# Pandora options.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2009, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097 "2009-07-15T11:34:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/1 "2009-07-15T11:34:35Z")
Rats, first Yahoo!Music, now Pandora… They’re either taking away or limiting the access to customized free radio. Just last night I got an email from Pandora saying I was approaching the 40 hour per month limit. I’m on hour 35 right now… ☹ I’ve heard of Lastfm, but have not yet tried it out… How is it? How does it compare to Pandora or Yahoo!Music? One of the things that irks me about Pandora is that the selection is a simple yes or no, while Yahoo! was rated (one to five stars), and it seemed the music played more according to that rating. Any other options? I really don’t mind the ads, I just don’t want to pay for it… Bummer… ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/2 "2009-07-15T13:32:56Z")
I love Pandora. I haven’t received any emails regarding that, yet. Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/3 "2009-07-15T13:57:25Z")
Just for completeness’s sake, here’s the relevant quote from Pandora: > [@](#): > > The revised royalties are quite high - higher in fact than any other form of radio. As a consequence, we will have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin limiting listening to 40 hours per month on the free version of Pandora. In any given month, a listener who hits this limit can then opt for unlimited listening for the remainder of that month for just $0.99. In essence, we’re asking our heaviest users to put a dollar (well, almost a dollar) in the tip jar in any month in which they listen over 40 hours. We hope this is relatively painless and affordable–the same price as a single song download. (Alternatively, they can upgrade to “Pandora One”, our premium version which offers unlimited monthly listening in addition to its other benefits). ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/4 "2009-07-15T14:34:23Z")
I got that email as well, and decided to go ahead and pay for the full version. I listen to Pandora all day long, and 39 bucks per years is still a pretty good deal. The main benefit of the full version (besides unlimited listening) is that I don’t get any commercials. Oh, and I don’t have to pay attention to it- it doesn’t stop every now and then to see if I’m still listening. The desktop app that they give you for the full version isn’t worth it, in my opinion. A freeware app called Pandora’s Box has better features and just plain works better. It’s my understanding that Microsoft is starting up a free music streaming service next month. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/5 "2009-07-15T14:56:57Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > I got that email as well, and decided to go ahead and pay for the full version. I listen to Pandora all day long, and 39 bucks per years is still a pretty good deal. Yea, so… I liked Yahoo!Music more than Pandora, and it went away. I’m in no condition (and no interest) to pay $36 for the full version of Pandora, particularly since I don’t mind the ads (and I actually DO like that it stops if I don’t listen for a while). **Shirley Ujest** , that rule must have come recently, as I’m sure I’ve listened to waaaay more than 40 hours since the beginning of July, but I’m in hour 36 since they started counting them… After all, I have Pandora on during my workday, and I listen to it once I get home… Again, any ideas or suggestions about other places that are similar, how do they compare in terms of music choices, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/6 "2009-07-15T15:13:36Z")
You don’t have to pay $36 (though it’s well worth it); just pay $1 a month. Skip the fries once a month. I tried Pandora’s box long ago and found it incredibly buggy. I think the Pandora desktop app is just fine and like how it shows me the song name as it starts playing and whether I’ve already given it the thumbs up. Now if I could just get Pandora on my Xbox. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/7 "2009-07-15T15:27:44Z")
I don’t know of any alternatives that you haven’t already mentioned. And I suspect you won’t find them, since Pandora’s addition of a 99 cent fee wasn’t done on a whim, but rather, because of a new agreement concerning royalties that applies to all internet streaming radio. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/8 "2009-07-15T15:37:21Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > You don’t have to pay $36 (though it’s well worth it); just pay $1 a month. Skip the fries once a month. I don’t eat fries. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/9 "2009-07-15T15:38:47Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I don’t know of any alternatives that you haven’t already mentioned. And I suspect you won’t find them, since Pandora’s addition of a 99 cent fee wasn’t done on a whim, but rather, because of a new agreement concerning royalties that applies to all internet streaming radio. But have you tried any of them? That is my second question, of those that have tried Lastfm (or others), what is their view? How does it compares? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/10 "2009-07-15T16:36:29Z")
I _really_ like Pandora, and urge you and everyone to support it with 99 cents a month. It does not seem like much to ask. That said, what happens if you simply make a new login to use the rest of the month? Does it block you at the IP level from streaming more with another account? And if so, what if there are two people living together that share a connection, are they screwed? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/11 "2009-07-15T17:07:30Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I _really_ like Pandora, and urge you and everyone to support it with 99 cents a month. It does not seem like much to ask. For those that _really_ like Pandora, that would be a good suggestion. As I’ve been lukewarm about it (I got into it because the other service I used closed down), I don’t really wish to spend money on something I’m ambivalent about. 😉 I wouldn’t know the answer to your second question, but that would be interesting… I was guessing they were just going by email addresses, not by IP (since I log in my work and my house, different IPs). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/12 "2009-07-15T17:11:24Z")
Are there ANY streaming audio selection programs like Pandora that have a decent selection at all? The game store I play at has a Pandora mix made by a guy who has literally dozens of seeds and you still hear the same artists several times in a 4 hour period. I thought it was improving last week because it plays several different emopop bands at my local gaming store, and I went to another one last weekend that played different emopop bands, I rejoiced because I assumed it had broadened its selection (or else those bands would have played at my local store, too,) but no, toward the end of the day it was repeating those _different_ bands, too :smack: ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pandora-options/503097/13 "2009-07-15T17:29:55Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Are there ANY streaming audio selection programs like Pandora that have a decent selection at all? The game store I play at has a Pandora mix made by a guy who has literally dozens of seeds and you still hear the same artists several times in a 4 hour period. Yes, this is something that irks me about Pandora… I can place them in the “do not play for a month”, but then the same thing happens with the “new” music it has found. Like I said, in Yahoo!, it seemed that the music rating affected how frequently I heard a song. A song I had rated low, I didn’t get too hear too often (once every other week, after a lot of playing)… A song that had a high rating would be played every day, sometimes many times. But in those cases, these were songs I _loved_.