Bargain Basement Alternative to Online Music
June 10th, 2006 | by Molly's Brother |Awhile back, I detailed some ways to save money in this technological age. For those of you who spend too much money on Napster or Yahoo music or iTunes, I offer you a bargain basement alternative to listening to online music: Pandora.com
What is Pandora.com? Pandora was created by the Music Genome Project with the intention of helping people discover music that they would enjoy. To get started on this free site, you create your own “stations” around a single artist or song that is a current favorite. For example, let’s say that I am a huge Meat Loaf fan (sarcasm, my friends) and I wanted to be exposed to other artists who have the same tone and feeling as Meat Loaf. I create a station around this artist. Pandora then plays one song that is “typical” of the selected artist. After you listen to that song, you are then provided with songs by Meat Loaf and other artists that have a similar sound. Honestly, for the level of exposure of new artists alone, this is such an awesome site. (For those of you wondering, following a song by Meat Loaf, Pandora played music by Joe Jackson, S’cool Girls, and Eddie Money.)
The Greatest Thing About Pandora.com This site does not cost a dime. It’s totally free, which is perfect for those of you who want to (temporarily) eliminate your dependence on music from your monthly spending plan.
The Downside But, of course, there’s a catch. There’s two of them, actually. First, you can’t download these songs for free. So this site operates much like a radio station and less like a download site (although, by clicking on the icons, you are given the option to buy/download the song or album…but that would be counterproductive, wouldn’t it?). The other drawback is that, due to licensing issues, you can only listen to a certain number of songs an hour (so don’t skip through too many songs).
However, if you find that you are spending too much money on iTunes, I think that our friends over at Pandora.com offer a fantastic–and free–alternative to feed your music needs.
