5 Ways Pandora Radio Can Be Even More Kick Ass

So you are an avid Pandora music radio fan. Or you've just discovered it. Then you may already notice functions and ideas that they can improve upon to make Pandora internet music radio even more exciting. Here are a few of my notes.

1) Song recognition control. Say if you like a song, and give it a thumbs up, then it will play it again and again. The problem I have, is that Pandora doesn't recognize that song may be on different albums and compilations, so it plays that song a lot more than you'd like. As an example, I typed in the French electronic music band, Daft Punk, and not only does Pandora play their albums, but also live albums, and whatever compilations they may reside on, even if it is the same song. So I'm basically getting a whole lot of Daft Punk simply because they exist on many different albums.

2) Unreleased Tracks. It would be cool if Pandora music could get unreleased tracks that are about to be released, like how regular radio gets songs before they come out. Right now Pandora only gets songs from albums that are already released. Also, with unreleased tracks, you could have the option to pre-order the song if you like it.

3) Keyword association. It would also be cool if you could find music by typing in a keyword description. Say, for instance, you'd like something ambient, then it would choose artists and songs that are closely associated with that adjective you typed in.

4) Pandora in the background. Pandora music can't play on the iPhone with other applications open. It would be a major convenience to have Pandora playing in the background while you message someone or go on the internet. Although, I could see it draining a lot of battery life. Maybe with the iPhone 3.0, this feature might happen. As for now, you can only run one application at a time.

5) Better reception. Right now, this is my biggest bug about using Pandora music on the iPhone or any device. This may have to do more with the cell phone company than with Pandora, but this would be a great improvement. How many times have you gone walking in your neighborhood and Pandora just cuts out, even for a minute. It gets pretty annoying as a minute of radio silence seems like forever. Oh, and the intermittent music streaming in and out, doesn't help either.

The Rise of Pandora Radio

The Rise of Pandora Radio

If you haven't heard of Pandora (www.pandora.com) by now, then this will be a first for you. Pandora radio is a fast rising internet radio station that lets you create your own stations (more on that later). I was skeptical at first, since Pandora looked like your basic internet radio setup. Plus there are lots of internet radio stations, and Last FM is doing well too, so big deal. Right? Well, if you are like me, and fed up with the current state of radio, who play the same ole' songs a billion times a day, then Pandora might be to your liking. There is only so much of my own songs I can listen to on my iPod and yes, CDs too (I still listen to them).

So what really sold me on Pandora was not it's internet radio capabilities, but the fact that it works with the iPhone. Woah! So what does that mean??? It means it's mobile. Yes, mobile, as in you can take it anywhere and it should work, even in the car. The iPhone's, er... AT&T's 3G network isn't lightning fast, but it still works most of the time. Some places will be a bit spotty, like for some reason, the big hole in my neighborhood, and I've also read that Pandora adjusts itself when the bandwidth switches to the 3G network or even the Edge network, and it makes it sound like mono. I guess that's the bullet you have to bite when listening to streaming radio. However, someone I know, said he listened to Pandora on the drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and it worked fine. So you might be surpised.

Wait, wait, wait... Besides being mobile, what the hell makes Pandora special anyway? Well, Pandora basically allows you to create a station, by naming a song or artist you like and then assembles a list of songs with similar attributes for you to listen. And you can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the songs that are played, further adjusting to your liking. Kind of like a radio version of Tivo. So if you like The Killers, Pandora will bring up The Strokes and maybe The Bravery. And if you like them, then maybe Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and so on. You get the idea. Anyways, Pandora was actually started in 2000 when it was called the Music Genome Project.

Fast forward 9 years later, and here it is, catching quite a storm. In fact, last December, the Pandora application for the iPhone reached over 2 million downloads. And some are saying that it might kill Satellite radio. What??? Yup. Seriously, with the downward spiral of Sirius XM, which is really getting hit by the bad economy, Pandora presents a new algorithm, especially with it's mobile capabilities (rumors are abound that they are actually working on a mobile interface for the car).

The rise of Pandora brings up another problem (Yes, back to the problem page). Say if they were to become hugely popular, enough to make a commercial impact, then they'd probably want a bigger profit margin. Or maybe the music labels will push for a bigger chunk of the change. Well, some are theorizing that ads or subscription fees may be in store for the future of Pandora. That might suck... but if the technology for mobile content gets far more advanced by then, then that might be a small price many followers will pay. Unless, somehow Pandora magically turns into regular radio, with the music labels shoving their own artists down the listeners ears over and over again, Pandora is here to stay and will present a new way to market music. As for the music industry itself, they should take note (which they probably already are).

5 Ways Pandora can become even more kick ass