Comments on: Pandora and The Whiz Dumb of Crowds http://improvmedia.com/2010/08/31/pandora-and-the-whiz-dumb-of-crowds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pandora-and-the-whiz-dumb-of-crowds Making it up as I go along Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:13:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: daretoeatapeach http://improvmedia.com/2010/08/31/pandora-and-the-whiz-dumb-of-crowds/#comment-391 daretoeatapeach Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:13:00 +0000 http://www.improvmedia.net/?p=107#comment-391 PS: I landed here while looking for BlogGlue partner sites for The Institute for Innovation. Nice blog! PS: I landed here while looking for BlogGlue partner sites for The Institute for Innovation. Nice blog!

]]> By: daretoeatapeach http://improvmedia.com/2010/08/31/pandora-and-the-whiz-dumb-of-crowds/#comment-390 daretoeatapeach Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:12:00 +0000 http://www.improvmedia.net/?p=107#comment-390 Your idea could work, but probably not with Pandora. The problem is that Pandora is helping you find music that's constructed the way you like it. They look for structural features like acoustic guitar, harmonizing, or synthetic keyboards. Quality is not a measure, it's more about finding a style you like. But a general call for "great songs" is going to confuse Pandora, because structurally the songs are going to be all over the place. This is why, even though Ani Difranco is an all-time favorite, I never had an Ani Pandora station---it would be sure to recommend other folk singers, which isn't generally my style. For Pandora to function best, each station should reflect a singular style, and one that you consistently enjoy. By the way, I used to be a big fan of Pandora but I think there are much better options out there, especially since they've added audio ads. Audio ads for me are a dealbreaker. Though they have less songs than they used to, Blip.fm is still my favorite, and still much better than Pandora. My station is at blip.fm/daretoetapeach. I also recommend hypem.com and thesixtyone.com. Your idea could work, but probably not with Pandora. The problem is that Pandora is helping you find music that’s constructed the way you like it. They look for structural features like acoustic guitar, harmonizing, or synthetic keyboards. Quality is not a measure, it’s more about finding a style you like. But a general call for “great songs” is going to confuse Pandora, because structurally the songs are going to be all over the place. This is why, even though Ani Difranco is an all-time favorite, I never had an Ani Pandora station—it would be sure to recommend other folk singers, which isn’t generally my style. For Pandora to function best, each station should reflect a singular style, and one that you consistently enjoy.

By the way, I used to be a big fan of Pandora but I think there are much better options out there, especially since they’ve added audio ads. Audio ads for me are a dealbreaker. Though they have less songs than they used to, Blip.fm is still my favorite, and still much better than Pandora. My station is at blip.fm/daretoetapeach. I also recommend hypem.com and thesixtyone.com.

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