Opening Pandora is Good, Not Evil

Once upon a time, in a land 4,934 miles away, there was this lady.

* 4,934 miles = Brooklyn, New York to Athens, Greece.

She had a jar, (not filled with cookies) now referred to as "Pandora's Box", that, once opened, released very horrible evils into the world. Or at least this is the way the Greeks explained it (and paraphrased by me).

The history of Pandora has blurred into history, but today, her legend is well alive in the form of an Internet radio streaming service, releasing a different kind of monster upon the people. Instead of the many evils, Pandora is seen as the harbinger of radio evolution.

3 reasons to like it: Free. Skip forward songs. And thumbs up/thumbs down on songs you hate/love.

How it works: Start off by typing in a song or artist. The Pandora system dynamically creates a playlist based on the musical qualities of your selected tune or musician. This creates a "station".

Typing in "Jimi Hendrix" creates the Jimi Hendrix station, where music of that type and others very similar to his will play.

There are also genre stations you can select. Clicking on the "Chicago Blues" station will play everything in the Chicago Blues genre. However, if while listening you discover an artist or song you like, you can type that name in and create that station. Simple enough.

Coolness: When you push that "thumbs down" button, it removes that song you don't like.

Downer: There is a limit on the amount of songs you may skip per hour. However, you can create a new station every time your limit is reached to get around this.

It is becoming increasingly popular to run the Pandora web site on portable electronics, like iPod Touch, and iPhone with broadband capabilities. Imagine the ability to not only store your music collection on one of these devices, but also the capacity to stream music over the Internet, wirelessly.

It's a fire and forget method of enjoying your favorites, and a unique way of discovering new ones.

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