I recently discovered Pandora, the online radio experience birthed out of the Music Genome Project. Best I can tell, Pandora was created by a bunch of folks with near perfect pitch and an ear for what makes us love certain types of music. They took those talents and built an online radio station that promises to “play music you'll love - and nothing else.” Well, I’ve been drinking the Pandora kool-aid for a week now -- it’s mighty tasty and does just about everything it promises to do.

I love the fact that Pandora is free, plays no commercials and makes my artist stations accessible on my iPhone. 

It’s also very user-friendly: You sign up for an account and select an artist you like, ex: John Mayer. Pandora will then play music that has similar harmony and instrumental structure to it.

This musical similarity is the key. The Pandora folks know that if you like John Mayer chances are pretty good you also like Ben Folds, Counting Crows, Jack Johnson, Corinne Bailey Rae and Norah Jones – so that’s what they’ll play.

They also throw some new stuff at you to see how you like it. You rate it and if you don’t rate it with a thumbs up it won’t play on your station again.

The only thing I’d change is that I start hearing the same songs after about three hours of continuous use. Of course, the station is repeating songs I love so it’s not that bad, but it would be nice to get through the day without repeats. I guess I can’t have it all!

Give it a try and let me know what you think.