# Do you like Pandora? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452 "2012-04-30T22:09:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/21 "2012-05-01T16:06:23Z")
Here’s a website that does a graphical representation of similar artists to your entry - the closer to the center, the more people that have indicated an associated “like”: [http://www.music-map.com](http://www.music-map.com) Plus, each artist on the map links to its own map with that artist in the middle. Its related link, [Gnoosic](http://www.gnoosic.com/index.php), will take three of your musical likes and make suggestions based upon those. Don’t know how it stacks up volume-wise to Pandora, but I have found some interesting new music by playing around with it. ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/22 "2012-05-01T16:43:05Z")
Instead of waiting around to pat Pandora on the head when it goes outside your initial scope, just go ahead and put additional artists and/or tracks into the channel. You can make a channel as diverse or as focused as you want it to be, and when you feed in just a single seed, it assumes you want focused. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/23 "2012-05-01T16:44:53Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > They have comedian tracks? I had no idea. I’ll have to add them to my mix. It is fairly recent. I have Lenny Bruce and Tom Lehrer, but I might expand. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/24 "2012-05-01T16:45:13Z")
> [@Mekhazzio](#): > > Instead of waiting around to pat Pandora on the head when it goes outside your initial scope, just go ahead and put additional artists and/or tracks into the channel. You can make a channel as diverse or as focused as you want it to be, and when you feed in just a single seed, it assumes you want focused. See, I’ve done that. I’ve even created something like 30 stations, and even when I “Quick Mix” the whole lot of them, the same damned songs keep popping up. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/25 "2012-05-01T16:47:31Z")
My first channel was Mike Oldfield, and I had to spend a lot of time training it to avoid tinkly New Age crap which usually gets associated with him (unfairly.) It is better now. The best thing to do is to have lots of channels, which increases the diversity of what you hear. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/26 "2012-05-01T16:56:08Z")
> [@Mixolydian](#): > > Here’s a website that does a graphical representation of similar artists to your entry - the closer to the center, the more people that have indicated an associated “like”: > > [http://www.music-map.com](http://www.music-map.com) Aha! That explains why my U2 channel is always shoving Coldplay down my throat. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/27 "2012-05-01T17:37:15Z")
I used Pandora briefly a number of years ago. My big complaint was about the first band that I put in, which was New Order. Now New Order had a very good early run through about 1989, then they broke up for a few years. When they got back together, they put out a bunch of lifeless tracks that kind of sucked. (All previous is my personal opinion.) So when Pandora saw my selection of New Order, they would only play the sucky stuff. They should have options with some bands to ignore certain portions of their catalog. Maybe I should try it again and try to tune it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/28 "2012-05-01T17:37:33Z")
I alternate between Pandora and Live365. Pandora does need some tweaking, but once you spend a little time giving thumbs up and down it gets the idea. I’ll have to try out Jango! ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/29 "2012-05-01T17:42:50Z")
I like Pandora. It’s my afternoon listening at work. As others have mentioned, you have to tune your stations a bit. Start by seeding a few different artists. The more divergent the styles, the less focused the station will be. There are also some hard to find rules about artists on a particular station. For example, if you thumb down two songs from the same artist, that artist will not appear on the station again unless you have thumbed up one of their tracks or seeded the artist or a track. If you’re sick of a particular song, you can have Pandora remove it from the playlist for a month, but it will still continue to influence the station. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/30 "2012-05-01T18:12:23Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > I used Pandora briefly a number of years ago. My big complaint was about the first band that I put in, which was New Order. Now New Order had a very good early run through about 1989, then they broke up for a few years. When they got back together, they put out a bunch of lifeless tracks that kind of sucked. (All previous is my personal opinion.) So when Pandora saw my selection of New Order, they would only play the sucky stuff. They should have options with some bands to ignore certain portions of their catalog. Maybe I should try it again and try to tune it. The simple solution is to seed it with the New Order songs you consider the good stuff instead of the artist. People seem to forget you can seed songs, not just artists. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/31 "2012-05-01T19:54:37Z")
Another question… I created my first station and then deleted it after creating a couple more. And I’ve deleted it again and again and again – at least a half dozen times so far. And each time I get a little confirmation note that the station has been deleted. But every time I leave the site and come back to it, the station is back, and even worse it is the default station that starts playing when I open the page. How do I drive a stake into the heart of this Freddy Krueger station? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/32 "2012-05-01T20:02:54Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Most of the songs playing now are already reruns from just a few hours. I’m not sure if what the others are saying is true but if so, you’re gonna need a _lot_ of hand holding to get it to stop replaying music. I’ve listened to other people’s stations that had like 80 seeds and they occasionally rated stuff once or twice a day and there were still lots of repeats. Not artists that repeat. Songs that repeat. If you have a lot of seeds there will at least be a variety of artists, but it will always seem to be the same songs by those artists. That’s why I don’t listen to it on my own (that, and that it doesn’t do a great job introducing me to new bands, like others have said. Well, it probably would initially but after the first 10 or so bands it would probably quickly peter out.) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/33 "2012-05-01T20:41:53Z")
I tried Pandora but can’t take it. They veer off your desired artist too quickly, the songs repeat, and I don’t want to fuss with tuning it. Now that I know two thumbs down will never play an artist again I might give it another chance. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/34 "2012-05-01T22:48:13Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > The simple solution is to seed it with the New Order songs you consider the good stuff instead of the artist. People seem to forget you can seed songs, not just artists. Good info. They may not have had that when I tried it out, although I may have been too stupid to figure it out. It was a brief trial that got on my bad side really early. Like I said, maybe I should try it again. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/35 "2012-05-01T23:17:46Z")
> [@Mekhazzio](#): > > Instead of waiting around to pat Pandora on the head when it goes outside your initial scope, just go ahead and put additional artists and/or tracks into the channel. You can make a channel as diverse or as focused as you want it to be, and when you feed in just a single seed, it assumes you want focused. > [@pulykamell](#): > > See, I’ve done that. I’ve even created something like 30 stations, and even when I “Quick Mix” the whole lot of them, the same damned songs keep popping up. I’ve had the same results as pulykamell, after adding a couple dozen artists to each channel. You like Enon? Here’s an Enon song, and another one, and that 3 Days Grace song you liked, and another Enon song, and you still like People in Planes, right? So here’s one of their songs. Have you heard this song by 3 Days Grace? And hasn’t it been a while since we played anything by Enon? Here’s Papa Roach, and Spoon, and People in Planes, and Enon… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/36 "2012-05-02T00:32:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > It is fairly recent. I have Lenny Bruce and Tom Lehrer, but I might expand. I have Lenny Bruce but I didn’t think of Tom Lehrer. Good idea. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/37 "2012-05-02T01:00:23Z")
Pandora is best for exploring different genres of music than what’s in your typical rotation. It’ll never replace your preferred MP3 playlist. Create a station for the Kashmere Stage Band, and see if I’m not right. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/38 "2012-05-02T01:06:11Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Pandora is best for exploring different genres of music than what’s in your typical rotation. It’ll never replace your preferred MP3 playlist. > > Create a station for the Kashmere Stage Band, and see if I’m not right. The whole point to creating a station, I thought, was to stay within a genre, and ideally find other artists and tracts that fit within that genre. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/39 "2012-05-02T01:22:31Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The whole point to creating a station, I thought, was to stay within a genre, and ideally find other artists and tracts that fit within that genre. Unless your affection for that genre is new and unexplored, like when I created my LCD Soundsystem station and got to hear other dance-punk bands, I think it performs poorly in that regard. If I make a Rolling Stones station, Pandora gives me a thoroughly predictable mix of classic rock radio staples. No surprises or discoveries, and certainly no inspired picks or recommendations. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452/40 "2012-05-02T01:29:04Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > The whole point to creating a station, I thought, was to stay within a genre, and ideally find other artists and tracts that fit within that genre. If I wanted to stay within a genre, I’d pick one of their pre-fab genre stations, I wouldn’t even bother creating my own! Case in point, the artist seeds to just one of my stations are Adele, Tune-Yards, Fucked Up, Cults, Wye Oak, Middle Brother, Foster The People, TV on the Radio, Megafaun, and the War on Drugs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-pandora/620452.md?page=3)