the Good Pandora

The second place winner in the music category of the Web 2.0 Awards Winners is Pandora.

I love Pandora. Go to the site, enter a song or a composer, or a performer, and music starts playing. Granted, not the one you entered, at least not right away, but something similar, and with a little patience, the original choice will come up. Add several different songs or musicians and the selections will be modified. Give the thumbs down to the songs you don't like, give the thumbs up to the ones you do, and the choices will get closer to what you want. Mark the songs that you're tired of; you can even skip a few . . .

Now, it isn't perfect; you can't ask for a specific song right when you want it, or replay something you just had on (although you can pause). But hey, it's FREE! And you'll find so many songs that you like that you'd never heard of, it makes up for quite a lot. And you really can't beat the price . . .

Lots of companies seem to be becoming Pandora partners, creating channels that visitors can subscribe to. Maybe libraries could have channels with program notes, replays of programs, book reviews, and other library content!