I had heard of Pandora, so for this Sno-Isle 20 for 2.0 project, I tried it out. Pandora is a site that has human-sorted, professionally tagged music, which appeals to me after the useless automated recommendations of sites like amazon.com. They analyze the music for all sorts of qualities beyond the usual genres. With Pandora, I can put in an artist or song title, and they will play music similar to it. I tried it with Tito Puente, since I like his music, and the several songs I listened to did match it in feel. You can also pick a "station" by genre (e.g., "latin american pop" or "New Orleans jazz"). I liked the songs they picked for the "latin american pop" station. I tried typing in a genre that they don't already have, "World music" to see what I would get. In reality I got a song with a title similar to "world music" in the reggae genre, so even though I didn't get exactly what I was asking for, it was close. For each song that plays, I can give it a thumbs up, thumbs down, or a "I'm tired of this song", and Pandora will adjust the playlist accordingly.
Okay, so I've given this site a generally positive vote. Will I actually use it? Well, the place I usually listen to music isn't in front of the computer but in the car and secondarily while I'm doing housework or cooking. If I could download the songs and burn a CD, then I could listen to the music when and where I liked, but due to licensing issues you're only allowed to listen to the songs through the Pandora website. This does mean that artists get paid for their artistry every time I listen to them, which isn't a bad thing itself, but does mean it's more like listening to a radio than purchasing a song.
I also can't listen to music at work. At work, my computer is separated from the public area by only a short wall, so I listen via earbuds - but the cord isn't long enough and I have to hunch over to keep them in my ear. I listen to short, necessary things, but there's no way I could easily work on my computer and listen to Pandora for any length of time because of the discomfort in my neck.
If I were a real music nut, I'm sure I could overcome these minor, personal technical issues, like I could keep a laptop in my kitchen, or somehow connect my computer with the good stereo speakers at home, or I could get a longer cord for my earbuds at work. I still wouldn't be able to bring it with me in the car for long trips. I like music, but it isn't important enough for me to overcome these issues on a regular basis.
