Music really is the life blood of my work. No matter where I am or what I’m doing there is almost always music on somewhere around me. It helps me think, get creative, and blocks out the voices in my head (OK well just kidding on that last one 
). I have had satellite radio in my vehicles for at least the last 6 years.
Most recently I had a good friend of mine introduce me to Pandora which is a free internet radio. However it goes beyond the norm of having ump-teen hundred stations that you can choose from where other people pick their favorite songs to play on it. (hello shoutcast, sirius, etc)
The Music Genome Project:
Pandora uses what’s called the “music genome project” which is best described by the creators:
Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or “genes” into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song – everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It’s not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records – it’s about what each individual song sounds like. (taken from http://pandora.com/mgp.shtml)
Build Your Station:
So basically after you sign up for an account you go through and type a song title or artist, and through their vast database it finds a few songs to play for you. Each song you can click a thumbs up or thumbs down if you like it or not. What this provides is an interactive way to shape your Pandora radio station.
After every thumbs up or thumbs down it is able to figure out past on your past ratings what music you will like next, and I have to say it does a great job. After listening to a couple of my stations for just a bit it starts finding me all kinds of new great music I may not have heard before.
Sharing your stations:
Pandora also lets you share your radio stations with friends by entering their email address. Once they get the email they will find a link to Pandora and the station you created, and if they don’t have an account, it will walk them through the setup.
Pandora on your Phone, or Blackberry:
Ok, I admit it… I’m a geek (I think I actually got a certification for that a while ago) and I have a blackberry that keeps me fully connected to just about everything I do on the computer. So why should my music be any different?
You can go to their main page on your web enabled phone (iPone, Blackberry, etc..) and download the app so you can listen to all of your favorite stations on the go! I have found this really handy and noticed reasonably good quality, however it tends to suck the battery life a bit, so consider yourself warned on that one.
In closing:
If your an audiophile, music junkie, or the recreational listener, I would highly suggest checking out Pandora to expand your musical horizons a little bit.
Have a great day!
~Blaine
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