Friday, July 21, 2006

Pandora Rocks My World

Those who frequent this site, both of you, might have noticed a little box on the right hand side of the page listing "stations." Those are links to internet radio stations that I created using the Pandora website.

I know, I know, the tech savvy among you are saying, "What took you so long Christian? Pandora's been around forever!" And follow this up with 50 sites that have better internet radio functionality. But I find the Pandora site amazing.

Since I first set up a station, I have not listened to one mp3 on my PC. I haven't had too. Pandora combines the ability to listen to music I already like, with a robust AI that finds songs that I might like. According to the website, that is the purpose "to find you more music you like." Boy does it ever.

Add to the quality of the music library, sorry no classical yet, the Pandora Backstage function provides a great amount of detail to whatever song/band you are listening to. In fact, the Backstage information is sufficient to waste hours of my time. Reading the bios/discographic information is a joy and makes me feel like I might actually be able to hold a conversation with Nick Hornby someday.

BTW, check out why they recommend songs to you when you give this program a whirl.

One example from a song recommended for me:

We're playing this track because it features punk influences, a subtle use of vocal harmony, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, a vocal-centric aesthetic and minor key tonality.


I wish I spoke about music like that on a regular basis.

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