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Is Pandora One worth it?

chalmers

chalmers

Platinum Member
I was thinking of paying $4/month to upgrade Pandora to get no ads and apparently better sound quality. Has anyone done this, is it worth it?

Perhaps there is a better alternative than Pandora that I don't know about.

I prefer to listen to music in the Pandora style in lieu of straight albums or even my own mp3 collection on random, as I appreciate the variety more.
 
I've been using Spotify (the free version) and I get a pretty fair variety of music using the radio feature. I don't use it enough to pay the subscription, but if I did, I'd probably upgrade.
 
I haven't quite found something that is quite as good at mixes like Pandora, but I haven't tried Rdio or Last.FM recently. Spotify for me (paid) was pretty bad on the custom channels. I'd get good matches, but only 15-30 minutes worth per channel before tracks would start repeating. Music Unlimited is either good or pitiful for custom channels, and their mobile apps are horrendous. I've tried a few others in the past but none really matched what I wanted or did as good as Pandora.

So far I haven't upgraded as I only get a chance to listen to it while traveling, but did a short trial. As I predominantly use it while traveling via bluetooth speakers in my motorcycle helmet, I didn't notice any change in audio quality. A setup with, say, desktop speakers or headphones/IEMs might. The ads aren't too bad, unless you skip tracks often or change stations with streams active. Those bump the ad quantity up pretty high and toss in video ads as well (at least on mobile).

I'd say use a trial (the mobile apps offer a free 24-72 hour trial, I think) if you can, otherwise $4 for a month isn't much to risk to try it out to see if it fits your needs. It's certainly one of the best at what it does.
 
I have paid accounts with both Pandora and Spotify.

If you like the radio style Pandora is probably better for you. I find myself using spotify almost exclusively because I like to pick an artist/album/song which you of course can't do on Pandora.

But when I just want a continuous stream of music Pandora is great. I prefer it to spotify's radio mode, I think it does a better job of working with what you seed it with. Spotify will keep you within the same rough genre but its results don't always feel that relevant.

On the other hand if you have a channel on Pandora that doesn't have a lot of seed data you will find yourself listening to the same five songs on your drive to work every day.

They both have free modes, try them and see what you like.

Viper GTS
 
Viper GTS said:
On the other hand if you have a channel on Pandora that doesn't have a lot of seed data you will find yourself listening to the same five songs on your drive to work every day
Viper GTS
Click to expand...

What does seed data mean? How many songs I've thumbs up/down?
 
I've bought the yearly subscription - I think I just renewed my third or fourth year - for me it's totally worth it- I listen through a lot of my work day, when I'm out through my phone etc.
 
Kyle said:
I've bought the yearly subscription - I think I just renewed my third or fourth year - for me it's totally worth it- I listen through a lot of my work day, when I'm out through my phone etc.
Click to expand...

this, i am on my 2nd subscription, I use the desktop app at leas 5 hours a day, and usually more. While I am out I use the app on my phone pretty much constantly (at work, on the bus, etc).
 
do you guys find pandora to repeat songs often? Maybe it's just because I stop it a lot and go back to it later.
 
Spotify is better. It has more variety, is smarter by not playing into another genre, and does not play 20 remixes of a song that I have "thumbs down" already.
 
I don't get repeats over a session of listening but I do end up hearing a lot of the same songs nightly at work. As an example have Metallica as a favorite and I find it picks from the same 10 or song Metallica songs nearly all the time. Every now and again I spend a lot of time telling it "I'm tired of this track" to nearly every song that pops up just to make it play some stuff I haven't heard a bunch. Or I switch to last.fm for awhile 🙂.
 
thedarkwolf said:
I don't get repeats over a session of listening but I do end up hearing a lot of the same songs nightly at work. As an example have Metallica as a favorite and I find it picks from the same 10 or song Metallica songs nearly all the time. Every now and again I spend a lot of time telling it "I'm tired of this track" to nearly every song that pops up just to make it play some stuff I haven't heard a bunch.
Click to expand...

I played Metallica the other night and the Bee Gees game on randomly. I was surprised to say the least.
 
rh71 said:
do you guys find pandora to repeat songs often? Maybe it's just because I stop it a lot and go back to it later.
Click to expand...
Depends on the station. On the ones I listen to the most, I rarely hear the same song twice within a couple of days. (And rarely do I feel like skipping over a song or thumbs downing a song.) On the more focused stations where I haven't added new artists, I hear the same stuff more frequently.
 
I usually create a mix of about 10 or so stations- keeps repeats very low and adds a lot of variety. I do wish I could block certain bands like I believe you can w/ other services.
 
If you are comparing paid versions, spotify is much better, not only can you select what songs you want, but you listen to them while off line, the quality with spotify is also better as the songs are lossless quality.
 
If you're using Pandora, download the AdBlock plugin for Chrome. If you configure it right, you'll almost never have any adds. (I listen to Pandora at work and I'll maybe get 1-2 adds a week)

No need for Pandora One unless you really want the increased audio quality.
 
Skillet49 said:
If you're using Pandora, download the AdBlock plugin for Chrome. If you configure it right, you'll almost never have any adds. (I listen to Pandora at work and I'll maybe get 1-2 adds a week)

No need for Pandora One unless you really want the increased audio quality.
Click to expand...

I think you get more skips too w/ Pandora One? Also if listening via phone, still get adds etc
 
chalmers said:
I was thinking of paying $4/month to upgrade Pandora to get no ads and apparently better sound quality. Has anyone done this, is it worth it?

Perhaps there is a better alternative than Pandora that I don't know about.

I prefer to listen to music in the Pandora style in lieu of straight albums or even my own mp3 collection on random, as I appreciate the variety more.
Click to expand...

i love pandora, but i stopped paying...i can tweak the bejesus out of a station and STILL get something random and unrelated often enough to be annoying

also, the android app is lousy. if they can fix at least one of those issues i might re-up
 
xSauronx said:
also, the android app is lousy. if they can fix at least one of those issues i might re-up
Click to expand...

What issues have you had w/ it? I can't really tell much difference from the desktop player honestly. Then again, I don't really do much besides play, skip etc so I haven't played around w/ it much
 
rh71 said:
do you guys find pandora to repeat songs often? Maybe it's just because I stop it a lot and go back to it later.
Click to expand...

Pretty much why I don't use Pandora much anymore. I would listen for maybe an hour every day, and it seemed to play the same 10-20 songs every time.

I also wish it would add the ability to ban artists, which Slacker has. If I hit the thumbs down on Nickelback, it's not because I hate the genre. It's because I hate that specific band.
 
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I ditched pandora and went with the premium version of Spotify because I could load specific music and playlists onto my phone. I can of course stream, but I was using highest quality and filled up my 16gb Galaxy Note 2 overnight, and it eats into my data plan something fierce. The Spotify app isn't perfect though as I could not specify the external SD card as the destination for my tunes. There's a work around by first installing the old version (make sure you've deleted the new one and the associated files first), specifying the SD card and then updating to the newest version. I installed a 64gb card for 80gb total and I haven't filled it but I eventually will.
 
I used pandora alot, they gave me a free 7 day pandora 1 trial. It was nice but when It ended it wasnt enough for me to pay for it.

You get unlimited skips, no ads and thats about it. The audio quality was no better than w/out it.
 
MonKENy said:
I used pandora alot, they gave me a free 7 day pandora 1 trial. It was nice but when It ended it wasnt enough for me to pay for it.

You get unlimited skips, no ads and thats about it. The audio quality was no better than w/out it.
Click to expand...

Definitely not unlimited skips, but you do get a few more an hour. Audio quality is higher quality but I agree, I can't really tell a difference.
 
it removes the daily skip limit but retains the 6 per station limit

thats even less reason to pay for it
 
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