In a Post-Napster World, It IS Possible to Find Awesome Music.

By Olua

Now a days, it seems like if you don’t have an iPod and an iPod speaker system, or a very large collection of CDs either in disc form or hanging around on your computer, there isn’t a whole lot you can do for music variety. The radio stations play the same song every ten minutes or so, and unless you have a laptop, even iTunes’ handy Party Shuffle option can leave you in the musical dust. So what do you do?

What if I told you that there was a service online where you could enter a song or artist of your choosing, then get an indefinitely long playlist with songs that have similar sound? Not just any songs, mind you; these are songs like you’ll like, songs that you’ve never heard of before and songs that you adore. Above all, what if I told you it was absolutely positively free?

No, it’s not an e-mail scam that’s going to give you free software as long as you sign up for about fifty different sponsors. It’s Pandora, and she wants to be your friend.

Say I really want to find some bands like My Chemical Romance. I head to Pandora first, of course. You’ll want to sign up, because after a few tracks, they interrupt your groove and pretty much make you. Pandora asks me for an artist or song I happen to like, and I plug in MCR. Immediately, she plays “Vampires Will Never Hurt Me”. I’m pretty happy because it’s just the kind of song I was looking for, and I give it a thumbs up. Based on my gleaming feedback, Pandora plays “Over My Head”, by Sum 41. I’m not crazy about it, but I don’t hate it, so I don’t give any feedback at all. Next comes “Calm Before The Storm”, by Fall Out Boy. Normally I adore the Boys, but I’m not so crazy about this song, so I give it a thumbs down. Pandora totally sympathizes and skips the song entirely, going on to “You Won’t Hear This”, by Envy On The Coast. I’m diggin’ the song, so much so that not only do I give it a thumbs up, I click the up arrow between thumbs up and thumbs down, click the iTunes link, and buy the track. In about ten minutes, I’ve discovered a new band and heard some awesome songs – and it’s all totally legit.

Your Pandora stations are totally customizable, based on the thumbs ups and thumbs downs you give. You can make stations based on either a song you dig or an artist you dig. The best part about Pandora, though, is that it never ends. Ever! You might get a repeated song ever two or three hours, sure, but it’s perfect for background music or party music. I like to bring it up on the computers in the campus library and jam along while doing research (quietly, of course). You can pay for your membership if the ads annoy you. If you feel like getting especially fancy, you can even get Pandora in your living room with snazzy radio systems or on your phone for easy transport, but our focus is on the slightly less expensive – and by less expensive, I mean free – entertainment.

Being a music fan is all about branching out, and Pandora does that better than any internet radio I’ve ever used. I’ve open Pandora’s box, and I like what came out.