[Hidden-tech] Pandora's box

[Will Loving]

Dear friends,

If you like to listen to music while you work on your computer, this is for
you.

I¹ve recently been listening to a Podcast called ³Inside the Net² and last
week¹s episode profiled an amazing free internet music service called
³Pandora². Pandora allows you to specify artists and songs that you like and
then it creates a free ³radio station² that streams you music similar to
what you specified, often from artists you¹ve never heard of. It¹s ability
to find music that I like is nothing short of amazing and you can have up to
100 ³station² with different sets of preferred music types.

The key word here is ³similar². Unlike Amazon and iTunes, Pandora does not
select things you might like based on what other listeners have listened to,
which is essentially a popularity contest and leaves out many lesser known
artists. Instead, Pandora has the host of volunteers that categorize music
on over 400 characteristics ­ there are 30 characteristics for vocals alone.
Each volunteer is usually a degreed music scholar or professional who has
also undergone an additional 40 hours of training with Pandora. Once
determined, these characteristics create a musical ³DNA² for each piece of
music and become part of the ³Music Genome  Project². When you tell Pandora
that you like a mix of styles that include Dave Brubeck, Big Bad Voodoo
Daddy, and Whitney Huston, Pandora will create a playlist of songs that have
similar musical DNA, whether the artist is well-known or not. Over time you
can refine your preferred styles even more by indicating whether you did or
did not like each song.

You can skip songs but you can¹t easily replay them, though if you mark them
as a favorite, they will eventually replay. Their library of available music
is expanding rapidly and they have agreements with most record labels. They
also actively solicit independent artists. The only requirement for
independents is that the music be available on a CD and have a registered
UPC code.

Pandora is available at: http://www.pandora.com
The ³Inside the Net² Podcast episode (006) with the interview with Tim
Westergren of Pandora is available from within iTunes or at:
http://odeo.com/audio/584961/view

Will

Will Loving, President
Dedication Technologies, Inc.


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