Giving Pandora my money (SOLVED)

AtomBomb

So I'm about to hit my monthly free limit on Pandora and I'm thinking about buying the paid version for $36/year. Is Pandora the best buy right now? I don't need to be able to download songs, I just want to stream stuff (mostly at work). I tried grooveshark and it worked well enough for specific stuff, but not as well for set it and forget it variety. It also sodomized my work PC's RAM in an unfriendly fashion.

So Pandora or ______?

Darkewolfe

Have you tried last.fm?

Pandora is good, but I've never felt that the service they provide is worth the money when there are free competitors. If I needed the added tools and streaming to some devices, then it'd be nice.

John Matrix

www.grooveshark.com

Make your own playlists from any song you want and then turn on the "radio" function and that matches similar music like Pandora. Oh, and it's free.

Darkewolfe

John Matrix wrote: »

www.grooveshark.com

Make your own playlists from any song you want and then turn on the "radio" function and that matches similar music like Pandora. Oh, and it's free.

I... I...

I...

?

Also, OP, have you ever tried just listening to some of the free radio stations on itunes?

NailbunnyPD

last.fm is an acceptable alternative to Pandora.

AtomBomb

I'll give last.fm a shot. I've used it on my xbox, but not that much since I couldn't play games at the same time. I don't have itunes on the work PC, so that's a no go. I'll certainly give that a shot at home. Thanks!

urahonky

I find Pandora about a BILLION times better than last.fm. There's not really a variety... Like in Pandora I have had a station for about 3 years now. Just listening and liking each song that comes on. It doesn't have a set genre of what type of music, just a culmination of all my favorite types of songs. You won't find that on last.fm honestly.

Darkewolfe

urahonky wrote: »

I find Pandora about a BILLION times better than last.fm. There's not really a variety... Like in Pandora I have had a station for about 3 years now. Just listening and liking each song that comes on. It doesn't have a set genre of what type of music, just a culmination of all my favorite types of songs. You won't find that on last.fm honestly.

That's totally true. I usually listen to pandora till my 40 hours are up, then listen to last.fm and mp3's. Gets me through the month without costing anything.

NailbunnyPD

Pandora is certainly superior, but if you have to listen to last.fm for a week to skirt paying for Pandora, its acceptable.

starmanbrand

I use Slacker and Pandora when I am streaming stuff. Both have different mixes of songs, but both become reptitive after listening to just one for too long...so you switch to the other! I often find Slacker plays music I want to hear more often than Pandora does.

Only negative I can say about slacker is that they include whole CDs in their library, so sometimes you have to waste a skip on a long skit from a cd or something.

Gihgehls

I love my Pandora One account. The quality is noticeably better, and I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside from paying for their (really good) service. Also it is pretty cheap.

jedikuonji

Gihgehls wrote: »

I love my Pandora One account. The quality is noticeably better, and I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside from paying for their (really good) service. Also it is pretty cheap.

I hit my limit one month and didn't think anything of dropping the money to continue service. I found it to be a worthwhile expenditure as well. I probably would have just spent the money on food or something equally as useless anyway so at least I got something useful out of the deal.

Pandora has also introduced me to quite a bit of new music to listen to, so it's worth it for that as well imo.

FF

I paid for the Pandora One service, not only because they're based in my hometown but because I love having the downloadable app instead of having to have a web page open all the time.

John Matrix

Darkewolfe wrote: »

John Matrix wrote: »

www.grooveshark.com

Make your own playlists from any song you want and then turn on the "radio" function and that matches similar music like Pandora. Oh, and it's free.

I... I...

I...

?

Also, OP, have you ever tried just listening to some of the free radio stations on itunes?

What's up here? I haven't used last.fm, it is better than grooveshark?

EggyToast

Considering it's $3 a month, you'll probably use it *more* once you pay for it. Is that a bad thing?

naporeon

jedikuonji wrote: »

Gihgehls wrote: »

I love my Pandora One account. The quality is noticeably better, and I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside from paying for their (really good) service. Also it is pretty cheap.

I hit my limit one month and didn't think anything of dropping the money to continue service. I found it to be a worthwhile expenditure as well. I probably would have just spent the money on food or something equally as useless anyway so at least I got something useful out of the deal.

Pandora has also introduced me to quite a bit of new music to listen to, so it's worth it for that as well imo.

Yes, between the extra skips and improved sound quality, I have never for a moment regretted my investment.

Pandora One is well worth the dime a day it basically costs.

AtomBomb

Thanks everyone. I've been trying out last.fm and slacker, but I think I will end up getting Pandora.

Figgy

John Matrix wrote: »

Darkewolfe wrote: »

John Matrix wrote: »

www.grooveshark.com

Make your own playlists from any song you want and then turn on the "radio" function and that matches similar music like Pandora. Oh, and it's free.

I... I...

I...

?

Also, OP, have you ever tried just listening to some of the free radio stations on itunes?

What's up here? I haven't used last.fm, it is better than grooveshark?

I think the reaction is because the OP specifically said he didn't like Grooveshark.

John Matrix

hahaha, OP read fail.