___Pandora____Just____Rocks____

For the first time ever, I find myself contemplating the use of a blink tag. Discretion has prevented it but it was a close race.

Pandora is incredible. My tastes in music have always been fairly eclectic. I like stuff from all over the board but I don't really understand why I like what I like. I have been using Pandora for a couple of days and I already understand more about my taste in music than 30+ years of developing that taste taught me.

As you listen to a custom play list based on Pandora's analysis of something you said you like (for example, I am listening to the Evanescence station right now.), take the time to explore you options. If you hear something you really like, give it a thumbs up and the qualities of that track will be used to select future tracks. If you hear something you don't like, give it a thumbs down. You will never hear that track again on that station. Also, Pandora seems to learn from that, and maybe the one difference that had from other tracks will be thrown out. In a frighteningly quick amount of time, artists I like start cross polinating channels and emerging spontaneously.

At any time if you want to know why Pandora suggested a track, you can ask it. It will give a quick summary of the musical properties that contributed to its selection. If you keep the process up, fairly quickly you will start to see common themes. If you pay attention to those descriptions, you start to see a pattern emerge. It turns out I really like minor key tonality, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, subtle use of vocal harmony and mild rhythmic syncopation. Woah. When I look back, almost everything that has ever knocked my socks off has combined a few of these features. Suddenly the most disparate of my tastes come together and make perfect sense.

I was totally unprepared to learn about myself from a random music link I found on the net. If you haven't tried it yet, why are you reading this tripe?! Expand your horizons and get yourself over to Pandora.