Difference between revisions of "Pandora"

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Pandora Radio is a free personalized radio in which users can listen to music with similar musical attributes (rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies, etc). Pandora's mission is to "play music that the user loves".<ref>http://www.pandora.com/about</ref> The site started in 2000 and music analysts have continued to develop methods of playing songs that have similar qualities.
  
Pandora Radio is a free personalized radio in which users can listen to music of the same genre, artist, etc. The mission of Pandora is to "play music that the user loves"[http://www.pandora.com/about [1]]. The site started in 2000 and music analysts have created methods of playing music that falls into the same genre.  
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Pandora has caught in the public domain and currently has more than one million users. It has also become one of the best applications for streaming music on the iPhone.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html<ref>
  
Pandora has caught in the public domain and is a commonly used application by many. It has become one of the best applications for streaming music on the iPhone and is used by over one million users[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html [2]]
 
 
[[File:Pandora.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Pandora official logo.]]
 
[[File:Pandora.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Pandora official logo.]]
  
== How Pandora Works ==
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==How Pandora Works==
  
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The user is able to input a song or artist of their choice, which Pandora uses to create a station that plays similar music. Users can to create different stations for varied musical interests. By utilizing "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" buttons, Pandora is able to better tailor the music it plays to meet your interests. As Pandora learns more about what you like and dislike, it updates your station accordingly - for example, thumbing down two songs by an artist will ban that artist from your station (preventing other songs from the artist from playing on the station in the future).<ref>http://www.ehow.com/how_2031306_ban-artist-one.html</ref>
  
The user is able to input a song of their choice, and Pandora creates a station that plays songs that are similar. Users are able to create different stations for their different musical interests. The different radio stations allow for the user to customize a few different of their interests separately for different dynamics they may be feeling. However, what is unique about Pandora is that the user may give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to a song, and Pandora will use this to learn the user's preference and play songs that the user likes to the best of its ability.
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Pandora also allows users to add artists or add songs to existing stations in order to give stations more diversity in music.
 
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Pandora has another feature that allows you to modify stations to add on a different artist or song giving the user room for creativity and diversity of songs.  
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== Music Genome Project ==
 
== Music Genome Project ==
  
  
The Music Genome Project is essential in understanding how Pandora came about and how it became the successful application that it did. It is said to be "the most sophisticated taxonomy of musical information ever collected" or in other words it has taken millions and millions of songs and has sorted them into different radio stations based on similarity[http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp [3]].
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The Music Genome Project is an essential part of how Pandora became the successful application that it is. The Music Genome Project is said to be "the most sophisticated taxonomy of musical information ever collected"; it has taken millions of songs and sorted them into different radio stations based on similarity.<ref>http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp</ref>
  
The way this has worked is an analyst examines one song and chooses out of 450 musical characteristics. Songs trace back to as long as Renaissance and Classical music and up to songs that were released in the past week.  
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In order to categorize songs, an analyst examines one each song based on 450 musical characteristics. Analysts for the Music Genome Project aren't just ordinary musicians; they are required to have certain training and certain understandings about how to identify the characteristics of a song. The Music Genome Project's database uses "precisely defined terminology, a consistent frame of reference, redundant analysis, and ongoing quality control".<ref>http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp</ref> Pandora puts a great deal of time and energy into being as thorough as possible with each individual song.
  
Music analysts that have been hired, aren't just any ordinary musician. Each analyst is ensured to have certain trainings, and certain understandings about how to identify the characteristics of a song to ensure the user's likeability.  The Music Genome Project's database uses "precisely defined terminology, a consistent frame of reference, redunant analysis, and ongoing quality control"[http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp [3]]. Pandora puts a great deal of time and energy into being as thorough as possible with each individual song.
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Due to its thoroughness and accurateness, the Music Genome Project has been essential to Pandora's success.
 
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This project has been more than essential to Pandora's success and can only help users appreciate the simplicity of turning on a station and listening to songs that they enjoy.
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== Tranditional vs. Web Radio Services ==
 
== Tranditional vs. Web Radio Services ==
  
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Traditional radio plays the same songs for all users listening at any given time, which means it lacks the uniqueness and individuality that Pandora offers. However, traditional radio stations do not have to pay a fee each time they play a song.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html<ref>
  
What exactly is the difference? Traditional radio plays one song that is played for every user. It cuts the uniqueness and individuality that Pandora offers. However, the catch is that traditional radios do not have to pay any fees to play songs.[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html [2]]
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Pandora, on the other hand, allows for individuality and creativity by allowing users to have greater control over what songs they hear. While there may be many people using Pandora at once, each one may be listening to a different song. Pandora simultaneously streams separate songs for multiple individual users at once, something that traditional radios do not have the capacity to do.
 
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Obviously for Pandora this is not the case because Pandora allows for individuality and creativity between each user. Each user that is on at the same time can be listening to their own songs, so technically Pandora is streaming multiple songs for multiple users, something that traditional radios do not have to worry about.
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== Pulling the Plug? ==
 
== Pulling the Plug? ==
  
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Streaming music online has become an increasing problem. Web Radios were recently hit with major fees, which require that Pandora pay for each individual song they play. Over the past four years, The Copyright Royalty Board has increased the cost of each song that Web Radios play from 8/100 of a cent per song per listener to 19/100 of a cent per song.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html<ref> With 40,000 new customers a day plus a base of over one million who already use the site, this adds up. In 2010, Pandora estimated their cost for playing music to be over $17 million, which is significantly more than the company generates in revenue from ads.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html<ref> Because of the increasing cost to stream songs online, Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, recently announced that they may have to pull the plug on Pandora.
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Pandora Radio is a free personalized radio in which users can listen to music of the same genre, artist, etc. The mission of Pandora is to "play music that the user loves"<ref>http://www.pandora.com/about</ref>. The site started in 2000 and music analysts have created methods of playing music that falls into the same genre.
  
Streaming music online has become an increasing, arising problem. Web radios were recently hit with major fees, and Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, announced that they may need to pull the plug on Pandora. Because of these fees, now their company needs to pay for each and every song they play for each user. This application attracts 40,000 new customers a day, and in addition to the one million plus users that have Pandora, that equates to a lot of songs that Pandora plays and pays for. 
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<references>
 
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The Copyright Royalty Board decided to up the cost of each song that Web Radios play from 8/100 of a cent per song per listener to 19/100 of a cent per song per listener in the past four years [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html [2]]. In 2010, Pandora predicted costs of song playing to be over $17 million [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html [2]]. This total is significantly greater than the amount of revenue they generate from ads, hence the possibility of pulling the plug on Pandora.
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1 http://www.pandora.com/about
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2 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html
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3 http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp
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[[Category:Services]]
 
[[Category:Services]]

Revision as of 01:18, 2 November 2012

Pandora Radio is a free personalized radio in which users can listen to music with similar musical attributes (rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies, etc). Pandora's mission is to "play music that the user loves".[1] The site started in 2000 and music analysts have continued to develop methods of playing songs that have similar qualities.

Pandora has caught in the public domain and currently has more than one million users. It has also become one of the best applications for streaming music on the iPhone.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

Pandora also allows users to add artists or add songs to existing stations in order to give stations more diversity in music.

Music Genome Project

The Music Genome Project is an essential part of how Pandora became the successful application that it is. The Music Genome Project is said to be "the most sophisticated taxonomy of musical information ever collected"; it has taken millions of songs and sorted them into different radio stations based on similarity.[2]

In order to categorize songs, an analyst examines one each song based on 450 musical characteristics. Analysts for the Music Genome Project aren't just ordinary musicians; they are required to have certain training and certain understandings about how to identify the characteristics of a song. The Music Genome Project's database uses "precisely defined terminology, a consistent frame of reference, redundant analysis, and ongoing quality control".[3] Pandora puts a great deal of time and energy into being as thorough as possible with each individual song.

Due to its thoroughness and accurateness, the Music Genome Project has been essential to Pandora's success.

Tranditional vs. Web Radio Services

Traditional radio plays the same songs for all users listening at any given time, which means it lacks the uniqueness and individuality that Pandora offers. However, traditional radio stations do not have to pay a fee each time they play a song.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag. The site started in 2000 and music analysts have created methods of playing music that falls into the same genre.

  1. http://www.pandora.com/about
  2. http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp
  3. http://www.pandora.com/about/mgp