Pandora

I'm proud to introduce you all to pandora. This place is a treasure trove for music lovers. I have been listening to it for over 2 months now. There was a time when I thought I knew what I liked, and that I have a defined sense of musical taste and that I have had the privilege of being able to hear the best musicians this world had to offer. This site reminded me of the "frog in the well" tale.

Yes, its true. There's a "lot" of music out there. Lots of top quality music. The popular music is just the tip of the iceberg, or probably the layer of dust over a precious stone. I was amazed to look at the collection it has, and I realize I need to write about it, as I have marked pandora as an important friend that has entered my life at a good time.

Here's how you go

• Register for it. Its free, from money-mongers and spam.


• Choose an artist or album or song and create a station with this simple search criteria.


• Pandora will dish out music for you, that closely matches the musical criteria of the artist / song / album that you wanted.


• Listen to the music dished out patiently. Rate it religiously.


• Keep building 3-4 stations of your favourites. Whenever you find a very interesting piece, bookmark it, go back and start researching about it.


• If you fall in love with an album / artist / track, go buy the album, as a token of appreciation to the artist who has created it.

Here are some of the good points of this site I have noted till date.

• Introduces you to a lot of work out there in the wide world.


• Has an uncanny ability to "read your mind" and to present music that's an exact match for your taste.


• You end up knowing a lot more performers than you initially knew, and your music collection grows, you enjoy a wider spectrum of music, and you end up re-defining your faviourites


• Quality of music is high (almost CD quality) - good stereo, and good bass (they seem to run their music into an equivalizer that make the music more pleasing.


• The quality of their collection is really good. None of the song they dish out is "bad".

Some of the things that I do not like about Pandora

• No indian classical collection etc. So, you get to know only about western and world music


• When you choose an artist, the first song that they play often tend to be of some other artist, whose musical qualities match the artist you asked for. This might not go well with a lot of people.


• Your inputs are absolutely necessary if you want to end up with the music you like. (I'm not sure if this is a disadvantage).


• Not meant for very casual music listeners, who just want to listen to songs they like. This is more for people who are interested in exploring new music.


• The collection still needs a lot of content. You can't say that "everything under the sun is available here."

The bottom line - the intelligence built into the system works so well that it can read yout mind. You just need to talk to it truthfully. Over a month's time, Pandora figured out what I lile. and 9 out of 10 times, I end up liking the song it plays.

Have fun.