I’ve spent part of today experimenting with Pandora, a streaming music service. The interface is simple enough; you enter a favorite artist or song and Pandora creates a “radio station” that plays other artists that share similar musical characteristics. There’s a subscription-based version that plays the music without any interruptions, but the free version is more than tolerable. I have a feeling I’ll be making quite a few iTunes purchases because of this.
And after you check out Pandora and like it as much as I do, sign this petition to show your support for webcasting. A recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board could dramatically increase the royalties that both small and large webcasters have to pay to labels, which could force many services like Pandora out of business. Commercial over-the-air radio is a wasteland of generic playlists and endless advertising; internet radio offers almost infinite choice and many of the webcasters are truly passionate about music. They deserve our support.
