Comments on: Poll: Music to Work By – Last.fm vs. Pandora

By: Todd Finley

Todd Finley — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:59:55 +0000

Seeqpod is very good, but Pandora now has classical.

By: Serge Lescouarnec

Serge Lescouarnec — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:55:23 +0000

Anne

When I am at the computer working, I would rather listen to instrumentals, jazz, classical or other styles.

Right now Benny Wallace ‘The Old Songs’(1993).

All that via ‘Rhapsody Online’.

Serge

By: Anne Zelenka

Anne Zelenka — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:53:17 +0000

@Vergel E: good point about getting music from independent artists.

Reading these comments, I appreciate better the power of social rankings for finding new music.

And I am definitely going to try Slacker (I knew what you meant Craig) though I didn’t get to it today.

By: Vergel E

Vergel E — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:55:20 +0000

Last.fm for a huge win…! As an artist who produces music, I prefer the open architecture of Last.fm. I have my music on there and can listen to the music of other home studio producers as well.

Pandora, Slacker and the majority of other sites do not allow for the majority of independent artists to add their own music to the service. Because of that I will always use and suggest Last.fm.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:10:30 +0000

I think it’s the difference between the Cathedral and the Bazaar.

Pandora does an excellent job of recommending music based on the qualities of the song, but like the Cathedral it’s top down. If the music hasn’t been put in the system, it won’t get recommended.

The mob mentality of Last.fm gives you the benefit of thousands of opinions, so it can uncover more music, but it’s not going to be as finely tuned as Pandora.

I use both sites, but when I’m not looking for recommendations and know what I want to listen to, I use Finetune.

In order of use, I use:
1. Finetune
2. Pandora
3. Last.fm

By: Craig Kistler

Craig Kistler — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:50:54 +0000

It would help if I listed what I was using :( Lately, I’ve been using Slacker.

By: Craig Kistler

Craig Kistler — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:49:51 +0000

Lately, I’ve been using quite a bit. The desktop app is outstanding. I also like the fact that I can listen to podcasts through the app as well.

By: Anne Zelenka

Anne Zelenka — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:42:16 +0000

I read about Slacker on Mossberg today sounds really cool. Going to try it.

By: Mari Silbey

Mari Silbey — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:15:25 +0000

I *love* Pandora for use on my Squeezebox at home. But I have to admit that Slacker (someone mentioned it above) has a lot more choice built in as a desktop app. If I listened to music more from my PC I’d probably use Slacker.

By: Darren Meyer

Darren Meyer — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:55:39 +0000

Pandora Jam for OS-X is a Pandora “tuner” with Last.fm scrobbling support. Best of both worlds. ;-D

By: FiZ

FiZ — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:37:34 +0000

I see what people are talking about with Pandora’s limited music branching with my more pop-oriented stations (despite them actually being metal and punk).

However, a few of my stations have really bloomed into something else entirely. For example, I started with quasi-electronic pop and ended up with Brazilian bossa nova and it keeps evolving into something else every few months. I think it’s starting to turn towards bluegrass lately and I’m finding more new music than I can afford to keep up with. Pandora does start off with a more similar group of artists, but the more you branch out, the more it follows you to suit.

By: Andrew Boatman

Andrew Boatman — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:32:02 +0000

I am digging Slacker.com for my online radio. Many stations to choose from and custom blends as well.
AMB

By: fmgguy

fmgguy — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:40:45 +0000

I have used both Pandora and Last.FM, but I have discovered more great music at RadioParadise.com. It’s commercial free, DJ’d by an intellegent human, and just plain cool.

By: David

David — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:37:20 +0000

Good post Anne.
I’d like to invite you and your readers to try iheard.
iheard.com makes it easy for people to find their favorite internet radio stations by providing an easy to use search interface and directory with thousands of stations organized by genre, country and language.

Give it a listen.
Thanks,
David

By: Rolltimer

Rolltimer — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:23:29 +0000

I prefer to build my own playlists at Finetune [http://finetune.com/] using music I know and love but don’t necessarily already have on CD or in iTunes. Great for rediscovering almost forgotten hits from the past. Each playlist must contain a minimum of 40 songs before you can begin listening to it and you can have no more than 3 songs from one artist on each playlist. Other than these restrictions, I have no complaints.

By: Debra Dalgleish

Debra Dalgleish — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:18:50 +0000

I listened to Pandora until they cut off Canadian users. Now, I use last.fm, and find “like Liona Boyd” easy to work to.