I use this a lot…have been for around 2 months now..so I feel like I can talk about the good and bad here.

GOOD:
I really am discovering new music that I’d probably never find out about otherwise. It takes the songs/artists I tell it I like and picks out stuff that “sounds like” it based on chord texture, use of harmony, male/female vocals and tons of other factors. A lot of times it chooses stuff I really like. Sometimes it doesn’t but when it does that, you choose the “thumbs down” option to have it skip over the song and mark it as not being within your listening preferences.

Another good feature is a “Quick mix” option that will function like a “shuffle” button among all your stations. If you, like me, don’t stay within a genre or two in your listening you’ll find you listen to the Quick Mix most often.

BAD:
Sometimes I love the overall sound of a group…but not certain songs. Case in point: Counting Crows. Love most of their stuff, HATE “Mr. Jones”. If I tell it I hate that song everytime it tries to play it, is Pandora deciding I don’t like “Counting Crows-sounding” music? Or just “Mr. Jones”? I believe it’s the former. They need to have a “thumbs down to this song only” option that will allow you to fine tune your station without tuning out stuff you like in the long run.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you only want a Top 40 rotation of your favorite songs regardless of genre, buy an MP3 player. If you want to discover some new tunes relatively painlessly, give Pandora a try.

Today I made a Christmas song station but I am still having the same struggles I had when I first discovered Pandora here

Basically I don’t want to hear music that sounds like what I like, I want to hear the music I like. It is fun to discover a new song or artist but I find that I give so many songs a “thumbs down” that I use up all my “passes” so I end up having to switch between stations repeatedly.

it would be nice if i could open a legitimate account, but it’s for U.S. residents only. maybe i can still find a use for it

I’m always searching for new music and the way this site is set up intrigues me. It creates your own streaming station or stations (you can have up to 100 for FREE) just by keying in a song you like.

Starting from there, it looks for songs that have similar qualities to the song you say you liked, based on gobs of musical criteria ranging from major/minor key, electric/acoustic instrumentation, lots of vocal harmony/little or no vocal harmony, etc.

This is a better approach than “If you like the Beatles, you’ll like (ARTIST X)” because not every Beatles song sounds the same. People who love ‘suit era’ Fab stuff (“I Wanna Hold Your Hand”,”P.S. I Love You”) may HATE the artsier latter stuff (“Strawberry Fields Forever”,”Tomorrow Never Knows”).

So far, I’m enjoying it. After I’ve used it for awhile, I’ll come back and do a review…

EDIT: Review posted above

Type in your favorite artist, and they’ll create a station full of similar music. If you create an account, you can make more than one station.

I typed in John Mayer to start, and it immediately played five of my favorite songs, plus a lot of songs that I’d never heard but loved.

It plays music you already know as well as music you’ve probably never heard of but will fall in love with. Pandora completely tailors itself to you – and it’s free!

Free online music service that really does introduce you to new people/groups you will like. Great for jazz and popular, just wish there was classical music as well.