Pandora Gives Music Fans Hope

With all the bad news for music lovers being generated by Sony rootkits, RIAA file-sharing lawsuits, payola practices, and music industry pressure on iTunes pricing, Pandora.com stands out like a Little Walter harp solo in the dark. "Through your curiosity, you managed to release old age, sickness, plague, misery, selfishness, greed, and ugliness into the world. I am the Hope that will give the strength to mankind to battle these, but that is the best that can be done." -- Pandora opens the Box one last time First, a major hat tip to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch for Pandora, a music discovery service created by the Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features mild rhythmic syncopation, a prominent rhythm piano part, mixed minor & major key tonality, melodic songwriting, and a dynamic female vocalist. Pandora followed "Past The Mission" with a song by British folk artist June Tabor, and Sarah McLachlan's understated "Do What You Have To Do," and a track featuring ex-Mazzy Star singer Hope Sandoval. Users can rate tracks thumbs-up or down, and Pandora will adjust what it picks next. Now the caveats: Pandora is for US-users only, over the age of 13. Pandora streams those tracks, which means serendipity rather than choice is going to govern the next song to play, though the current song can be skipped or paused.. I've obviously missed out on this site, but I'm glad to have found it. Bye-bye, Cumulus; don't call me, I'll call you. Email the author Del.icio.us") | Yahoo My Web David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.