Pandora's Jukebox

For anyone looking to expand their musical horizons, I must highly recommend Pandora. I was introduced to the site by my friend Mick, who has pretty much been my music guru for the past 10+ years. (Although he gets no credit/blame for my obsession with U2. I developed that fixation all on my own.) Anyway, it's simple and free to create an account, and once you do, you can enter in a favorite song or artist. Pandora then uses data compiled by the Music Genome Project to create a customized streaming "radio station" for you. As each song plays, you have the opportunity to tell Pandora if you like or dislike it, and it then adds the data and characteristics of the songs you like (and dislike) into choosing more music for your "station." You can earmark favorites, as well. The system isn't infallible, of course, and sometimes you end up hearing a random Britney Spears song. With a few simple mouse clicks, though, you can tell Pandora you don't like the song, and they will never, ever play it again for you.

Along with the bad, you occasionally get the just plain weird. Tonight, for instance, I heard a song by current Cincinnati Reds (and former Boston Red Sox) pitcher Bronson Arroyo. While it was by no means great, it actually wasn't anywhere near as horrific as one might expect from a singing Major League Baseball player. And I never would have heard it without Pandora--which would actually have been just fine, really.

And now I'm going to get off the computer before the thunderstorm rolling through fries it...