Can I say how much I really love Pandora Internet Radio? I have an obscenely huge music collection that I have to confess, I rarely listen to. My in car listening is usually to audiobooks and in the house, our huge media PC (the one with the terabyte hard drive) is usually tuned, if not to TV, then to the limited mix that both DH and I agree on. What has been really great for us about Pandora is that we can take a song or a group or a particular musician we like and design an entire radio station around it such that you pretty well only here music you love. It’s based on the Music Genome Project, which is described on the Pandora site like this:
Since we started back in 2000, we have been hard at work on the Music Genome Project. It’s the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Together our team of fifty musician-analysts has been listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song. It takes 20-30 minutes per song to capture all of the little details that give each recording its magical sound – melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics … and more – close to 400 attributes! We continue this work every day to keep up with the incredible flow of great new music coming from studios, stadiums and garages around the country.
With Pandora you can explore this vast trove of music to your heart’s content. Just drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed music, almost a century of popular recordings – new and old, well known and completely obscure – to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice. Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.
You can create as many “stations” as you want. And you can even refine them. If it’s not quite right you can tell it so and it will get better for you.
The Music Genome Project was founded by musicians and music-lovers. We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help you connect with the music YOU like.
Since I often don’t have a particular song in mind when I want to listen to music, I enjoy Pandora because I can design stations around a mood. For example, I absolutely love Jonathan Rhys Meyers gritty, earthy voice in his role as Louis Connelly in August Rush. Sadly, JRM doesn’t have an album (that I’m aware of anyway–dude, you should make one! I’d so buy it!), but with Pandora I can create a whole radio station around his sound. Through a series of thumbs up and thumbs down for various selections, I’ve tailored it to be my perfect station to evoke the mood I want for Ewan (my Irish musician werewolf in Moondance). How great is that? And another bonus, I get to discover all sorts of musicians I’ve never heard of and wouldn’t otherwise hear because I live in Mississippi and our radio stations leave…something to be desired. Long live mood music, long live Pandora.
And for those of you who want a desktop ap instead of a new browswer window, I give you Pandora Desktop.
One thought on “Love Song To Pandora Radio”
So I go over and input a-ha. And they come up with Cutting Crew’s “Died in Your Arms”. Dude, I love that song! And I wouldn’t have made that connection. This will be addictive. You are evil.