May 5, 2006

Pandora’s Lunch Box

Pandora Listening Station

Monday: soup.
Tuesday: salad.
Wednesday: soup and salad. (Yawn.)

If your ears are as bored as your taste buds, check out Pandora. The service creates a streaming radio station based around your favorite artist or song, so it’s easy to mix up your music menu. And because it’s customized, it satisfies even the pickiest listener.

How, you ask? Pandora chooses what to play next based on the current song’s genetic code — its rhythm, instrumentation, and lyrics. Your feedback guides the growth of your station. A veto blocks a song and causes others like it to play less frequently. Give a thumbs up, and Pandora will toss in tunes with similar flavor.

You can keep up to 100 stations of your own, all for free. And with numbers from more than 20,000 artists, you’re always guaranteed something fresh and tasty.

After all, variety is the spice of life.

Available online at pandora.com.