Link of the Week: Pandora: Radio from the Music Genome Project

Pandora.com

• Pandora.com is truly one of my favorite internet sites. When I listen to music, I listen to Pandora. No matter what mood I'm in, Pandora has the music I want without commercial interruption. Their advertising is visual and nonintrusive. Best of all, their library is comprehensive so my CD or MP3 collection doesn't have to be, and the play list never has to be reset.
  
• Pandora.com is a cost-free internet radio service which allows you, the listener, to listen to only the type of music you like. You create your own stations, approve or disapprove of artists they suggest, mark favorite artists, skip songs you don't want to hear, and even put songs on hold if they grow wearisome.
  
• The premise of the Music Genome Project is to categorize music not by genre labels, but by elements of music: instrumentation, vocalization, even lyrics. Thus, the net effects produce play-lists that can truly surprise you. The beauty of this is, listening to Pandora introduces you to music and artists that you never knew you liked or even heard of previously.
  
• Pandora offers a comprehensive library of music, where obscure music receives the same treatment as that of well-known artists. My personal 'stations' (playlists based on roots of certain artists or songs) include The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Jack Johnson, Soft Jazz, The Beatles, Gospel, Rock Ballads, Christmas, and the Best of Broadway. Pandora also offers genre stations of their own creation, including chamber baroque, classical orchestration, and just about anything else you can conceive.
  
• Because you create a user for yourself (everything kept confidential, of course), you can share your stations with other listeners. For instance, if while listening to my computer, Ariane hears a station which she likes, she can go home, look up my user, and listen to the station in question (if I choose to share). If she wants to add or subtract from it, Pandora creates her own station based on the input I have already provided.
  

Things to Know

• URL: http://pandora.com
• Requirements: streaming audio capability, i.e., high-speed internet, computer speakers
  
• Dues or fees: none
• My Rating: 5/5