Slightly less than a year ago, I started using Pandora‘s internet radio service. I first asked for Paramore and it gave me Fall Out Boy. I hated Fall Out Boy, and for this I hated Pandora and gave it no mercy. Lack of music from eastern Asia (specifically Korean) was also a total bummer and a disadvantage when compared to last.fm. I boycotted Pandora for a short time and stuck with last.fm. Come to find over time, last.fm was very disorganized with duplicate songs, constant repetitiveness, and incorrectly tagged music. I would hear the same song repeat as much as three times in a row or hear music from a completely different genre that didn’t even relate. For this, I decided to give Pandora another shot. After getting to know how it worked, it surely did not disappoint.
Always working in front of a computer screen, whether at home or work, I found Pandora to be quite the companion. I was slowly discovering new music, artists, and genres that I have never heard about. It became addicting. Unfortunately, it all came at a price: a 40 hour per month time limit and 10 to 20 second advertisements every 3 to 6 songs. I would always use up my 40 hours halfway through the month and the advertisements began to become annoying. I can’t even count how many times I’ve been repetitively told by the same advertisement that the Baseball world series was on TBS. For a reasonable price of only $1, you could suspend the 40 hour time limit for the remainder of the month. I was fine with that, but those freaking RAMEN ADS! They were getting persistent! Figuring that Pandora has already given me a lot for so little, I decided to succumb, pay $36, and become a victim of Pandora One for an entire year. It’s been over 9 months since then. Only question remaining now is: was my money wisely spent or did it become a lost cause?
