does anyone use Pandora?

kindlekitten · 12-14-2010, 10:19 AM

I've been listening for the last 2 days and am thinking about officially signing up and paying. I'm really impressed with the mix I have gotten thus far. has anyone had any bad experiences?

rhadin · 12-14-2010, 10:23 AM

I've been using Pandora for about 6 months now and am generally pleased. One problem with Pandora is that the mix it provides is sometimes right on target and other times way off target, and there is no way to control the mix. But overall, for the $36 I paid for a year's ad-free subscription, it has been a bargain and very good. My wife uses it as well, much more so than I do, and really enjoys it.

dsvick · 12-14-2010, 10:24 AM

I used to use it and was not impressed, although that was over a year ago so maybe they've gotten better or my tastes are so strange as to defy definition

Maybe I'll give it another shot.

HarryT · 12-14-2010, 10:24 AM

I've not heard of Pandora. What is it? A "Spotify"-like service for on-line music?

kindlekitten · 12-14-2010, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've not heard of Pandora. What is it? A "Spotify"-like service for on-line music?

I don't know what Spotify is, but it is a customer designed online radio station sort of deal

happy_terd · 12-14-2010, 11:23 AM

I played with the free droid version and it seemed pretty cool. I havent been able to check it out for any real amount of time yet.

HistoryWes · 12-14-2010, 11:49 AM

I use the free version sometimes, though not enough yet to warrent paying for a subscription.

rhadin · 12-14-2010, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've not heard of Pandora. What is it? A "Spotify"-like service for on-line music?

Harry, Pandora lets you "create" stations of music that fits your taste and you can have any number of stations. For example, I like Cecilia Bartoli so I created a station called Cecelia Bartoli and Pandora provides performances from her and other similar opera singers. You can tell Pandora that you like or dislike certain songs and it then tries to find others that you like and avoid those similar to what you dislike.

I have stations that run the gamut of my taste, for example, Placido Domingo, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Tchaikovsky, B.B. King, and Iron Butterfly. (I've got a bunch of others as well, along with the stations my wife created.)

Pandora offers a free and a paid version. I opted for the paid version because it is cheap enough ($36/year) and ad free. The free version interrupts the music with audio ads, which I found very annoying.

Mike L · 12-14-2010, 02:05 PM

I used to listen to it regularly, but a couple of years ago they closed it down - except for listeners in the US. They said they hope to re-open it soon, but as far as I know they never did.

frabjous · 12-14-2010, 05:02 PM

I use the pianobar command line Pandora client, which gives me ad-free unlimited listening without a paid subscription. I'm not exactly sure how or why you get that with pianobar, but it sure beats having to have a browser open all the time or paying!

There's another such client with a limited GUI for linux called pithos.

sakura-panda · 12-14-2010, 11:54 PM

I like it, but I'm not sure how the music gets chosen and it is frustrating me.

I sometimes use it for the 10 minute commute to daycare. My station is "Spongebob Squarepants", which quickly morphed into "The Chipmunk Christmas song channel". (That's when I found out about the six skip limit.) After I started giving thumbs downs to anything Chipmunk, it switched to the Disney soundtrack channel.

I would get a Spongebob song about once a week, and that's what I didn't like about it. I named it Spongebob because I wanted a high ratio of Spongebob with some other songs filled in. (If I wanted 100% Spongebob, I'd just play the CD.

)

I haven't used it in a while, but after another round of changing thumbs ups to thumbs downs, it is now becoming the kids songs channel, which is better, but still not what I had wanted.

I'm thinking of paying for the service just to get past the skip limit.

I'm playing Christmas music now (not by Pandora) but I'll probably pick it up again over the holidays and see if I can figure out how to make it do what I want. Some (not all) of my other stations play lots of songs by my named artists and I don't know why it choses the songs that it does.

phenomshel · 12-15-2010, 12:45 AM

Chris uses it on his Droid X. Seems to like it, as far as I can tell, he said something about considering upgrading as well, once. I think I'd like the paid version, myself.

Ervserver · 12-15-2010, 12:51 AM

Love Pandora and use it almost daily

GA Russell · 12-15-2010, 02:29 AM

I like vibes players, particularly Cal Tjader. Unfortunately, Pandora thinks that anyone who likes Cal Tjader wants latin music, so it keeps giving me Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez.

I continue to get latin even after removing Cal Tjader from my list of vibes players.

So it's been a while since I've listened to Pandora.

My favorite was lala.com, but Steve Jobs and Apple bought it and shut it down, so my favorite now is grooveshark.com.

kindlekitten · 12-15-2010, 02:30 AM

well I just took the plunge and paid for a subscription ;o)

12-14-2010, 10:19 AM	#1
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	does anyone use Pandora? I've been listening for the last 2 days and am thinking about officially signing up and paying. I'm really impressed with the mix I have gotten thus far. has anyone had any bad experiences?

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12-14-2010, 10:23 AM	#2
rhadin Literacy = Understanding Posts: 4,833 Karma: 59674358 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: The World of Books Device: Nook, Nook Tablet	I've been using Pandora for about 6 months now and am generally pleased. One problem with Pandora is that the mix it provides is sometimes right on target and other times way off target, and there is no way to control the mix. But overall, for the $36 I paid for a year's ad-free subscription, it has been a bargain and very good. My wife uses it as well, much more so than I do, and really enjoys it.

12-14-2010, 10:24 AM	#3
dsvick Wizard Posts: 2,737 Karma: 635747 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Northeast Ohio, USA Device: PRS-900	I used to use it and was not impressed, although that was over a year ago so maybe they've gotten better or my tastes are so strange as to defy definition Maybe I'll give it another shot.

12-14-2010, 10:24 AM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I've not heard of Pandora. What is it? A "Spotify"-like service for on-line music?

12-14-2010, 11:23 AM	#6
happy_terd Banned Posts: 13,045 Karma: 10105011 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Finally made it to Walmart. Device: PRS 420	I played with the free droid version and it seemed pretty cool. I havent been able to check it out for any real amount of time yet.

12-14-2010, 11:49 AM	#7
HistoryWes Teacher/Novelist Posts: 632 Karma: 2274466 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Nevada Device: Nook STR, iPad	I use the free version sometimes, though not enough yet to warrent paying for a subscription.

12-14-2010, 02:05 PM	#9
Mike L Wizard Posts: 1,479 Karma: 3846231 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Kindle 3, Samsung Galaxy	I used to listen to it regularly, but a couple of years ago they closed it down - except for listeners in the US. They said they hope to re-open it soon, but as far as I know they never did.

12-14-2010, 05:02 PM	#10
frabjous Wizard Posts: 1,213 Karma: 12890 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Device: Sony PRS-505	I use the pianobar command line Pandora client, which gives me ad-free unlimited listening without a paid subscription. I'm not exactly sure how or why you get that with pianobar, but it sure beats having to have a browser open all the time or paying! There's another such client with a limited GUI for linux called pithos.

12-14-2010, 11:54 PM	#11
sakura-panda Guru Posts: 939 Karma: 9558874 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Southeast Michigan, USA Device: Kindle Oasis; 11" iPad Pro (Books, Kindle, Kobo, MapleRead SE)	I like it, but I'm not sure how the music gets chosen and it is frustrating me. I sometimes use it for the 10 minute commute to daycare. My station is "Spongebob Squarepants", which quickly morphed into "The Chipmunk Christmas song channel". (That's when I found out about the six skip limit.) After I started giving thumbs downs to anything Chipmunk, it switched to the Disney soundtrack channel. I would get a Spongebob song about once a week, and that's what I didn't like about it. I named it Spongebob because I wanted a high ratio of Spongebob with some other songs filled in. (If I wanted 100% Spongebob, I'd just play the CD. ) I haven't used it in a while, but after another round of changing thumbs ups to thumbs downs, it is now becoming the kids songs channel, which is better, but still not what I had wanted. I'm thinking of paying for the service just to get past the skip limit. I'm playing Christmas music now (not by Pandora) but I'll probably pick it up again over the holidays and see if I can figure out how to make it do what I want. Some (not all) of my other stations play lots of songs by my named artists and I don't know why it choses the songs that it does.

12-15-2010, 12:45 AM	#12
phenomshel ZCD BombShel Posts: 4,793 Karma: 8293322 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: The Frozen North (aka Illinois, USA) Device: iPad, STB Kindle Oasis	Chris uses it on his Droid X. Seems to like it, as far as I can tell, he said something about considering upgrading as well, once. I think I'd like the paid version, myself.

12-15-2010, 12:51 AM	#13
Ervserver Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 1008294 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Iowa, USA Device: Nook Simple Touch	Love Pandora and use it almost daily

12-15-2010, 02:29 AM	#14
GA Russell Ticats/Als, Riders/Lions Posts: 7,717 Karma: 31487351 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	I like vibes players, particularly Cal Tjader. Unfortunately, Pandora thinks that anyone who likes Cal Tjader wants latin music, so it keeps giving me Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez. I continue to get latin even after removing Cal Tjader from my list of vibes players. So it's been a while since I've listened to Pandora. My favorite was lala.com, but Steve Jobs and Apple bought it and shut it down, so my favorite now is grooveshark.com.

12-15-2010, 02:30 AM	#15
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	well I just took the plunge and paid for a subscription ;o)