If you're a programmer like me....I find it's almost a necessity to have a steady stream of tunes going to keep the creative juices and energy flowing during those coding marathons we always seem to be faced with.  However, sometimes putting together a playlist takes a lot of time that we don't have.  So your alternatives are taking a chance and listening to one of Napster's preloaded lists, or finding a few radio stations that you like and flip back and forth between them when the music starts to go off the beaten path a bit.  Oh and let's not even get into how annoying commercials are.

Enter Pandora's Box
Those of you familiar with Greek Mythology's accounting of Pandora will recall she was created by Hephaestus and molded out of the earth and given a jar (box) which she unfortunately opened and released all of the evil and stuff into the world.  Yep....woman gets blamed again....but did I mention I have the WE network on right now? 

Why I'm not quite sure of how they came up with the name, Pandora.com (Pandora Radio) is anything but a collection of evil.  It actually is quite the opposite which is maybe why they chose the name?  Picture a collection of tens of thousands of songs all at your beckon call?  Yeah...I know iTunes and Napster does that too.  However what if I told you these folks have been analyzing these songs to break down rhythms, lyrics, artists, albums, decades, etc. and then put them into a clever music finding algorithm which would make the guy on CBS Television's "Numbers" a proud man.

Pick a Song any Song
When you first get to the website...you'll find it quite plain...you almost think you're on the wrong site.  But trust me....just enter in any song, artist, etc. and let the magic begin.  I went ahead and typed in "Men at Work" since I'm such a slave to the 80's music. 

Within seconds I had a custom radio station on my list called "Men at Work Radio" and literally over a 100 songs from not only men at work, but also many other artists and songs having similar beats, styles, etc.  I

Thumbs up....Thumbs Down
Now, while it's not an exact science, I have to admit with the few requests I've put into the system, I've been pretty happy with the lineup of songs Pandora.com came back with.  If there's one that kind of makes your head go "Huh?!?"...just give it a quick thumbs down...Pandora moves on to the next song automatically.

Oh...and when you log back in the next day and click on that station...the songs are both different and/or shuffled automatically...pretty damn cool if you ask me.

Give it a Try!
So if you're stuck in front of a computer, or your computer is also a media center for your home and want a nice steady stream of songs instantly....give Pandora a try.  Let me know what you think.

Until next time...

Doug.