Pandora’s Music Box
Every time a person discusses terrestrial radio I am reminded of a visit to a Comm Law class I had in college in spring 2001 by a local AM producer. He informed us that “FM will be dead in a few years,” to which I heartily agreed.
I did not, however, agree with his assertion that AM would be what rose back to prominence. That statement is like saying that cassettes are going to make a dramatic comeback and destroy digital music. (Seriously, you’re retarded. Go feel empathy for the kids in The Ringer). Sorry big guy. You’re getting tossed in the sucking whirlpool as well.
As the countdown to the death of radio continues, yet another nail in the coffin has been introduced: Pandora, a free Internet radio service provided by the people at the Music Genome Project, a group of well-meaning nit-pickers who have spent the past five years documenting the idiosyncrasies of seemingly every song ever.
Pandora (located, conveniently, at www.pandora.com) allows the user to enter an artist that they enjoy, and the player then builds a streaming radio station based off the musical traits each artist is known for. It’s a great way to discover new music, and in my experience, played songs that I liked with about 80% accuracy. If the player selects a song you don’t enjoy, you can tell it that the song sucks a fat donkey cock (their words*, not mine), and it will automatically shut the song off and begin a new one. This allows the program to better understand your personal music tastes and adjust accordingly.
The service is still in its relatively nascent stages as of now. It requires (a free) registration to use, with the option to pay for a quarterly or yearly ad-free service. I can tolerate ads if I’m being serviced properly (that’s why I don’t mind when a girl tells me about the hot deals at Popeye’s while I’m worshipping her from the rear), so I’m going to stick with the free service.
If you don’t have an iPod yet, or just like to discover new music, give Pandora a try. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
*not their words
December 22nd, 2005 at 10:26 am
last.fm (yep, that’s it’s address…) does that, too… it’s pretty spiffy.