If you're an internet radio listener, you may have heard of a different kind of radio, called Pandora. A common problem for 'music-lovers' is one in which involves finding new music. You love a band so much–can I have some more please? Where do you go to find out? How do I find out about new music, underground unnoticed music that is spilling over in golden quality? That sounded a little too dramatic–but you get the point. Personally I used to use Amazon's feature of "Customers who bought this item also bought: ", and skipped around from there. This is much more efficient. The use of it is quite simple–you type in the name of a song or an artist, and Pandora searches for it in the music genome. It finds it, perhaps asking you if it is a song name or artist name, and sometimes it shows as unavailable in the index. This usually happens when you ask for a classical artist or world musician. When it does find it, it connects to that particular, creating a radio station based on the musical qualities in which that song or artist possesses. They have these recorded as part of the Music Genome Project. Then, it'll start off with a song by that artist (not the song you requested for the station; musical licenses disallow it) and explain why they are playing it–ie, "This shares acousitic harmony, slide technique and blah blah…". From there, it continues with those qualities, with some shades of grey; it may play something not-so-similar to see if you enjoy it. During your playtime, you can tell them if: you like it, you don't like it, don't play this because it's not good on this station, and you can bookmark the song and/or artist, or purchase it on Amazon or iTunes. You can also "Go Backstage", where Pandora features the artist page in a pop-up window. You can add more kinds of music to the station as well, perhaps wishing to integrate Dashboard Confessional with Saves the Day. The best part, is that the whole setup is free. You sign up for an account, with your email address, and they use your account to keep track of your stations and bookmarks. The bookmarks are available as feeds, too. You can't skip more than X amount of songs per hour, though, due to music licensing, but these doesn't take away from the huge appeal of this tool. They offer a pause button, and if you don't like what you're listening to and want to skip it but can't, you can just start a new radio station. Pretty sweet. You should check it out, if you're at a loss for what to listen to next on your musical journey. It will serve as a source for Damon and I to keep track of music we'll be reviewing in the future.
Related Links:
Pandora
Pandora Wikipedia
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