Spring Break
Pandora's box unleashes favorite tunes for music buffs
Chris Curry
Issue date: 9/9/08 Section: Student Culture
Finally, there's a radio station that listens when you dictate what it should play. Pandora.com is a free music Web site that takes your suggestions and criticisms. Then it proposes and plays new music to best match your tastes.
"I like how really specific it is and how it can really guess ahead of time (the) music that you like," said Trei Dao, a senior advertising major.
The process starts when a user gives Pandora the name of an artist or song as an example of the kind of music that he or she would like to hear.
The Web site will then play music that is typified by certain characteristics of the original example. Pandora calls those characteristics the song's "music genome."
According to Pandora, the music genome contains "the little details that give each recording its magical sound."
A team of musicians analyze melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals and lyrics, close to 400 attributes in all, and then classifies Pandora's music accordingly.
Users can vote by giving the songs thumbs up or thumbs down. Future selections on each channel are based on how the user voted on previous selections.
The idea is that the station can become more in tune with specific musical tastes.
"I like the way you can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down on the songs," said Lee Connolly, a senior public relations major who listens to Pandora every day. "They won't play the same songs again, or they won't play similar songs."
Giving a song thumbs up affects the next songs played in that session. Also, future songs played on that channel are more likely to have similar musical traits.
A thumbs down will stop that selection from playing and immediately move Pandora to a new song that will be of the same style, but will have different musical traits.
Any artist receiving two thumbs-down votes on the same channel will be permanently removed from that playlist.
"Sometimes (Pandora) guesses wrong, so I have to guide it specifically to where I want it to go," Dao said. "If I don't like something, it's really easy to get rid of (the song) too. (Pandora) does a good job of remembering what I don't like about it."
"I like how really specific it is and how it can really guess ahead of time (the) music that you like," said Trei Dao, a senior advertising major.
The process starts when a user gives Pandora the name of an artist or song as an example of the kind of music that he or she would like to hear.
The Web site will then play music that is typified by certain characteristics of the original example. Pandora calls those characteristics the song's "music genome."
According to Pandora, the music genome contains "the little details that give each recording its magical sound."
A team of musicians analyze melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals and lyrics, close to 400 attributes in all, and then classifies Pandora's music accordingly.
Users can vote by giving the songs thumbs up or thumbs down. Future selections on each channel are based on how the user voted on previous selections.
The idea is that the station can become more in tune with specific musical tastes.
"I like the way you can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down on the songs," said Lee Connolly, a senior public relations major who listens to Pandora every day. "They won't play the same songs again, or they won't play similar songs."
Giving a song thumbs up affects the next songs played in that session. Also, future songs played on that channel are more likely to have similar musical traits.
A thumbs down will stop that selection from playing and immediately move Pandora to a new song that will be of the same style, but will have different musical traits.
Any artist receiving two thumbs-down votes on the same channel will be permanently removed from that playlist.
"Sometimes (Pandora) guesses wrong, so I have to guide it specifically to where I want it to go," Dao said. "If I don't like something, it's really easy to get rid of (the song) too. (Pandora) does a good job of remembering what I don't like about it."
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