Pandora Everywhere?

Not long ago, Sonos asked me if I wanted to participate in a new beta test. I'm always excited to try out something new on my home system but I wasn't sure what else they could add to Sonos that could make my "perfect" music system even better, but I always want to be first on the block to test out what's new.

That beta turned out to be Pandora as one of their services.

Yawn.

I never really was a fan of Pandora, the "Internet Radio Station" based on the music genome project. I thought the idea was clever enough, but I had already moved past the idea of music on my computer a couple of years ago when I got my first Sonos system. And even though this now solved that problem, I didn't really think I'd get much value out of it. Between Rhapsody and iTunes, I'm pretty much in music Nirvana right now. Adding another service doesn't thrill. me.

Well I was wrong. Pandora is fantastic.

The big mistake I made with Pandora in the past was thinking of it as a "radio station," when in reality it is a music discovery solution. It makes traditional radio look like a pile of poo. I've discovered dozens of new artists and bands that I might never have known existed if it weren't for Pandora.

So the idea of Pandora's new Pandora Everywhere platform is an exciting one to me. I'm excited to see Sprint embrace the platform, but I'm not sure how successful it will be. Every phone/music device I've ever tested so far has been abysmal. I think Pandora is a little ahead of the curve on wireless music right now. No one has really made a compelling platform with a device that people have really identified with...yet.

However, Pandora integrated into the home stereo is outstanding and I found it so incredibly useful that I even paid for a years worth of service.