What happens when you open Pandora's Box? You get your own radio station!

by Charlotte Deaver

I kind of get the metaphor, but I also kinda don't. And frankly, it doesn't matter, because this website, www.pandora.com, is amazing enough to overlook the rhetorical flaw. My nephew made mention of this website on his blog (Quality Peoples) a few days ago; I have been listening as often as I can ever since, and I'm hooked.

Pandora was created by the The Music Genome Project as a way for music-lovers to seek out new music they might like, based on music they already know they like. So all you have to do is register (free), start entering your favorite song titles or artists, and a pseudo "radio station" is created for you, based on your tastes. When you don't like a song, you tell the "box" and it removes it from its files, and when you do like a song a lot, you say so and it includes more music with those characteristics. It's very cool. You can also create a "favorites" page, for referring back to music you liked a lot. I was impressed by how many artists and songs are in the database. Only one artist I added was not available, but the pop-up said something like "We can't find blah-di-blah, but we're always looking for new music, so we'll check it out."

It's very easy to use. In just a few minutes you can have your own radio station, tailored specifically to your likes. You'll hear the stuff you entered, along with a lot of music you probably don't know and are apt to like. Or you might hear music by artists you've heard of, but didn't know you liked.