I'm kind of surprised to say this, but I just dropped the $35 or whatever for a year subscription (I turned off the auto-renew option). When I first tried Pandora I didn't really like it for the same reason a lot of other people don't: the music it played for me just seemed kind of random and unrelated to what I wanted to hear. Then I figured out that if you really start "training" it by adding artist seeds and giving lots of thumbs downs it's pretty good.

After I while I got tired of hearing an ad every time I skipped a song and hearing ads on my mobile app, so I just paid for it. I'm happy with it so far. I was hitting the 40 hour per month limit regularly beforehand so I listened to it a lot.

5/15/2011 2:45:54 PM

i did this a month or so ago, mainly because my free hours were running out ... it's kinda BS that even if you pay, you still only get 6 skips per hour per station


the desktop app is decent i guess, but i dont know if you can give a song thumbs up/down after it switches to the next song (the website shows the previous 2/3 songs grayed out)

[Edited on May 15, 2011 at 2:49 PM. Reason : ]

5/15/2011 2:48:06 PM

I love pandora, but I still do the free one. I have two stations I listen to regularly, and they both are pretty fine tuned and only play stuff I really enjoy. I have found so many great new bands with pandora....its great.

5/15/2011 2:50:42 PM

Quote :

"it's kinda BS that even if you pay, you still only get 6 skips per hour per station"

from the FAQ:

Quote :

"Why can't I "skip" as many songs as I like? Due to the terms of our music licenses, we must limit the number of times you move on to a new song in any of these ways, known as "skips": giving a song "Thumbs Down," using the "skip" button, or choosing "I'm tired of this song". There are two types of skip limits: All Pandora listeners are limited to 6 skips per hour, per station. Free, ad-supported Pandora accounts are limited to 12 total skips per day, across all stations. To conserve skips, you may give a song "Thumbs Down" or "I'm tired of this song" feedback after it has finished playing. You only use up a skip if you use these features on a song that is still playing. NOTE: The hourly limit is based on a rolling sixty-minute interval for each skip. So if you give four skips at 12noon, then you give another two skips at 12:30pm, you'll have another four skips available at 1pm-- one hour from the four you gave-- then if you still haven't given any other skips in the meantime, you'll have all six skips available again at 1:30pm. You can upgrade to Pandora One to remove the daily skip limit, since subscribing covers the music royalty costs associated with additional skips. Although the hourly six-skip-per-station limit remains in place with Pandora One, you can always switch to another station to receive more skips throughout the day. NOTE: The 12-skip daily limit resets all at once overnight, and is not based on a 24-hour interval."

5/15/2011 2:53:01 PM

yeah, ive read that ..

5/15/2011 2:54:42 PM

paid for it about a year ago and just renewed again. Being able to listen at home, work, and the car is great since I havent updated my ipod in years.

5/15/2011 3:02:38 PM

on the desktop app, click on the album cover and then you'll be able to clieck on the left side to scroll back through previous songs. you can thumbs up and down once the song is shown.


I paid for it a while ago and am glad I did. Got the app on I think 4 computers so I can quickly hop on any of them and get it playing quickly.

5/15/2011 3:58:04 PM

If you're using Pandora on your computer, you can avoid the "skip count" by simply refreshing the page. It doesn't count against your skips.

Also, to avoid the 40 hours limit, you can sign up with another email address and import your 1st account station into the second.

The ads do get annoying after awhile especially the same ones. I've been hearing that damn Klondike ad for the past week.

5/15/2011 7:11:36 PM

for me, the pandora webpage takes like 10 seconds to load up though, no matter what computer i use (including the fast ones at centennial)

5/15/2011 8:06:09 PM

Quote :

"Then I figured out that if you really start "training" it by adding artist seeds and giving lots of thumbs downs it's pretty good."

except for when you continuously give a thumbs down to gorillaz and weezer when they get played on your beck station and pandora continues to play those bands

5/15/2011 8:30:25 PM

if you use the windows gadget http://www.pandora.com/on-windowsgadget there are no ads.

I trained mine a long time ago and its pretty good. I just wish there was more variety.

5/15/2011 8:39:29 PM

I listen to pandora (Free) on my phone while at work and I don't believe the 40 hours/month applies to the androids. I only say this because if/when I listen to pandora at home on the computer, I'll definitely hit the 40 hour limit. But considering I work about 15 or so days out of the month with pandora playing anywhere from 8-12 hours per day, I have no issues. On top of that, I listen to it on my phone when I work out or do yardwork (ie: cut the grass). Pandora is awesome to say the least.

I too have been introduced to many different bands through pandora.

<3

[Edited on May 16, 2011 at 5:59 AM. Reason : ,]

5/16/2011 5:58:41 AM

Quote :

"I just wish there was more variety."

yeah me too so fucking weezer and gorillaz would stop being played on my Beck station

5/16/2011 7:19:34 AM

40 hrs doesn't apply to mobile devices or standalone boxes.

5/16/2011 7:20:57 AM

^Cool. Good to know

5/17/2011 12:19:40 AM

I have thumbs downed a ton of greenday songs so pandora thought it was ok to start playing live versions of the same god damned songs >.<

Btw, if you run out of skips on android just close the program and re-open it

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 7:08 PM. Reason : ]

5/18/2011 7:07:05 PM

^omg, what is with all the live versions. If I try to add the song, 99% of the time I don't want the shitty live version Pandora! If I give a thumbs down for pretty much all live songs, quit putting new ones in my feed please.

5/18/2011 10:33:03 PM

I guess I should be glad that Imogen Heap, Kate Havnevik, and Alu aren't well-known for tons of live recordings.

5/19/2011 11:23:58 PM

the live versions do suck usually.

5/19/2011 11:36:16 PM

pandora = filter bias

5/19/2011 11:36:40 PM

another way to avoid using too many skips (at least with the desktop app or mobile) is to switch stations, then just switch back again.

5/20/2011 8:07:24 AM

live is probably cheaper for them to add to the library, or the only way they can have certain songs, i'd be willing to bet

5/21/2011 7:51:07 PM