Pandora Radio

So Freddie was right, radio never left old friends and it was yet to have its finest hour. Today we prefer to listen to it online. But still, we need good sound quality, style integrity, and variety at the same time. And if you need pure music without DJ talking over it, you’re in the right place.

So there’s still a great lot of music. As Pandora founders say, the music has been selected manually by professional editors. So if you type “funk” in the field, you’re sure to hear classic funky tracks. By typing “Christmas” you get the Christmas songs collection. If you enter the name of your favorite artist you get the selection of the songs by this artist as well as remix and cover versions.

And the difference between FM broadcasting and Internet streaming is first of all in its interactivity. You can rate current track with thumbs up (or down) button, pause the playback, start it again or switch to the next track. Unfortunately, you can’t repeat the previous track.

Design 7/10

While the track is playing you can follow its lyrics displaying in the main window, read artist’s bio and info. And if you like it you can purchase it on iTunes or Amazon (as MP3 or on CD). That seems to be one of the main ways Pandora gets its incomes. The service used to be paid but since August 2013 it’s free. The way it’s monetized through is ads, but it deserves praise for not inserting ads into music.

Usability 7/10

When speaking of Pandora for Android and iOS we should mention that it’s a client for a service so it’s hard to tell one from the other. As the app doesn’t store audio in its cash it’s quite useless without an Internet connection. You can enjoy a tolerable sound via 3G connection though Wi-Fi or 4G would be far better.

Just enter the search word. It can be the name of the artist or the band you’d like to listen to, the song name, album or genre. After processing your request Pandora generates your playlist you can launch immediately. The search also displays stations with similar names already created by other user and available in public access.

If you have several stations selected you just need to tap on the name to switch between them. The pause is set automatically set when you switch to another station. So after returning you start where you have stopped last time.

The extra functions include sharing your current track on Facebook, sharing your station by email, private message or status in different social services. So if you’re so excited by a song that you can share it with your friends, you’re just one tap away from it.

Cross-platform use 8/10

The app is available both for iOS and Android. Yes, it looks a bit different on these devices. The screen space is used in the most rational way.

Oh, how many great services we have seen! And many of them are country-restricted due to legal or technical issues, and it's exactly what happened to Pandora. Officially it only works in USA, Australia and New Zealand.

But of course, it’s not that hard to jump over these limitations. You’ll have to use VPN on your iPhone or iPad and change your country in your profile to USA (you can find the instructions yourself). Then you’ll be able to install Pandora app and stream music. So don’t bother the service while you can just pretend to be American. Of course getting the app to work requires some extra movement.

On Android, it's even easier as you can just get an .apk file and install it with no hassle.

In-App Purchases

There’s another limitation that can’t be overcome. As the geography is limited to American and some Pacific countries, so is the content. You can’t find African, Russian, Greek, Chinese, Japanese and other local stars on Pandora, except for international smash hits from artists like PSY or Die Antwoord. Most of the content is mainstream as it’s seen by global music market. Of course, if you’re interested in some local musical tendencies you should search for another streaming service.

The Bottom Line

When you download the Pandora app, you get the access to unlimited streaming music that’s become completely free after Apple launched its music streaming radio. So if you like music and if you want to control what’s on your radio, Pandora is a must have app for you.