Music that’s cheaper than food
I have eclectic tastes in music. I was raised on classical orchestral music from my mother and classic rock via my father. I spent a year as a music department manager of a small store in Louisville, Kentucky, which meant I got to/had to listen to a lot of things we were bringing in, and my tastes spread to instrumental jazz, bluegrass, rap, R&B, and soul. Eventually (when I got bored with American sounds) I moved to things like Gypsy music and soundtracks from Brazil and Bollywood. I once bought a CD called “Nordic Roots” solely because it had a sticker on it proclaiming it “cheaper than food!” (It was cheaper than my lunch that day, but not as good). And, until recently, this eclecticism could get pretty expensive. Buying a CD because you were in the mood for some French café music (I have done this) does not a big bank account make. This, my friends, is why I love Pandora.
Yes, there are other services, that let you make playlists of songs you know you like and actually listen to them over and over again. And there are services that let you share your musical tastes like some kind of audio-based Facebook. And there’s Ping, which Apple needs to give up as a bad idea as soon as humanly possible (but that’s a topic for my other blog). But for me, Pandora’s big draw is that I don’t know what’s coming next. I know it seems idiotic, but it’s entirely possible to get tired of 10 gigabytes of music after a while and feel like your music library is just too small. I tend to get iTunes Fever (like cabin fever, but more virtual) and feel the need to go out and explore.
And Pandora lets me explore music like nobody’s business, all for $34 a year. (Yes, you can listen to Pandora for free. But…commercials? Time Limits? Not for me, thank you.) For example, after reading about something called Yacht Rock I put together a station based on Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross and Hall and Oates, and discovered that Steely Dan is awesome. This is not only how I discovered a love of Steely Dan, but also The Flaming Lips, Yes, of Montreal, and Madeleine Peyroux (who should form a supergroup called “Yes! The Flaming Lips of Montreal Feat. Madeleine Peyroux!” I would buy tickets. I would buy them nine times).
Even with the wild, untamed nature of musical exploration, it’s nice that you have some control. The simple “thumbs up/thumbs down” metaphor works for me. It’s like being a Roman emperor at the gladiatorial games. With one swift click I can condemn John Mayer’s latest offering to the Pile of Shame. And if two John Mayer tracks come up and I down vote them both he will never be heard on that station again, which is as it should be.
Which usually leads to my other favorite part of the Pandora experience: the part where you suddenly stop liking whatever it is you couldn’t live without last month. Just because you went through a weird gothic rock phase a few years back doesn’t mean that you should be ashamedly holding onto that “Bring Me to Life” MP3, almost forgetting you even have it until one day your five-year-old somehow pulls it up on your wife’s iPod and blasts it through the house over and over again. (Hypothetically speaking, of course.) With Pandora you just delete your hastily made and somewhat embarrassing “Evanesence Radio” station and walk away, laughing the laugh of the truly carefree.
In conclusion, it’s my studied opinion that the Internet was created specifically to bring me a service like Pandora. Well, Pandora, and blogs full of people liking things. Thank you.
You have a limited amount of time, so why spend it reading about things that suck or are only kind of okay? Favorite thing EVER is not a review site. We're unrepentant fans, and this is the stuff we love. Hope you like gushing, because we're about to embarrass ourselves.
Pandora always blows my mind with how well in knows me. It always comes up with some Weakerthans song or something when I setup a playlist that (in my mind) had nothing to do with that stuff. Awesome!
The other feature that I can play with all day long: the “why was this song chosen?” button. “Tell me why I like this, Pandora!”
Band of Horses and Rhe Bird and the Bee. Bee-cause of Pandora!