Pandora

[Nasha]

Pandora

If, like me, you carry your laptop around like a heteradelphian, and/or you're frequently tapped into the net via a high speed connection, this is a fabulous alternative to commercial radio.

You can register for free, and create "stations" based on songs/musicians you like, and an algorithm that's part of a "music genome project" feeds you music based on various musical parameters--type of beat, instruments, vocals, etc., and you give each song you're offered a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

In the beginnig, if you're picky like me, you'll hate most of what's served up, but the second you vote a song down, it goes away, and you never hear it again. And pretty soon you're getting lots of interesting music you'd never hear on a Clear Channel station.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I tried it once, but never really figured out how it worked.

 

[Sherry Hawk]

Love it - bookmarked.

Thanks!

 

[jomar]

Thanks Nasha, I'll check it out.

 

[Trombonus]

Sounds like Launchcast Radio on Yahoo. They had it on G4's Attack of the Show too, and they highly recommended it as well. They're usually spot on, so I'm gonna try it. Thanks for reminding me about it.

 

[Nasha]

I tried it once, but never really figured out how it worked.

Well, it won't just feed you the exact songs you tell it you like, but for every station you create, it offers up songs for you to say you like, or don't like. And every time you say you like a song, that influences the mix of songs served up thereafter.

You can create multiple stations, based on different kinds of music you're into. I have about ten stations set up, though I tend to really listen to only three of them, depending on whether I'm in the mood for death metal or Mozzart.

 

[Arafura]

It's great for finding new music too, since you'll often find similar bands/artists you may never have heard of before.

There are some great sex music stations... I recommend putting in Sissy for the artist, or Groove Armada rocks my socks off too.

 

[Nasha]

Sounds like Launchcast Radio on Yahoo. They had it on G4's Attack of the Show too, and they highly recommended it as well. They're usually spot on, so I'm gonna try it. Thanks for reminding me about it.

It's been a while since I listened to Launchcast (though now that I think about it, they're probably still dinging my card every three months...), but I think Pandora's different in a couple ways.

One is, instead of taking your preferences and feeding you music based on what other people with similar preferences liked, the Pandora algorithm works off of specific qualities of the music (the subjectivity of what defines how a song sounds becomes apparent really quickly, in interesting ways. I tend to think of songs in terms of the mood they put me in--is it good anger-venting music? Is it sexy? Is it melancholy? So a lot of the "matches" feel really counter-intuitive to me. But others are dead on).

Also, it seems like I get a lot more music through Pandora that I've never heard anywhere else, whereas Launch always felt like everything came from a commercial radio station, so you could hear fairly popular rock, country, jazz, or whatever, but nothing more fringe.

(Now, watch Nasha hijack her own thread...)

Pretty much all my favorite music, currently, is stuff I heard on Pandora, and had never encountered before, like
Manyme by Plaid
Junkie's Prayer by Mirwais
The Next Four Months by Okkerville River
Dark Cloud by Alice Rose
Isn't that so Nice by Bangguru
Swollen by Bent
The Mountaineers by Bom Bom
Margins by Brinkmann
Disgrace Chateau by Crossover
Hater by The World is Gone
and some fun stuff by that Tricky guy from Massive Attack

Of course, this might all just go to show what a sheltered life I live, hanging out with my laptop writing porn every chance I get...

 

[Nasha]

It's great for finding new music too, since you'll often find similar bands/artists you may never have heard of before.

There are some great sex music stations... I recommend putting in Sissy for the artist, or Groove Armada rocks my socks off too.

You so beat me to my post!

That's what I get for being a rambler.

 

[Trombonus]

It's been a while since I listened to Launchcast (though now that I think about it, they're probably still dinging my card every three months...), but I think Pandora's different in a couple ways.

One is, instead of taking your preferences and feeding you music based on what other people with similar preferences liked, the Pandora algorithm works off of specific qualities of the music (the subjectivity of what defines how a song sounds becomes apparent really quickly, in interesting ways. I tend to think of songs in terms of the mood they put me in--is it good anger-venting music? Is it sexy? Is it melancholy? So a lot of the "matches" feel really counter-intuitive to me. But others are dead on).

Also, it seems like I get a lot more music through Pandora that I've never heard anywhere else, whereas Launch always felt like everything came from a commercial radio station, so you could hear fairly popular rock, country, jazz, or whatever, but nothing more fringe.

(Now, watch Nasha hijack her own thread...)

Pretty much all my favorite music, currently, is stuff I heard on Pandora, and had never encountered before, like
Manyme by Plaid
Junkie's Prayer by Mirwais
The Next Four Months by Okkerville River
Dark Cloud by Alice Rose
Isn't that so Nice by Bangguru
Swollen by Bent
The Mountaineers by Bom Bom
Margins by Brinkmann
Disgrace Chateau by Crossover
Hater by The World is Gone
and some fun stuff by that Tricky guy from Massive Attack

Of course, this might all just go to show what a sheltered life I live, hanging out with my laptop writing porn every chance I get...

I stopped with Launchcast after a while because I never got the songs I wanted after a while, just songs related to the ones I'd rated. I did really like their 100 point rating system though, more accurate than the old 1-5 scores. I've definitely been looking to get back into the online radio stuff again though, so I'm gonna give this a serious try.

 

[Frank Noir]

Pandora

If, like me, you carry your laptop around like a heteradelphian, and/or you're frequently tapped into the net via a high speed connection, this is a fabulous alternative to commercial radio.

You can register for free, and create "stations" based on songs/musicians you like, and an algorithm that's part of a "music genome project" feeds you music based on various musical parameters--type of beat, instruments, vocals, etc., and you give each song you're offered a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

In the beginnig, if you're picky like me, you'll hate most of what's served up, but the second you vote a song down, it goes away, and you never hear it again. And pretty soon you're getting lots of interesting music you'd never hear on a Clear Channel station.

Or you could just listen to What I like ...

 

[Stella_Omega]

Awesome! I hope...

So far I've created three "stations"; one based on The Shins/The Pixies, one based on The Gorillaz/Depeche Mode, one based on Little Feat/Greatful Dead. I tried "J.S. Bach" for classical, and they ain't no classical in the Music Genome Project. But I did end up with an all-instrumental playlist that's mostly guitar, and quite fusion. A bit frenetic, so far, though...


I like KUSC fm for classical music.