floyd or Tull song. I tried a Pink Floyd station, but got more mainstream classic rock, rather than prog.

I have three different melodic death metal stations, each based on a different artist, and there's relatively little overlap - which is ok, 'cause it keeps it fresh.

...and I get more Celtic music on my Offspring station than on my Pogues station.

I think of it all as a nice surprise.

[harmonicon]

12. Last FM? (nt)