"Larry" <noone@home.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9AD7600DF3AE7noonehomecom@208.49.80.253...
> Oxford <apony@pasture.com> wrote in news:apony-EE30ED.00042110072008
> @news.qwest.net:
>
>> Pandora is already available on other phones from AT&T and Sprint, for a
>> monthly fee. On the iPhone, it is free. That makes it "a credible
>> alternative to broadcast (radio)," in part because iPhones can be
>> plugged into car stereos, founder Tim Westergren says.
>>
>
> So what? Every computer ALREADY has a radio player/tuner or 50....
>
> http://maemo.org/downloads/product/OS2008/streamtuner/
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamtuner
>
> It's real old.....
>
> Why is when FruitFones play catchup with everyone else it creates this
> huge
> media event like it's something new??
Well, to be fair, Pandora is a bit unique amongst streaming services. It
allows you to create your own "radio stations" based on artists or songs you
like, and based on 400 attributes in those songs, it selects other
songs/artists with similar attributes. You can also "thumbs up" and "thumbs
down" songs as they play to further refine what kind of music will be
streamed on that "station" in the future. Far more powerful than simply
selecting, say, a "60's" station or "Big Band" station. If you like the Rat
Pack, select Frank, Dino and Sammy as your "seed" artists and that, and
similar styled music, is all you'll hear.
Pandora has a mobile distribution contract with AT&T and Sprint, so their
mobile apps only run on those carriers (although you can listen to Pandora
on any service with a tethered PC- Pandora uses Flash and is ad-supported in
the free version, thwarting my attempts to get it to work on my WinMo
devices regardless of browser I try. I'll have to try remote desktop one of
these days when I'm bored and see if the RD client on my WinMo phone can
keep up with 128kb audio streams!)
A subscription to Pandora on Sprint ($2.99/month) or AT&T ($8.99/month) also
includes a subscription to the desktop version (which just removes the ad
banners, and is available for $36/year if you don't buy a mobile
subscription- there's no difference in music playing for free or paid
subscribers.)
This is a heck of a perq for iPhone owners, frankly, and might give Pandora
a lot more exposure. I suspect the "free" subscription is an experiment-
Pandora (on the desktop, anyway) has a click-thru system to buy any song you
hear at Amazon or iTunes, for which Pandora receives a commission. A nice
big fat "Buy this song on iTunes" button on the iPhone Pandora client might
generate enough revenue to make this a win-win-win-win for Apple, Pandora,
AT&T and the customer that doesn't have time to seek out new music on their
own.
Give Pandora a try, Larry, and see if your N800 RD client can grab the music
from your desktop- you might have discovered a new favorite streaming
source.