Pandora

Sorry... I know I already posted today but I've been listening to something on-line for a while that has evolved into something I really get a lot of value and enjoyment out of. It's Pandora Internet Radio.

Pandora allows you to create stations either based on song titles or artist names and will play music based on that selection. What's awesome is the organic growth of your station based on input from you as well as other users. Music is quantified by a long list of metrics ranging from "Minor Key Tonality", "heavy lead vocals", "slight rhythmic syncopation", etc. I mean, they get really detailed. Your input is a simple thumbs up or down on a song suggested which drives whatever complex algorithm they use to come up with the next song.

I enjoy listening to music at work but this has really taken it to the next level of being interested in music. Links are available through the web interface detailing information about artists, the song and album it came from, other artists with similar qualities, etc. You can even link straight to Amazon to purchase music you hear... something I haven't done in a long time but info on the artist provided by the site actually drove me to not look for 'alternative' methods of securing the piece.

It's probably blocked for a lot of people at work, and it starts out kind of slow since it involved user feedback but I've personally used it over 2 years now and have at least 15 channels of music spanning all the 'genres' I might want to listen to from Punk/ska to 'Iron Maiden' to 'Tom Petty Radio'. The only other drawback is the complete lack of classical music though the demand for that probably doesn't create enough drive to go through the effort of providing it.

I'll skip posting tomorrow... I promise... unless of course I give notice at my job!