Pandora offers unique Internet radio for free

Over the summer I became acquainted with an incredible new way listen to music, an online service called Pandora. Pandora is an automated internet radio station and music recommendation service created by The Music Genome Project and located at http://www.pandora.com.

To use the website, one simply enters a favorite artist or song and Pandora then plays songs that share musical similarities. The user can then choose to either give the song a thumbs up or thumbs down rating. A thumbs up rating indicates that Pandora should play more songs with similar characteristics. A thumbs down rating results with that song never being played again and fewer similar songs being played. One can also choose to tag an overplayed song so that it will not be played again until the following month.

Unfortunately, there are a few limitations to the service. First of all, users can only skip six songs per hour due to recent restrictions on internet radio licenses. Another negative aspect is that it is impossible for users to fast forward, rewind, or repeat songs. The most frustrating aspect is that a user cannot choose a specific song to listen to, only the type of song.

Despite a few negative aspects, I have found Pandora to be a great resource for accessing both familiar favorites and finding new music. The database includes both popular and obscure music from a variety of time periods and genres. After minimal user input, Pandora picks basically only songs that I like, and best of all, it’s free!