AniseSmith: Providing Total Marketing Solutions: Internet Radio: What do you think? Pandora VS Blip

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Anise Smith's Radio Pandora & Blip stations
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Internet radio. Pandora vs. Last.fm.
There are differences between the two however.
Pandora finds music it thinks you will like based on what you listen to on their site or app. Their system looks at the styles in it, the tones, the harmonies, and tries to match that with similar songs or artists. Last.fm on the other hand relies on a more user based formula that takes the bands you listen to, on their site, iPod, iTunes, and other programs, and determines what other artists people who like those particular songs also listen to. Last.fm is also more social with friending, notes, and comments being a huge part of their site, along with artist pages and profiles.
Both strategies work well, but in my opinion last.fm seems to get my preferences more often than Pandora. I’ve discovered more new bands via their recommendations than I have using Pandora. The reason is probably implementation, after installing their scrobbler they get to take into account every song I listen to and plug that information in. Whereas Pandora just knows what I listen to on their site, a much smaller sample.
Another reason I like last.fm more is due to the fact that I get to see who I listen to the most. It is interesting to see what songs are in my top 10 or what artists I keep going back to…I was actually surprised to find out some of this information.
Recently Pandora has tried to implement a more social graph, integrating Facebook into their interface, but the outcome isn’t too great, and doesn’t really make anything “social”, except that you have a vague clue what friends also listen to an artist.
With “check-in’s” all the rage anymore I’d be surprised if one of these companies doesn’t institute a ‘badge’ system seen on many check-in sites. Perhaps taking what you listen to and awarding badges based on it. Rock, Rap, Indie, Classic Rock, etc. It wouldn’t really take more effort on the users end, and they already know what you listen to, but again, the badge and check-in culture has really caught on, so I’ll be surprised if one of these two doesn’t pounce on it (blip.fm has implemented these already, but I will admit I haven’t played with their service much yet).
As I said, I do prefer last.fm, however the one thing that Pandora destroys them on is style. Pandora has a very slick and great app for the iPad and iPhone and other devices, as well as a great site and desktop application. Last.fm on the other hand is kind of ordinary, and unlike Pandora did not share a stage with Steve Jobs at one of the biggest tech gatherings of the year. Last.fm also doesn’t yet have a full fledged iPad app, and their iPhone app isn’t very nice looking, even if it works just fine. I think they’d gain a little more notoriety, like that of Pandora, if they would enhance their apps and promote their service a bit more.
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