2008 Woodie Awards
Web site of the week: www.pandora.com
Jay Baker
Issue date: 2/13/07 Section: Technology
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Scientists have recently completed the Human Genome Project, sequencing the entire human genome. Well, Tim Westergren and some friends recently listened to the songs of over 10,000 artists in the Music Genome Project.
The Music Genome Project was begun to analyze the different "genes" of music (harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, melody, lyrics etc.) to find a better way of organizing music aside from the current system of genres.
After their research, we've been graced with Pandora, which as the site puts it, is "a music discovery service designed to help you enjoy music you already know, and to help you discover new music you'll love."
Create a free account and then tell the player a song or artist you like and based on the work done in the Music Genome Project, it will bring you other bands and songs similar to your pick in the form of a "station." You can then share this station with others or find new stations being shared by friends or people with similar (or dissimilar tastes.)
I was pretty impressed with the results it brought me, regardless of the song or artist I put in. I actually found several bands that I'm really interested in now.
If you like your songs enough, you can buy them on iTunes or Amazon with a few clicks from Pandora or bookmark the artist or song to your profile to come back to later. Pandora's profile system is a bit limited, but you can leave comments and bookmark other users you befriend.
There are a few downsides. Pandora only works in your browser, and I would only recommend it if you have a broadband connection. This is fine for Firefox (or IE 7 or above or Opera) as you can load Pandora in its own tab, but in older versions of Internet Explorer it may be cumbersome to give Pandora its own window. There are a few ads to put up with, but there is no spam, and users can always pay a fee to get rid of the ads.
Pandora is a great way to find new music. It's free, easy to use and is well designed. It's a great way to diversify your music collection.
The Music Genome Project was begun to analyze the different "genes" of music (harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, melody, lyrics etc.) to find a better way of organizing music aside from the current system of genres.
After their research, we've been graced with Pandora, which as the site puts it, is "a music discovery service designed to help you enjoy music you already know, and to help you discover new music you'll love."
Create a free account and then tell the player a song or artist you like and based on the work done in the Music Genome Project, it will bring you other bands and songs similar to your pick in the form of a "station." You can then share this station with others or find new stations being shared by friends or people with similar (or dissimilar tastes.)
I was pretty impressed with the results it brought me, regardless of the song or artist I put in. I actually found several bands that I'm really interested in now.
If you like your songs enough, you can buy them on iTunes or Amazon with a few clicks from Pandora or bookmark the artist or song to your profile to come back to later. Pandora's profile system is a bit limited, but you can leave comments and bookmark other users you befriend.
There are a few downsides. Pandora only works in your browser, and I would only recommend it if you have a broadband connection. This is fine for Firefox (or IE 7 or above or Opera) as you can load Pandora in its own tab, but in older versions of Internet Explorer it may be cumbersome to give Pandora its own window. There are a few ads to put up with, but there is no spam, and users can always pay a fee to get rid of the ads.
Pandora is a great way to find new music. It's free, easy to use and is well designed. It's a great way to diversify your music collection.
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