Pandora

What it is: Since the weather outside has been frightful recently, we haven't been able to head out and explore much.  But since the holidays are around the corner, we've been staying in and enjoying some holiday activities.  One of our favorite holiday activities has been listening to and dancing around to some holiday music, and we've found a fun, easy way to do it. 

My husband told me about a website called Pandora.  Pandora is a free internet radio where you can simply type in a type of music that you like, and Pandora will create a personal radio station for you based on songs of that type.  For example, this Christmas season I typed in Christmas songs, and Pandora started playing me and my son a radio station full of Christmas music to listen and dance to.  The other time I tried it, I typed in one of my favorite bands, and they played all songs in their genre,  including some that I really liked but hadn't even remembered. 


What we liked: We love that we can choose what we want to listen to, but not have to chose every song.  Pandora does a very good job in choosing songs that are unexpected but that we will like.  This is apparently based on their song attribute analysis method known as the Music Genome Project.  One of the other features that allows them to be even more accurate is selecting songs that you like is that you can like or dislike each song and they will choose their next song for you based on that information.

As a mom, I feel like I'm limited in my time to listen to what I want to (we are always listening to Kindermusik CD's in the car), and watch what I want to on TV (only Thomas videos for us), so having a way to easily put on music that I like while the boys are napping or make song selections based on music that I know the kids will enjoy (like Christmas music) is nice.  You can create multiple "stations" for yourself based on what music you would like to listen to at a given time.


What we would change: Being on my computer, the music is not as portable as I would like, and I can't listen in my car.  However, it is possible to get Pandora on your mobile phone if you have that option. In addition, if you choose "like" or "dislike" too many times, they will want you to pay for a subscription to the site, so you have to limit your choices if you want the service to stay free. 


Website: http://www.pandora.com/