OT: Pandora (music)

[Kevan]

So what station works bestest for you? The family favs are stacking up, but here a few (by artist):
Sly and the Family Stone
Sade
WAM (umm... Mozart)
Miles Davis

[Pete Serotta]

I Like Them All!!!!! Sonus Is A Product That My Friend Uses For Moving It All Over The House.....


Pete

[93legendti]

'70's Rock and Classic Rock for me...

[chuckroast]

I've found that my favorite stations on Pandora are the ones that I really paid attention to when setting up, ie, I rejected certain songs that I didn't think fit the template in my head for a particular artist. Once Pandora understood what I was looking for, the station became really dialed in.

So with that said, depending on mood:

Donald Fagan
KT Tunstall
Miles Davis
Neko Case
Emmy Lou Harris
Asleep at the Wheel
Madeline Peyroux

[rounder]

I just checked mine -

David Rawlings
Gillian Welch
Doc Watson
Grateful Dead
Tom Rush
J.J. Cale

[KeithS]

Stephane Grappelli and Les Paul. Seems they play more of the "name" artist than others. The Grappelli station has a lot of Django Reinhardt in the rotation too, another favorite.

[Dekonick]

Queen
Boston
RUSH
Sting
'Blues' (multi artists in the selection)
and my favorite easy background music -

Bitter:sweet

Give them a try - Jazzy but light.

[regularguy412]

I just have one 'station' there. It's mostly smooth jazz, with a little classic jazz thrown in, plus light Pop. I wanted it to be more like the old jazz/pop station that I used to get here, locally. About 6 years ago, they changed it to rap (go figure that one!).

I'm pretty pleased with the way Pandora handles it.

Mike in AR:beer:

[mnoble485]

As I sit here listening to Robert Earl Keene followed by Dave Alvin and B.B. King I realize Pandora knows me pretty well.

Mike

[JMerring]

Pandora is frikkin awesome.

In no particular order:
Liszt
Debussy
Donizetti
Grateful Dead
Saeed & Palash
Sunday Bloody Sunday (classic rock, skewed towards the greats)
Lady Gaga (ONLY when my daughter asks)

[SEABREEZE]

I am a smooth jazz kind of guy, and now adays most stations are off the air, so my alternative is this link, smooth jazz from any part of the world you want....


http://delicast.com/radio/smooth/t:3/WSBZ_106.3_The_Seabreeze


You can also get many other genres of music there <> Enjoy


70s
80s
90s
alternative
classical
country
dance
electronic
folk
gospel
hiphop
hits
house
jazz
latin
oldies
pop
r-n-b
rock
songs
sports
talk
techno
trance
university
urban

[rpm]

I have two channels set up:

For number crunching and light reading, I have an Americana channel with the likes of Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earle Keen, Emmy Lou Harris, Patty Griffin and many others.

For work when I need to concentrate, I have a New Age channel that gives me a variety of pan flutes, bird songs, waterfalls and whatnot that don't put a melody in my head.

[torquer]

Interesting article on how Pandora works:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18Pandora-t.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=pandora+music&st=nyt
I was surprised that the analysis was actually done by humans, not machines crunching out algorithms (or whatever one does with algorithms). Also amusing how some users become enraged at where the results lead; I (sort of) sypathize, after one of my stations led to a cover of a Neil Diamond song! A cover by a punk/bluegrass band, granted, but still... (I gave it a thumbs-up in the end.)
My mix:
Reverend Gary Davis
Hot Tuna (Jorma studied with the Rev.)
Fairfield Four
Richard Thompson
Mavericks
James Hunter

[Kevan]

keep the dialog and lists coming. I certainly see some new stations coming my way, based on the suggestions.

So...Pete touched on this, has anyone found ways to really make Pandora pop for the home/office/car besides the stations? I for one was hoping that Pandora had created a remote app where I could then use my iPhone as a remote control. How cool would THAT be? I have a Mac mini dedicated to the stereo receiver and I sprung for the annual prescription for uninterrupted, and higher quality broadcast (haven't really noticed a change there). Now our library sits in iTunes rarely listened to until the Pamdora madness wears off some.

[crankles]

I wanted the hear some Stevie Wonder, but after awhile the station started sounding like cheap wedding reception.