Henry's blog

When talking about internet radio, for me at least, ad-ridden audio with a little music on the side (much of which is seldom what I’m looking for as the genres are far too broad) comes to mind. Folks, internet radio is so 2001. Say hello to Pandora. Pandora is internet radio meets Web 2.0., and as has been the theme of Web 2.0. (a near second bubble), it’s all about the user. Unlike many Web 2.0 sites which are dependent on user-created content, Pandora does not feature user-created music, but rather lets users craft their own radio stations. How is this done? It couldn’t be simpler. You go to pandora.com, type in a song or artist you like, and then instantly Pandora creates a playlist of similar music to that of the artist or song you specified. Like the song you hear? Give it a thumbs up (really like it? there are links next to the song info to buy it on Amazon/iTunes–unfortunately many of the more obscure artists aren’t available, at least on iTunes). Not so crazy about it? Give it a thumbs down, and Pandora will skip to the next song (you can skip songs 6, or 7 times per hour, I believe it is). You see, the point of rating each song is, based on your feedback, Pandora further tailors your station to fit your musical taste, and at the same time tries to expose you to music you may otherwise not have the opportunity or knowledge about to explore. Pandora’s a really innovative site, and I definitely recommend that you check it out.