Pandora (music service)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Screenshot of Pandora homepage |
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| URL | http://www.pandora.com/ |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Internet radio |
| Registration | Optional |
| Owner | Pandora Media, Inc. |
| Created by | The Music Genome Project |
Pandora is an automated music recommendation and Internet radio service created by The Music Genome Project.
Users begin by entering a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that it thinks are musically similar. Users are then able to provide feedback on the individual song choices — approval or disapproval — which the system takes into account for future selections.
Over 400 different musical attributes or genes are considered when selecting the next song. These 400 attributes are combined into larger groups called focus traits. There are 2,000 focus traits. Examples of these are rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies and displayed instrumental proficiency.
The service has two subscription plans: a free subscription supported by ads, and a fee-based subscription without these ads.
The Pandora media player is based on Open Laszlo, allowing for simple cross platform portability.
MSN Radio is now powered by Pandora. The stations run off Pandora.com and use Pandora accounts rather than Windows Live IDs.
Pandora can be listened to through any Slim Devices' products.
Contents |
[edit] Using and tuning
Choosing one artist results in all that artist's catalogued styles being used as a starting point, which may include those which may not be considered representative. Selecting representative tracks by the artist may give results closer to what was intended.
Each track played can be responded to in 4 ways:
- Thumbs up - Play more like this
- No response - No change in preference
- Thumbs down - Do not play this track again, play fewer that are similar. Also skips if any skips are left
- A second negative response to the same artist will ban that artist from the selected playlist unless that artist has been manually added to the playlist or has received one or more positive votes
- Zzzz - You may choose to not play a track for one month if you are tired of hearing it
Users can also bookmark songs and artists, read information about them (Backstage options) and buy music.
[edit] Limitations
The content licensing imposes a number of restrictions:
- Currently only licensed for USA registration. This is enforced by requiring that the user enter a US ZIP code at registration. However, there is currently no verification of this ZIP code.
- Rewind or repeat is not possible.
- Only 6 skips per hour are allowed, including those resulting from a thumbs down response. However, if at least two music stations are created, switching from the current playing station to a different one and back allows skipping past the built-in limitation. This can also be achieved by leaving and then re-opening the Pandora website.
- Play of a single artist is limited.
- People who use the Opera internet browser for the Nintendo Wii do not have access to play Pandora.
- Pocket PCs using Flash 7 for Windows Mobile, and other such devices cannot use the Pandora tuner.
- The Music Genome Project contains no classical music and very little foreign music.
[edit] Hacks
Despite concerns of violating the Music Genome's rules and breaking copyright law, a few hacks for Pandora have sprung up to enhance the functionality and ease of use already present. For example:
- Wrappers for the Pandora Tuner
- These applications isolate the Pandora tuner into its own separate window allowing the user to use the Pandora service without keeping a browser open at all times. They are as follows, ordered by operating system:
- OpenPandora
- OpenPandora is also a wrapper, but adds several additional ways to control the Pandora tuner like multimedia keyboard and the Wii Remote. OpenPandora also adds a miniplayer and integration with Last.fm, Live Messenger, Skype and Xfire. OpenPandora is open sourced and licensed under GNU General Public License.
- Pandora's Jar
- Pandora's Jar also acts as a wrapper for the Pandora tuner, but includes much more functionality alongside. Pandora's Jar runs in a browser as well and provides integration into Last.fm, as well as CDDB. Pandoras Jar's main attraction and feature is the ability to extract the music files you are listening to in the tuner at the time.
- PandoraFM
- PandoraFM allows listeners of Pandora custom radio to record their listening habits to their Last.fm profiles. It also allows you to tag tracks in order to build radio stations within Last.fm's interface. Within PandoraFM's interface it displays Pandora's "genome description" of the track, the Last.fm biography of the artist, and links to photos, videos, groups and other stations that are relevant to what is being listened to.
- FoxyTunes
- FoxyTunes is a Firefox extension that displays currently playing Pandora song information on browser status-bar, along with volume controls and a button that finds and raises the Pandora player window or tab. The extension also supports the PandoraFM site and many additional media players and music services
[edit] Categories used by Pandora to determine musical matches
- See also: List of Music Genome Project attributes
According to Pandora, there are "literally hundreds of musical attributes" used to categorize and match songs.
[edit] See also
- Music Genome Project
- List of online music databases
- Audiobaba
- LAUNCHcast, a similar, web-based service by Yahoo!.
- Live365, a similar service with pre-chosen and customized radio stations.
- AOL Radio, another online radio service.
- Pandora was featured in an article in the December 2005 issue of Fast Company magazine.
