[Ninja Duck]

I've been using Pandora for a little while now and I can say that I like it. Although I haven't probed all its features yet, it seems to do what it's meant to: play songs based on what it thinks you like. When you give it an artist or song, it will play songs that are similar according to the Music Genome Project. (I imagine this project is a bunch of hipsters sipping coffee and debating in their obscure music jargon just how much of a tight kick sound is present in this song, or how much that artist uses vocal harmony, but hey, it works.)

Pandora seems better a building radio stations centered around artists rather than songs. In fact, if you specify a song, I don't think it will ever be played because of licensing issues. But all in all, it seems like a good way to discover music you like, which is good for people like me who don't have much of a musical education.

[Spoon Poetic]

I specify songs all the time, with pretty good success. It won't play that particular song but will find one similar to that song's style.

I love Pandora. However, I wish they'd get more international music.

Dude, we should totally share stations.

[Ninja Duck]

My email address is my username here plus @gmail.com. I don't know how this works, so send me a station.

[Spoon Poetic]

I just made a second account that will kick my first, two-year old, not-knowing-what-I-was-doing-at-first account's butt. So there's not much to pick from there yet. But I'll send you a station; and you can look at my profile and listen to my stations from there. The direct link to my profile is http://www.pandora.com/people/spoon6

[Spann]

I remember playing about with Pandora in college, and by gods it's good.

Although I'm damned if I can remember the name of the Latvian band I heard on there once.

[Ninja Duck]

Hm. How do you share stations? I have one I'd like to share but I'm not sure how.

Spoon, you seem to know about jazz, so can you recommend some to me? I'm looking for a gift for someone who likes jazz, and it's not my area of expertise.

[Spoon Poetic]

There's a button somewhere "share this station with a friend" or something, I think on your stations page. Or you can just send your screen name to someone and have them browse your station list.

As far as jazz goes... The thing with jazz is that there are as many different types of jazz as there are types of classical music. And just like classical music, people without an interest in it probably wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference from one to another, and would just lump it all up under "jazz." So I can't really recommend any good jazz without knowing what this person likes, because to a jazz listener, the different kinds of jazz are actually quite different and he/she might love a couple kinds and hate a couple other kinds... Find out what he/she likes: swing jazz, fusion jazz, blues jazz, soul jazz, free jazz, old jazz, new jazz... Uh... Yeah.

[Ninja Duck]

And smooth jazz, right? Yeah, the distinctions are lost on me. He'll probably go to the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, though. Does that tell you anything useful?

[Otal Nimrodi]

Well, myself I like swing if that's any help.

I love this thing.

[Spoon Poetic]

Looking at that particular festival, looks like they get different types of jazz... The best suggestion I can make is maybe one of those music downloady card things that give you like 25 music downloads or something. Because even knowing what type of jazz he does like, who knows what albums he already has? Or maybe a cheaper fun instrument that gets used in some jazz, like a small djembe or something. Or some kind of compilation album that takes some stuff from several great bands, like Chick Corea, Return to Forever, etc etc...

Sorry I can't be of more help

[Casual]

I got introduced to this a while ago but didn’t make much use of it, doesn’t look like I'm going to now as its only available to people in the US.

[reiner]

proxy?

[Ninja Duck]

Spoon: Thanks, that was helpful. I settled on a Duke Ellington CD.

EDIT: Anyway, since I can't get the share feature to work, check out my Cello and Chamber Rock station. It's probably the station I've put the most customization into.

This post has been edited by Ninja Duck: 01 April 2008 - 05:16 AM

[Heccubus]

Jazz is something I'm not that well versed in (shocking, I know). I do like Davis, Coltrane (both John and Alice), Zorn (I fucking love Zorn), Coleman, etc, but I don't have a huge amount of love for the genre. It's something that I'm pretty take-it/leave-it with.