Pandora: My Personal Radio
It is not easy to surprise me these days. We are all used to billion-transistor chipsets from Intel and light speed cruises around the Net in Google capsule. Entertainment from iTunes, and information from customized RSS feeds via Google Reader. But when Pete sent me the http://www.pandora.com/ link a couple of days ago, what I saw after it opened, simply blew me away. I marked the day on my calendar. The day that was the harbinger of death for traditional music distribution channels, iTunes included. Now continue to read or go there immediately and open your own Pandora box.So far we have been purchasing records (CD's) or individual tunes (iTunes) and the latter seemed to be the new, unconventional wave of music distribution. No longer. With Pandora you will be purchasing entire radio stations. And they will be your very personal radio stations. Created for you and only for you. Adjusting to your moods and preferences.
When you navigate to Pandora web site, a smart Flash-based application asks you for the starting point. Enter your preference. Artist's name or a song title. And voila! Pandora creates you a virtual radio station, that plays the music you like. That is just a starting point. When the music plays, you may rate the songs, giving them a thumb up or a thumb down. Based on your ratings Pandora changes the tracks to play exactly what you like. So far I have been simply amazed by the way it works. Have created several radio stations, for different moods, and all of them keep on playing exactly what I expect them to. I mean what I expect to hear, since most of the artists and songs have been completely new for me (remember the long tail?), yet have sounded the way I like. Awesome, awesome, awesome! You have to try it. The perfect implementation of everything the Internet is here for. Personalized experience, turning traditional business models up on their heads. Seriously, with Pandora, I doubt I will buy a CD or even an iTunes song in future. Why doing that when you can buy yourself entire radio station? Well... you even do not have to buy, since Pandora may be sponsored by ads, or may be ad-free for just 3$ a month. That is what I call a fair price.
Pandora also introduces a completely new model of sharing music. Once you have created your radio, you may share it with friends. By sharing a radio station, you share your preferences and moods, not the actual content. Suddenly no more need for P2P file sharing services, no piracy, no gigabytes of MP3s and WAVes.
No doubt, Pandora is a revolution. You have to listen to believe. Of course you may bring several arguments against it, but they will not stand. You need a broadband connection to tune in Pandora. Sure, but who does not have one today? You need to have your PC turned on and connected either to headphones or the HiFi equipment. Sure, but media PCs are coming. And there is this wonderful SlimDevices SqueezeBox that deserves a story of its own.
There is no way back. There will be no iPods, no iTunes, no CDs from Amazon. Just a galaxy of radio stations in a Pandora box. And imagine the same technology applied to TV. Are you ready? I am...
Well I am not convinced. Really. The idea behind a Music Genome Project is really cool but I do not see the end of iPods and iTunes. I am listening to music while on the road - then the iPod is my choice. And while at home I also sometimes want to listen to a specyfic record. Then I choose it on my iPod as well. I mean I would like to have choice. But of course from time to time I would like to give Pandora a try and see what's there. But only from time to time.
ReplyDeleteFor me experiencing new music is much better archived with a real radio station (like my local radio RAM http://www.radioram.pl/) with a real person by the mic. A person who will tell me in an interresting way some stuff about the artists and music he plays on the air. That is the next thing Pandora will not do. At least right now. :-)
So: cool idea but it is not an iPod killer app, really.
The main, and I believe the only, thing which will keep people buying iPods is listening the music they already know. The very CD they want listen now. But when given an alternative of listening to music they like many will choose Pandora, not their bunch of CDs.
ReplyDeleteAnd with HSDPA listening to Pandora on the road won't be a problem. It's the matter of time and marketing :)
flail, I agree 100%. what is more - I'm sure there is a market for a "Pandora on the iPod" software, ie. using iPod as a cache for offline Pandora. With a broadband connection you could fill an iPod with, say, 100 hours worth of music and listen to it in a way similar to Pandora when out of Internet coverage.
ReplyDeleteBut what I love the most is those surprise songs and artists that keep on coming from Pandora, even if I never knew they existed! And they all match my preferences, that is awesome.
My iPod, despite being loaded with some 40GB fo MP3s, is so boring... I know all the music there by heart.
And, Blazej, there is really nothing stopping Pandora from introducing music presenters as an option. I would even envision an automated one fetching your personalized Google News and reading using text to speech ;) Of course you would still havethe thumbs up / thumbs down option working...
Cheers,
Headworx