Pandora: My Musical Friend
“Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.”
Over a year ago, my sons turned me on to a lovely little program called Pandora. If you have ever been a student in one of my classes, chances are you have heard music streaming from Pandora through my computer. Pandora is an internet radio service which takes music you love to listen to and creates personalized stations based on your tastes. A free account offers up to 30 hours per month of music; if you subscribe, your listening time is unlimited.
How do I get my account?
Go to the Pandora website at http://www.pandora.com and create an account. Your username will be your email address.
Creating Stations
Once you sign up, you will be able to enter in the name of an artist, song or composer; this will create a personalized radio station which will play this particular song or genre and then find other similar music. For this demonstration, I entered “John Denver” and clicked the arrow to the right of the entry field. Almost immediately, Pandora began playing my first song, “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Since I like the song, I clicked the “thumbs up” icon in the lower right hand corner of the song window. Note, also, that Pandora provides an opportunity to buy a copy of the song and also gives a biography of the artist. Look to the left side of the window and you will now see that I have a station called “John Denver Radio.” If I click on the “options” tab, I can rename the station, share it, edit the station details, find other folks who like this artist or even delete the station. You can create up to 100 different stations on your Pandora account.
Ads on Free Pandora
As with many free products, Pandora is advertiser supported. Every so often, you will hear an ad on your free Pandora account. You will also need to click a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” at least once an hour on a free account. To avoid ads and clicking thumbs up or thumbs down once an hour, you will need to upgrade to the paid account. At $36 for a full year, it is well worth the money if you listen to music all day long. You cannot beat the variety
Listen Everywhere!
You can listen to Pandora from the website, on your mobile device and through many other devices, such as TV’s, Tivo and WD TV Live. If you have a paid subscription, you can also download Pandora One; this is a desktop application that allows for better audio, no advertisements and unlimited listening. Instead of the web interface, you use Pandora through a tidy little application (see image to the right). You can still “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” a song. You also get all song and artist information right on the application.
Is it for me?
If you are still not sure if Pandora is for you, sign up for a free account and give the service a try. They offer thousands of songs and many genres. You will be hardpressed not to find music you would enjoy listening to on your computer or other device. It is easy to use and you certainly cannot beat the price. Shoot me a message with your email and I will even share some of my stations with you!
Happy listening!
~Karen