Rich Menseck

Rich:
I too am a huge Pandora fan. I have different stations depending on my mood or the activity I’m engaged in and it’s always great to hear a song you haven’t heard in a while to learn of a new band or song. That to me is the key to it all: Having the ability to customize while also occasionally being introduced to something new. Currently I have a station with music for working out, reading/studying, working in the office, or just relaxing.
It is slightly frustrating when you first start up a station because you will skip and thumb down songs, which results in you reaching a skip limit and hearing more commercials than songs. But the reward is well worth it.
The only feature I wish Pandora had was an ability to select liked tracks to play on demand. So let’s say I want to hear “Little Black Submarines” by the Black Keys. It would be great if I could just go into my Black Keys station and select that song whenever I wanted to hear it. For all I know it is possible, but I just haven’t figured it out.
My wife uses an app and I think it’s called Spotify, which lets you select your songs on demand, but I don’t think it plays songs off your playlist, which prevents you from exposure to new songs and artists.
Thanks for the post and look forward to more conversations in the future,
Will

I used to run Pandora constantly, but switched to Spotify when I realized I could play specific songs on demand. Like Will and Rich, I also have a few different “stations” set up based on what kind of music I want — workouts, homework/reading (usually classical), or just background sound. I can choose from a playlist I created, or I can select that playlist and tell Spotify to create a “radio” based on the songs in my playlist. This way I’m introduced to new music and artists that I wouldn’t have necessarily selected on my own, but it’s loosely based on music that I like If I give radio-played songs a “thumbs up,” Spotify collects them in a “Liked from Radio” playlist. Unfortunately, it doesn’t segregate different “likes” from different radio stations so I’m slightly afraid to see the mishmash of Mozart, Taylor Swift, Herbie Hancock, Pink, Run-DMC, and various Broadway showtunes, but I suppose if I’m feeling adventurous one day I could turn that playlist into a very strange radio station.

One other thing I like about Spotify over Pandora is the ability to share playlists with friends who also use the app. Spotify shows you a running list of songs your friends have listed to recently (assuming they’re sharing that information). I can listen to that one song, or, if the friend has a playlist, I can listen to that friend’s playlist. A friend can also create a playlist and share that with you — kind of like creating a mixtape for someone.

I don’t think Pandora lets you do that, and

I too recently switched to Spotify. I like Pandora, but I find that Spotify has better playlists and learns my preferences more quickly. Also, Spotify has a better and more expansive selection and features, compared to Pandora. The cost efficiencies are definitely undeniable. I was skeptical at first to pay for a premium membership – but since doing so, I haven’t purchased a song in ages. Clearly, streaming music services are going to disrupt the music industry’s sales model, even more-so then what we see currently!

Well that was a bummer. I went to Spotify today so I could check things out and build my own station. Instantly turned off. One of my favorite bands, Tool, is not available, and neither is AC/DC. If I can’t listen to Tool there’s no point in me going any further. Oh well. On the positive note, the functionality seems really good and I liked the suggested artists that came when conducting a search.

I work in a grants management office, needless to say it is fairly quiet. The background noise in the office is phone conversations and tapping keys. Pretty mundane.

Well, my co-worker and I decided in December to go see Motown: The Musical. A couple days before we were to attend the show, I put on the Pandora Motown Station. Talk about an infusion in the office!!! People started singing. Dancing in chairs. We had a Temptations “My Girl” step recreation (it took a while to get those moves right). Besides the classics, Pandora mixes in lesser known Motown songs. Actually, these songs were unknown by me but my “Baby-Boomer” co-workers knew them. They would say – “Yeah, I remember that song, Kenyetta you don’t know that???” The Pandora station definably helped me prepare for the show – which was great by the way.

This story is a homage to great music (Thanks, Motown) but also to Pandora. We now break up the monotony in the office, especially on Friday afternoons, by putting on Pandora. We normally do the pop decade stations – 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and of course Motown. I love it. We haven’t tried Spotify yet, but maybe I can work it in soon. As the youngest person in the office, I got to keep this jubilation going.