tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50688246198803368862023-11-16T02:58:01.973-08:00PANDORA ReviewA critical approach to listeningMertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-17910337112134615992008-10-10T10:13:00.000-07:002008-10-10T11:08:28.433-07:00Pandora App 1.2 UpdatePandora recently released their second version of their iPhone app, and many of the concerns I had with the original app have been addressed. I consider the feature set in the same order as I did in my review of the original app.<br /><br />I was wrong about the original app not buffering songs. Both the original app and the updated version buffer the current song in its entirety as long as the network connection allows it to. Pandora delivers music well into the Oakland tunnel on BART, and there have been several times that a longer song has completed after we've emerged to the other side.<br /><br />Pandora still does not display the originating station when playing songs via quickmix. I still want this feature. However, you can now edit the list of stations that will be played by quickmix. One minor niggle with this new feature is that it does not load the current selections, and so if you wish to add or subtract a station or two, you have to reselect all of the stations that you want in your quickmix.<br /><br />The big news is that the individual stations are far more editable than they were in the Sprint version of the mobile player I used prior to the iPhone. The full ASUD (Artist, Songs, thumbs-Up, and thumbs-Down) are fetched when you edit a station, and you can delete any entry and add new artist and song seeds. Adding new seeds turns out to be quite reasonable with the iPhone keypad, and Pandora tries to auto-complete your entries via its search engine. That feature was well beyond my expectations at this point. The only real downside right now is that the lists are only sorted by recency with the least recent on the bottom. Thus, it's really difficult to cull the thumbs-up you've given a particular artist in a station. Nor can you edit any station description you may have written for a station page. Nevertheless, the editing features are a major leap forward.<br /><br />You still cannot scroll back through previously played songs from the current session as you can in all other versions of the player to provide feedback. Thus you must still react while a song plays to provide feedback. You cannot add songs to either the lists of thumbed-up or thumbed-down stations which might have been a work-around for this issue.<br /><br />The app does now remember which station you were playing and defaults to the most recently played station (including your quickmix).<br /><br />The new app has some miscellanious new features as well. There is a new button allowing you to purchase a track from iTunes. I'd still rather buy DRM-free cd's, and so I'll probably never use that feature. You can now access and edit your bookmarks. I used to print out lists of my song bookmarks from my Pandora page when I went music shopping, and now the list is always in my pocket, and so this feature is actually useful to me. Lastly, there is a settings page that gives you the option to lower your sound quality to reduce any skips and hesitations. I find that all the skips and hesitations seem to be iPhone/ATT network problems. Several times a day I must toggle airport mode to restart the 3G. On the worst days I have to go twenty minutes without music while the iPhone tries to link up. Usually, however, it just takes a couple of seconds to reset. None of these issues are Pandora's fault, though, because Safari is equally blocked when the network is having issues. Thus, I keep the audio quality on high and do not have much us for this feature.<br /><br />A final new "feature" is, inevitably, advertising. A small bar with advertising now appears above the feedback bar blocking out maybe a quarter inch of the album art. I have no objection to this feature. Pandora has kept ads out of the audio stream, and, further, from interfering with any of the controls. That fact is great - particularly in the face of the pressure they are facing from SoundExchange to monetize internet radio in the same fashion as terrestrial radio. I hope that they will be able to continue to hold the line against obtrusive advertising.<br /><br />I also continue to pray that the royalty negotiations resolve successfully and that Pandora will be able to grow and prosper. The Pandora app 1.2 is another wonderful step forward, and I looking forward to future versions.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-8309583354762381712008-08-15T10:07:00.000-07:002008-08-15T10:30:40.319-07:00August Listening Test ResultsI have just completed my August listening tests, and I must say that the current version of the song selection algorithm is MUCH more to my taste. Check out the charts:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGOWRHizkfHyvdqtp1ZPwo031LUgP9B8RNbizguLvfgTPq1cB8rdKrBCg-2iihV7OfPCtjOxrPiu5FLqWuzhiIxTLTzndTuvuH38loSMTeAFEFCx8OZe0DsPh1Zmsqqd7W9mbiAv5Sdg/s1600-h/August+%2708+Listening+Tests.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGOWRHizkfHyvdqtp1ZPwo031LUgP9B8RNbizguLvfgTPq1cB8rdKrBCg-2iihV7OfPCtjOxrPiu5FLqWuzhiIxTLTzndTuvuH38loSMTeAFEFCx8OZe0DsPh1Zmsqqd7W9mbiAv5Sdg/s400/August+%2708+Listening+Tests.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234795612435672530" /></a><br /><br />With the exception of the new station, "Corny Schlocky Sappy Songs", (which is the title of one of many delightful Carla Ulbrich songs used as a seed for this station) all the ratings are up to new heights of satisfaction. Part of the reason appears to be that the selection algorithm seems to be doing a bit less exploration:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mcVESmC4EHmCPAoNYdbhcY9DY3je-5zpGZ81zNyGnM3m4JKWYIibSzbfwsFawzImTtngeTyPt5pGWJNlVFUKHU-ra92U0mG7EtrzkFTFJyn3qHy1V652XhkwU0dJSCDsiPJ6CClKVvw/s1600-h/August+%2708+Prior+Thumbs+Up+Count.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mcVESmC4EHmCPAoNYdbhcY9DY3je-5zpGZ81zNyGnM3m4JKWYIibSzbfwsFawzImTtngeTyPt5pGWJNlVFUKHU-ra92U0mG7EtrzkFTFJyn3qHy1V652XhkwU0dJSCDsiPJ6CClKVvw/s400/August+%2708+Prior+Thumbs+Up+Count.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5234796734949643954" /></a><br /><br />Note in particular that "Bright Electra of the Seven Sisters" had never played more than eight previously thumbed-up tracks out of forty. This month all forty songs played in the test had been previously thumbed up.<br /><br />I even had a momentary concern that the stations might not be exploring enough new music, but I've concluded, no, this is pretty much exactly how I've always wished Pandora would perform. I feel much less need for any advanced controls at all under the current state of the selection algorithm. <br /><br />Consider the seemingly impossible goal of building a novelty song station in Pandora. If we could filter on the focus trait "humorous lyrics", such a station could have be perfected shortly after its birth. However, "The Best Medicine" has performed terribly since I created it in Feb. '07 with satisfaction scores as low as 3/10. This month, however, it played 27 previously thumbed up tracks, and found four new humorous tracks for a satisfaction rating of 8.125/10. I only thumbed down 6 tracks which is significantly less weeding than usual. <br /><br />Thus, you'll be hearing much less whining from me for advanced controls under the current selection algorithm. This version is approaching being the Pandora I've always wished it would become. In fact, Pandora could probably continue to push the selection algorithm in this direction, and I'd be even happier.<br /><br />I've sent a version of this post as an e-mail to Tom Conrad to say how pleased I am with the changes.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-37786750030271339142008-08-06T12:17:00.000-07:002008-08-06T12:42:39.034-07:00Pandora App: One Week Later Or How I've Learned to Hate EDGEAfter a week of use, I am still enjoying my iPhone and the Pandora app. However, it's become increasingly clear that all the woes I've encountered have occurred only when the phone slips out of wifi or 3G and into the EDGE network. It turns that the vast majority of RFI noise occurs when the iPhone receives data over EDGE. Furthermore, the streaming of music on EDGE can become unlistenably intermittent (two to five bars of music intersticed with silence of similar lengths broken only by the RFI bursts). I do not know whether the iPhone or the app is to blame for these problems, but I've learned to switch to the iPod app whenever the RFI noise appears.<br /><br />Thus, I've ended up playing the iPod more than I've expected or wanted to. I now only play Pandora on the commute when I'm east of downtown Oakland, and I often have to switch the iPod on for lunch. You'd expect that San Francisco, of all places, would be thoroughly covered by the 3G network, but even sitting stationary at my desk, the iPhone can switch to EDGE. Thus, I am not sure whether it's a coverage issue or a capacity issue. Turning the iPhone off and rebooting when I'm at my desk seems to consistently recover the 3G connection, but doing so takes a half a minute or so of my precious Pandora time. Fortunately, I've only had to do so at most twice in one day and some days require no such fiddling at all.<br /><br />I had one moment of panic this past Sunday when the iPhone got stuck in the favorites page. The home button would not take the phone back to the home page, nor would the phone turn off. Eventually, it white-screened, and I had visions of having to visit a genius bar. However, when I got home, I learned how to force a reset (press and hold the home and sleep buttons for ten seconds), and it's been fine since then.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-76278192400552652522008-07-31T08:31:00.000-07:002008-07-31T08:59:45.479-07:00July Listening Test ResultsI have not posted the updated charts for my station tests since September of last year. As you can see below, my satisfaction peaked towards the beginning of the year. There was a marked drop in May and June, and the ratings have come back quite well. The player seemed to deliver fewer previously thumb-up songs in June as can be seen in the second chart.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiLHvlOSIpHr56deLnrWJj3O5B9lWrUKVDrHVu8MpBSWZw2zImd6frLKZUGHZt0TZd_AOCBJkg08Vn9uRWOmXszWX9ENLn8EdfzLspUHHT0q2tAHN5eaQ9ndExb8nbB7Clqt1apgt8-Wo/s1600-h/July+%2708+Listening+Tests.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiLHvlOSIpHr56deLnrWJj3O5B9lWrUKVDrHVu8MpBSWZw2zImd6frLKZUGHZt0TZd_AOCBJkg08Vn9uRWOmXszWX9ENLn8EdfzLspUHHT0q2tAHN5eaQ9ndExb8nbB7Clqt1apgt8-Wo/s400/July+%2708+Listening+Tests.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229202674641375074" /></a><br />Once it became clear that the stations were exploring more than usual I wrote Tim and Tom. Unusually, neither relied (normally both or quite responsive but my e-mail would have been during their crunch time in creating the iPhone App), but as part of Tom's reply on my review of the iPhone app he confirmed my impression. The chart below shows the number of previously thumbed up tracks (out of 40 possible tracks in each test). As you can see, the player has recovered substantially and was exploring even less than usual this past month.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mLOoOGsAUht-3utU3A_zV21-j25yB3ebZydn2msyhu_fpR5uMwVUxGZoC2_Mz6XsjWKoxHLwIAbksmz6ZczfC9gFiLAzTACQ8iYlTEJxO-7ELVZwturbMH7morkt47ZEQBc8NK0LpVo/s1600-h/July+%2708+Prior+Thumbs+Up+Count.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mLOoOGsAUht-3utU3A_zV21-j25yB3ebZydn2msyhu_fpR5uMwVUxGZoC2_Mz6XsjWKoxHLwIAbksmz6ZczfC9gFiLAzTACQ8iYlTEJxO-7ELVZwturbMH7morkt47ZEQBc8NK0LpVo/s400/July+%2708+Prior+Thumbs+Up+Count.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229204134293401618" /></a><br />Of course, the right amount of exploration that the player does is a hard thing to determine. If the player went to only playing previously thumbed-up tracks, then by these tests my satisfaction ratings would go to 10 for each station, and the previously thumbed-up counts would all go to 40. There's no doubt that is exactly the behavior that some people want and even expect from the player. However, I do like hearing new music. <br /><br />For me the ideal player would maximize my satisfaction while minimizing the previously thumbed up tracks. It would take an infinite amount of music for the player to be perfect under that criteria. However, from the drop in performance in May and June, it's clear that the selection algorithm can not tolerate much more exploration at this point. Additional exploration is particularly hard on stations which try to do something other than deliver genres which are easily identified by the genome (like my novelty song station, "The Best Medicine", for instance). Thus, given the current genome pushing the player towards less exploration is probably better (though unsatisfying). Of course, if we could tailor the exploration to each station, that would be best of all.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-60178703312242440912008-07-28T07:40:00.001-07:002008-07-29T14:33:02.442-07:00The Pandora App For The iPhone, A Complete and Utter Review[Updated including feedback from Pandora's CTO, Tom Conrad (see end of article)]<br /><br />So I managed to run my Sprint cellphone through the laundry two weeks ago. I immediately checked my options at Pandora.com to see what phones could now run mobile Pandora. The iPhone firmware 2.0 and the iPhone 3G had launched that Friday, and to my shock and delight the iPhone was suddenly an option. I would have to pay the penalty to get out of my Sprint contract. But, come on, Pandora was available for the iPhone! Of course, it helped that Sprint billing was terrible (they changed plans on me in the middle of the year without my authorization, upping the bill to over $100/mo which they reversed, but still..), and Sprint coverage did not, unfortunately, cover my house in the Oakland hills.<br /><br />I ordered my 3G the following day at an ATT store two blocks from work. It arrived this past Friday, ten days after I placed my order. And so here's your full, in depth comparison to the mobile and Flash versions of Pandora.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Welcome to the World of iTunes</span><br /><br />iTunes? What would iTunes have to do with Pandora? Well, if you want to download any apps for your iPhone (including Pandora) you'll need to have an iTunes account. It's free, but it does mean that you must download the iTunes software onto some computer, and create an account. If my recollection is correct, you could also use an AOL account.<br /><br />The installation and set-up of Pandora was fast and easy after iTunes was set up. You have to key in your Pandora account which is whatever e-mail address you used to create your account. The iPhone touch keyboard works reasonably well, and certainly much easier than the usual cellphone text input.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Hopes</span><br /><br />The night I received my notification that the iPhone was winging its way from Texas I made a list of the features I hoped the app would have. I hoped that the app would buffer songs so that at least the current tune would complete when leaving coverage. (BART goes under ground through downtown Oakland and under the Bay which would cause the mobile version to immediately stop playing). I hoped that when playing Pandora's quickmix, the station which generated the song would be displayed. I hoped that the station web pages would be accessible and editable while the music played. In short, I hoped that the iPhone app would be closer to the Flash version of the player rather than the mobile version of the player.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Reality</span><br /><br />As it turns out, the iPhone app has even fewer features than the mobile version, and absolutely none of those hopes were realized. There is no buffering like the mobile version. [ETA: Strangely, this morning Pandora continued through the 19th St. Oakland BART station whereas Sprint never came close to that. I do not know whether is a matter of buffering or coverage. Sprint seems to do better around West Oakland, but ATT seems to perform better in some other locations.] Quickmix does not display the station, and you cannot access the Pandora station pages even if you happen to know the direct URL.<br /><br />In all previous versions of the player you can scroll back through the songs that have played in the current listening session and assign feedback (thumbs up or down) to those songs. That feature is not available in the app for the iPhone. Thus, you can only give a song feedback while the song is playing. It is unclear whether thumbing down a song in the app initializes a new set, but it has been unclear for the past half year whether songs are still being generated in sets of three or four even on the Flash player.<br /><br />Furthermore, the app does not remember which station you were playing on start up. Every time the program initializes, you must select a station. However, after the program initializes, you can exit to go to the iPhone homepage which will stop the music, but the app will then continue the song and the station when you return. This feature is new and superior to the mobile version which had to be re-initialized whenever you exited it.<br /><br />There is no way to add new artists or songs to a station in the iPhone app. This feature is another one which is available on both the Flash and mobile version of the player, but is lacking on the iPhone app. However, to be fair, the feature was pretty much useless in the mobile version since inputing text was difficult. I never used that feature because of that difficulty; however, I might have on the iPhone since inputting text is easier with the touch interface. <br /><br />In all other respects, the Pandora app does what you would expect it to in comparison to the mobile and Flash versions. Selecting stations is MUCH easier using the touch interface than either of previous versions of the player. It turns out that sweeping your finger across the screen is a great way to scroll through a list. On the other hand, adjusting the volume with the app's slider is a nightmare, but the volume adjustment on the side of the iPhone is available and much more effective.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Sound</span><br /><br />The audio quality of the iPhone is superior to that of my old M1 as one might hope given its iPod lineage. The highs are a bit brittle, but certainly less sibilant than the M1. The M1 still had, strangely, the wider and deeper sound-stage. The iPhone jack is 3.5mm rather than 2.5mm, but it is a TRRS jack rather than the TRS jack used by most headphones. The extra ring supports a microphone, <del>and so I'll need to get an adapter to use my other headphones. The iPhone puts out a heck of lot of radio interference which apparently can induce noise in head amps. I've already heard that noise in my GoVibe 4.0. The noise also makes the CRT on my home computer flicker a bit if the iPhone is near and roughly pointed toward the screen.</del> <br /><br />And so I purchased <a href="http://www.thenerds.net/GRIFFIN_TECHNOLOGY.Griffin_Audio_Extension_Cable.9692IPADPTRW.html?affid=1&srccode=cii_9324560&cpncode=12-59912756-2&affid=3">the $10 Griffin iPhone headphone adapter</a>. I had heard rumors on the head-fi.org forums that the iPhone puts out a lot of radio-frequency interference (RFI, as they say). Indeed, my CRT at home jumps around a bit when the iPhone is near pointed at it; however, my iPhone sits happily in the same pocket as my GoVibe v4 headamp with no discernible noise. (Although I did get strange electronic bleeping coming up the stairs at the BART station this morning which I never had before.) The iPhone sound is distinctly better than my old M1 on the same rig and headphones. Furthermore, I was able to use the iPhone as a source for my home stereo with a simple 3.5 mm to RCA cable which is was never able to do with the Sprint phone because of the lack of coverage. The sound was quite good.<br /><br />[Update on the RFI. When I did my usual walk about for lunch today, I got a bit more of the RFI. It's not loud or unpleasent. It's sort of an electronic buzzing chatter. Pulling the iPhone away from the headamp definitely eliminates it. It's intermittent, only tends to occur when you're moving around, and only occurs when you are using a head-amp. You can stop it immediately by moving the iPhone away from the amp or plugging the headphones directly into the adapter. I still think the rig sounds better through the head-amp, and so I plan to live with it.]<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Interface</span><br /><br />The design aesthetic of the app is that of the iPod interface implemented on the iPhone rather than that of the mobile or Flash versions of the Pandora player. The huge album art is lovely to see, and it's much more easy to see who the artist is by glancing at the cover than trying to read the tiny font listing that information on both the mobile and iPhone apps. Songs for which there is no available album art get a white square with a couple of gray eighth-notes just like any song not purachased from iTunes playing on the iPod app. (Of the three default images, I guess I like the gradient blue field of the mobile player the best.) The icon indicating that a song has already been thumbed up is tiny and weirdly placed beside the button which calls up the focus traits for the song. There is a cool animation of the album flipping over when you press that button, however.<br /><br />Switching to the iPod and back during the tunnels of my commute was reasonable, but a bit cumbersome. Going to the iPod requires clicking the home button, and then three selection touches. Going from there to Pandora requires essentially the some number of inputs, but you have to wait for the app to load before a mandatory selection of the source if there are any wifi signals around you. Neither the mobile or the Flash version of the player require you to select a station at start-up since they remember the last station you were playing, but you must select a station when switching back to Pandora on the iPhone since that information is not retained nor is a there a default station. (To be fair, the iPod app does not remember what playlist you were last playing or have a default playlist either.)<br /><br />Speaking of wifi, it should also be noted that the iPhone manages its connections to the internet far better than my old cellphone. As I've said, Sprint missed covering my house by about half a block. The ATT signal is quite strong at home, but that does not even matter because the iPhone connects to my home wifi the moment I step in the door.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Conclusions</span><br /><br />And so, given that the Pandora app has fewer features than the mobile app, am I disappointed in moving to the iPhone? Not at all. Pandora still sounds and works great on the iPhone. Furthermore, the interface and display on the iPhone in general is substantially better than most cellphones. I could play Mp3's on my old M1 but I never did because it was comparatively difficult to move music onto it and switch in and out of the apps. The iPhone does chain you to the world of iTunes, but within those fetters moving music to the iPhone and switching between apps is relatively effortless and intuitive.<br /><br />Thus, as a Pandora power user I strongly recommend the iPhone app despite the missing features. It's a true pleasure to use. That being said, I do hope that Pandora does continue to develop the app and incorporate more of the mobile and Flash features over time. I also hope that Pandora receives a cut of the monthly fess going to ATT and Apple since the iPhone app does not require a subscription to Pandora which the mobile version did.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Update</span><br /><br />I sent the link to this article to Tom Conrad and Tim Westergren. Tom acknowledged the lac of features, but noted that the app had been put together in five weeks. Five weeks. In that case, the app is truly amazing. Tom also mentioned a number of features they are planning to add in forthcoming versions of the app. (Imagine what they'll have after, say, ten weeks of development!) I will not include that list here because they should not be held to promises made to a completely obscure blogger; however, I will pull the following quote:<br /><blockquote>Rest assured over time this will become the best on-the-go Pandora listening experience there is.</blockquote><br />Whooooo!<br /><br />I will also note some observations about the player after a day of typical use at work. The app seems more stable than the mobile player on the M1. I typically had to restart the mobile version two to four times per day (after providing feedback usually). Perhaps, providing feedback on previous played songs is trickier and caused network problems. In any case, the iPhone app required no rebooting yesterday at all. The M1 phone would also need to be turned off and restarted entirely maybe once every couple of months indicating, perhaps, a small memory leak. That behavior, of course, is not possible to detect for my iPhone usage to date, but early indications are that the current app is quite stable.<br /><br />On the other hand, there are times during the day when there are noticeably longer gaps between songs on the Sprint network than on the ATT 3G network. Whether this an app issue or a network issue, I cannot tell. Nevertheless, there are times when the Pandora app fails to provide music for up to a minute.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-77381295935252688672008-01-02T14:42:00.000-08:002008-01-02T15:42:02.968-08:00The Similar Albums FeatureEvery Backstage album page has a list of similar albums. The feature does not work all that well, and, of course, there's no real documentation on how its generated. I can make some guesses, however.<br /><br />First, we know that some sort of averaging of the genomes is done at least one place in Pandora. We know that the list of thumbed-up tracks for any station is averaged to create a single seed. I suspect that the averaging is done as simply as possible. I suspect that the genomes are, in the end, long binary strings: does this song have this quality (yes/no). [Pandora is currently playing DeGarmo's "Boy Like You" just to taunt me right now.] I suspect that when Pandora needs an average, it simply takes the straight numerical average of this binary string.<br /><br />Second, the secret-sauce of Pandora is the distance metrics that it has developed on the genomes to assess "nearness". The creation of the metric on a binary vector space will have been done with a bit of statistics and a lot of tweaking. I suspect that all the genomes have been adjusted to have the same length with a lot of entries zeroed out for attributes which were not assessed at the time of analysis. (That is, when analyzing a harpsichord performance of a Scarlatti sonata the question of whether the track has "trip-hop roots" will not be considered.) Distance metrics would then be constructed on that binary state-space so that nearness can be measured across genomes. <br /><br />The metric (if all the previous speculation is true) would be a simple linear vector in the n-dimensional state space defined by the n-digit uber-genome which essentially supplies weights indicating which characteristics (like tempo) are more important than other characteristics (like the presence or absence of "thin synth textures").<br /><br />There might only be one such distance metric used throughout Pandora and there might be several. The most important one is the one which selects songs. I suspect that they calculate a list of a hundred or so nearest neighbors for each song in a database, and that the Player picks a track and then a random set of three other songs from that song's list to make a set and then applies all sorts of mandated constraints replacing tracks as necessary. <br /><br />I would imagine that the lists of similar artists and similar albums are generated in a similar fashion to the algorithm used to generate the play-lists. Each Artist and and Album will have been reduced to an average of their respective tracks, and the distance between albums and artist may be computed using a different distance metric than used in the player, but the nearest-neighbor algorithm applied will likely be the same.<br /><br />The big difference between the Player and the Backstage lists is, I suspect, that the Player databases are updated frequently and the Backstage lists are probably generated when the album or the artist is initially published to the Backstage database and are likely never updated. They might update the similar artists lists whenever a new album for that artist is analyzed, but I've seen no evidence that they do (not that I've observed the artist lists that closely over time). Thus, there might be "nearer" artists now available on the database, but the pages are never updated to reflect that fact.<br /><br />Of course, the real problem with this method is the initial averaging of all the tracks for the artist or album. A diverse artist (or album) gets mushed to a single point in space where the very fact that they are diverse is probably a key characteristic in many people minds when comparing artists. Tom Conrad is pretty smart, and so they probably could measure the width of the footprint of the tracks in n-space via some second-order statistics beyond simple averages and use that in their nearness calculation, but the fact is that I don't think anyone cares all that much about the similar artist and album lists.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-80532946916350203772007-12-10T14:05:00.000-08:002007-12-11T13:46:22.432-08:00Assessing the Development of a Station: ASUDNowadays, the inputs that are used by a player for a particular station are almost entirely public. As long as, the person who created the station has not set their profile to private, you can read the lists of artists, song seeds, thumbed up tracks and thumbed down tracks. <br /><br />Back in the early days, a few of us gathered at pandora-forums.com (now defunct and cybersquated). We came up with the idea of measuring the development of a station as a list of the number of Artist seeds, Song seeds, Ups and Downs (ASUD). Tim, IIRC, when he created the first version of pandorastations.com proposed a measure D which was equal to the sum of the numbers of Ups and Downs, but the rest of us had already grown used to ASUD. And I think it's still a useful place to start.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Artists</span> It's good to keep the number of artists in the station separate from the other numbers because the number of tracks called upon by an artist seed is the one thing about a station which can change without the user's input. Pandora analyzes and makes available for play new tracks by an artist on an on-going basis. The number of tracks available for popular artist who is still recording will always tend to increase over time. The number is more static for more obscure artists. (Interestingly, the founder of Pandora, Tim Westergren, was in the band YellowWood Junction which has exactly three songs available for play and that number has not changed in the past year at least.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Songs</span> Each song which is added to the list of song seeds for a station becomes available to form the basis for a set of four songs to play on the player. As similar songs are added to the list the station generally becomes more and more focused. Thus, because the number of tracks represented by an artist seed is fairly random, dynamic and difficult to assess, the number of songs seeds is probably the second most important measure of a station's development (after the number of thumbs down).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Ups</span> The entire list of thumbed up songs serves as a single possible basis for a set. I used to believe that all the thumbed up tracks could individually form the basis for a set, but the Pandora FAQ now definitively states that that is not the case. Thus, the number of Ups gives a good idea of how much the creator has listened to a station, but it's the least important measure of the development of a station.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Downs</span> On the other hand, the number of thumbed down tracks is an absolutely crucial indication of how well developed a station is. No thumbed down track will ever play on the station again, and, as long as no track by an artist appears in any of the other three lists (artist seeds, song seeds, or thumbed up tracks), two Downs ban all the tracks by that artist from the station. Thus, unless you are consciously moving tracks into the list of song seeds, cutting out songs one by one via the thumbs-down is the most usual way to incrementally improve a station.<br /><br />The best measure of a station's development would be a count of all the songs which can be the basis for a set and a count of all the tracks that cannot play on that station. Unfortunately, those two numbers are difficult to calculate and until they become readily available ASUD is the best surrogate we have.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-84279890990817773912007-11-30T07:34:00.000-08:002007-11-30T15:48:43.443-08:00Dear Santa PandoraAfter nearly two years of listening to Pandora I think I'm finally ready to state with some clarity my wish list for improvements to Pandora. Here're are my Christmas wishes for the coming year:<br /><br /><b>Filters</b>: I'd like to be able to filter out the songs which play on a station on at least a subset of the genome characteristics. Yes, I know there's difference between the focus traits and those which comprise the underlying genomes. And I know that the genomes do not necessarily have many or even any traits in common. But creating stations which only play songs with humorous lyrics or only female vocalists should not be impossible as it has been to date.<br /><br /><b>Moving Ups To Seeds</b>: It’s now fairly clear that once the number of thumbs-up given to a station reaches a certain point (maybe 20 or 50) that additional thumbs-up have virtually no impact to a station. And so to continue to shape a developed station you must operate on the list of seeds. I’d like to have an additional button under the thumb-up list on the station page which says “MOVE CHECKED TO SONG SEEDS”.<br /><br /><b>Banned Artists</b>: I’d like a button on the station page that enables the user to calculate and display the artists which are currently banned on a station.<br /><br /><b>Identify Unencoded Song Seeds</b>: This problem is becoming smaller over time since fewer unencoded tracks are being added to the db. Still, it is unconscionable that there is no way to tell when a song seed is, in fact, unencoded and therefore its presence in the list of song seeds is bringing in all the material of an artist. We should be able to push a button under the list of song seeds on the station page to show any such cases in the list of seeds. <br /><br /><b>Mobile Quickmix Play</b>: Please display the originating station for the track being played.<br /><br /><b>Fix Searching for Classical Tracks</b>: I’m so glad Classical is now available, and I can accept the various compromises like only one recording per opus, but Classical is truly crippled right now by the fact you can’t add individual tracks to stations.<br /><br /><b>Net Song Seeds</b>: I’d like to have a button on the station page that would calculate the net number of seed tracks and net number of banned tracks for the station. The called program would generate the list of all encoded tracks available as seeds (both from the artist and song seed lists) remove all the tracks from the thumbed down tracks and banned artists for the station and return the count as the net seeds. Similarly, the program would return a count of the tracks from thumbed down tracks and banned artists. These two numbers would be the true measure of the current development of a station.<br /><br />Oh, and a pony, I suppose. I love Pandora, and it would continue to be my primary source of music even with no improvements, but it could be made even more fun for me with these improvements.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-44693588544796630752007-10-24T12:33:00.000-07:002007-10-24T13:17:38.569-07:00Station Story: Prog RogIf you created a QuickMix with my Prog Rog and Pioneers of Electronica stations, you'd basically have everything I was listening to in high school. I lived in Hermosa Beach in Southern California at the time, and a few blocks away was a Music Plus store which was part of a regional chain of record stores. There was a small bin for electronic music which single handedly weaned me from the easy listening radio stations that my parents listened to in the car.<br /><br />The first record I ever bought was Walter (later Wendy) Carlos' <i>Switched On Bach</i> when I was in third grade. The synthesizer captured my imagination even at that young age, and so when we moved to So. Cal. and I started high school it was a natural progression for me to start listening to the electronic music of the era and rock groups which featured synthesizers which, at the time, meant Progressive Rock.<br /><br />The holy triumvirate at the time were ELP, Yes and Genesis. But, thanks to some staffer at Music Plus who'd handwrite little reviews on address stickers and put them on selected albums in the import bins, I also discovered Novalis and Goblin during that era. I was so pleased when these latter two groups were covered by Pandora this year. Oddly, though I did purchase a copy of "Leftoverture" at the time, I did not consider Kansas to be Prog Rock at all then though I do now. I also was skeptical about Queen because their albums of the time boasted that "no synthesizers were used on this record". But I eventually accepted them into the fold as well.<br /><br />Pandora has helped me flesh out the station a bit. The most out-there band in the set has to Ruins which came long after the others on the station, but provide some truly interesting and difficult (in many senses) tracks. On the other hand, Starcastle, PFM, Van Der Graaf Generator and Egg are all much more central to the genre.<br /><br />The station occasionally strays into more mainstream rock one side and Fusion on another, and, in general, the station is below average on the monthly listening tests. Nevertheless, some of my favorite music from my high school days is played by this station.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-45001335432790650872007-10-24T08:48:00.000-07:002007-10-24T09:06:47.448-07:00Station Review: The Darjeeling Limited stops at two stationsWes Anderson is a director who is known for the music in his films. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that his sense of taste transefered to these two promotional stations. <br /><br />The title of his latest film serves as the name for the first station, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/e017db10e8757dcd066f31fd936d221e425ba2910f7abf8b">The Darjeeling Limited</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2384389752165215">click to play</a>). It would not surprise me if the four song seeds for this station are featured in the film. Nevertheless, the resulting station is pretty poor since there neither any other seeds nor feedback to flesh out the station. The result here is some blues rock vocals.<br /><br />The second station, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/ef8c2a08405361810849336a3c8a9e45425ba2910f7abf8b">Wes Anderson Films*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2529379258143583">click to play</a>), is somewhat more interesting but less coherent. It consists only of eight song seeds, but at least the variety is interesting since it covers tracks by Devo, David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Paul Simon. Again, it's a bit Boomerish, but that's probably appropriate for the topic.<br /><br />And with that review, I'm officially caught up with the influx of promotional stations after the Internet Radio crisis.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-45119035401537718552007-10-24T08:36:00.000-07:002007-10-24T08:48:11.804-07:00Station Review: SingStar presents twoSingStar seems to be a Karaoke Revolution competitor for the PS2 which is one of the better advertiser fits for Pandora that I've seen.<br /><br />The first station this promotion offers is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/8fd30ac58905c3dcd697b7b04d11c028">SingStar '80s*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2348582609818463">click to play</a>). They threw eight hits from the Eighties into a station and walked away without a single look back. Meh. I've heard worse, but, still, they put the 'F' in 'effort' with this one.<br /><br />They took the exact same approach with <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/8ce492784002756135e9a4cf8ff8783a">SingStar Amped*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2527798710178655">click to play</a>). In this case the eight songs seem to be from the Nineties.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-5675760760240322682007-10-24T08:03:00.000-07:002007-10-24T08:33:14.829-07:00Station Review: The Honda Odyssey delivers fourMy guess is that it's a car even though the first feature the copy on the Pandora profile page mentions is Bluetooth.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/9059e36800b0f1d65b1cd10d9c5b6d1d425ba2910f7abf8b">Breaking Free*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2040040749208415">click to play</a>) is one of the better designed promotional stations. There are four artist seeds and seven additional song seeds. The idea of connecting the High School Musical soundtrack to REM and They Might Be Giants is an interesting one. The two songs I've heard so far have been strange and good. The station has a little feedback with three thumbs up and three thumbs down.<br /><br />On the other hand, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/23b3908c4ee354ad766c9f85c9c3affb425ba2910f7abf8b">Truckin'*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2524886722351967">click to play</a>) is a much more marginal effort. It's based on four tracks from the Eighties and earlier and minimal feedback (one thumb up and two thumbs down). Yet another boomer nostologia station. Will one of the two remaining stations be Hip Hop? Be still my heart.<br /><br />Well, the next one, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/ab2fcf0df2e2904dbfeeeff10e13e5ca425ba2910f7abf8b">Ticket To Ride</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2525384938558303">click to play</a>) is a bit moldier (if not Hip Hop), focussing on the Sixties and Seventies. The station is based on six artists and one additional song. You know, The Beatles are surprisingly rare as seeds for promotional station, but they're one of the seeds for this station. The feedback consists of two thumbs up. There are better stations covering this era.<br /><br />No Hip Hop for the last station, surprisingly. Instead, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/de6acdf703232f0377a259522608d84b425ba2910f7abf8b">I've Been Everywhere</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2526132262867807">click to play</a>) looks at earnest balladiers with Johnny Cash and Dan Zanes and Friends as the artist seeds plus seven additonal song seeds. Like the first station this one is a bit more interesting than most promotional stations. It also has a tiny bit more development than most promotional staions with one thumb up and five thumbs down.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-79159094018480132732007-10-23T10:44:00.000-07:002007-10-23T10:49:58.712-07:00Station Review: BET Hip Hop Awards 07Unlike the vast majority of Hip-Hip stations created for various promotions <a href="http://">BET Hip Hip Awards 07</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=1779009816826719">click to play</a>) is worthy document of the current state of Hip Hop. The station consists of 20 artist seeds and five songs seeds (though only two of the songs are not covered by the artist seeds). There is no development, but if you wanted to evoke that 2007 Hip Hop sound in the future, this would be an excellent set of artists upon which to base a station.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-84437178824611033092007-10-23T10:12:00.000-07:002007-10-23T10:38:09.912-07:00Station Review: The US Air Force tries four recruitment stations"Patriotism rises in the heart of the American bear," as Fozzie Bear once said. The US Air Force recruiters paid for four stations in their promotion on Pandora.<br /><br />First up is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/afd021e1a6e4b69f73a845aecb8afc6dd0023c358e8c3b4e">American Anthems*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=238677805157520223">click to play</a>). This station is the epitome of bombast and cheese. Based on Lee Greenwood and four patriotic anthems, this station produces a lot of overwrought, whitebread gospel. Heh: "Hey Jude". These is no station development at all as usual.<br /><br />Next is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/d020e11ed687094afb470875ce068915d0023c358e8c3b4e">Air Rock Lounge*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2446885821289311">click to play</a>) which has nothing to with Lounge music. Instead, it's a Nickelback station with two addtional song seeds (Dauhgtry and Red Hot Chilli Peppers). Not bad, but there's not much to it since there's no development here either.<br /><br />Third is a comparatively interesting station, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/0a91d0581c5d25a9fd5c46a647383831401da1e6ce5949cc">Funk Force 1*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2447229418672991">click to play</a>). This station consists entirely of three artist seeds: Mighty Imperials, The Diplomats of Solid Sound, and The Poets of Rhythm. All three groups are comparatively recent funk revival groups and work quite well together. This collection could be the beginning of a good station.<br /><br />Lastly, we have the obligatory Hip-Hop station, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/9769ff077e2a3f92780620885cafd51a67dcb5f5c19f6840">Horizon*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2447744814748511">click to play</a>). This one consists of three song seeds, and that's it. A Hip-Hop afficionado would have to tell you whether these tracks go together at all. As it is, it seems unlikely that this station is in any way superior to all the other promotional Hip-Hop stations.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-72903701460874056662007-10-22T13:21:00.000-07:002007-10-23T10:40:29.137-07:00Station Review:: Heavenly Sword carves up three stationsHeavenly Sword is a game for the Playstation 3. The promotion for the game offers up three stations.<br /><br />First up is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/db9ee63494868b343322aab07a5111822024179d9bdf3892">Speed Rock*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=238261910589346655">click to play</a>) which is a generic metal station as you can get being based on Metallica, Motorhead, Slayer and Zeke. As is endemic for these stations, there has been no development whatsoever. If you like metal you cuold create a better station in fifteen minutes.<br /><br />The second offering from this video game is yet another Indie Rock station, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/5124b464173d4a2d6b5278961cbf87f1e2ac4167b81e2c70">Range Indie*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2448363290039135">click to play</a>). The four seeds are Ghostland Observatory, Nada Surf, Okkervil River and The Thermals. In my brief listening to this station I'd say I like the station a bit better that the NikeiD version of the same genre. But again since there is no development, there's nothing here that you couldn't incorporate into your own stations in a minute or two.<br /><br />Lastly, we have the inevitable urban market <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/c94db69d3a5626b2a2554ca22b3213b1955ae5128ebc8cb3">Power Hip-Hop</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2381490649240415">click to play</a>). Excuse me as I roll my eyes, but there are only three artist seeds here (50 Cent, Kanye West and The Notorious B.I.G.) each of which have been featured on most other promotional Hip-Hop stations. Was there any point to creating this station? Of course, as expected, no time was spent developing this poor excuse for a station.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-70089349220582015612007-10-22T13:03:00.000-07:002007-10-22T13:20:07.514-07:00Station Review: NIKEiD tromps the SUPER-eGO with two stationsAnd what could be more id-like than a Hip-Hop station and a Rock station? I have no idea what product is being promoted here, but I assume it's something from Nike.<br /><br />The Hip-Hop station is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/5ee9423ffa5c24245f7de5ebb0e20cc61a4394cc54d97b8b">NIKEiD Hip-Hop Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=236751752843432799">click to play</a>). I can't be much of judge of this genre since I never listen to it. I've heard of Kanye West and Rihanna, and I've not heard of the three other seeds Buju Banton, Common and Talib Kweli. Since Pandora is about introducing you to new artists, the fact that I haven't heard of these artists is probably a good thing. In any case, no development time was spent on this station, and so it's still disappointing from that standpoint.<br /><br />The seeds of <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/49e0ee0081d1c3f6b8526763241ddce377ad315f15b8f3bf">NIKEiD Rock Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2379579388793695">click to play</a>) are also comparatively obscure (Bloc Party, Interpol, Justice and The Killers plus a redundant song by The Killers), and that's nice as well. It seems to be a refreshing mix of recent Indie Rock. But once again there are no thumbs up or down to guide this station into being a bit more listenable.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-64324624146891745002007-10-22T12:29:00.000-07:002007-10-22T13:57:36.433-07:00Station Review: Four for the Journeyman TV ShowThis set is a promotion for a US TV series featuring time traveling, and so the stations are built to reflect different eras.<br /><br />The late Eighties are the focus of <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/6b4cb997cc6b83dc753f35f68227199a495159685ae39575">Journeyman Hits 1987-1992*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=236256379905446751">click to play</a>). The approach was to use five artists of the era and five songs other songs of the era as seeds. It was not a great era to start off with, and the station as usual has very little development: two thumbs up and four thumbs down. (Beyonce gets dissed twice here, hilariously. As far as I can tell, this makes her the only artist to have ever been banned from a promotional station. I'm sure it was inadvertent.)<br /><br />The next station attempts to encapsulate the next five years in <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/89fa6530cebbadbb462e02c83d649cba595e38286e4f944a">Journeyman Hits 1993-1999*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2376701760705375">click to play</a>). Did anyone really need a Spice Girls station? In any case, the Girls join four other artists and two songs as the seeds for this station. The development consists of two thumbs up and two thumbs down. Bland pop at it's most vanilla.<br /><br />Moving up to the present we get to <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/8961f86265d0b436fdaebf8f45113640c956d23642d3594">Journeyman Hits 2000-2007*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2377191386977119">click to play</a>). The seeds are six artist and six seeds. Again, it's the tops of the pops like many other promotional stations. Yawn. It was granted a single thumb up for development. You'd be better off building a station off the Billboard lists.<br /><br />A new low is finally achieved with the last station, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/20df6a0004e86e0d197d81e0025d749880df38da1418cafa">Journeyman Hits Time Travel*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=2377814157235039">click to play</a>). If you really wanted to hear a station based on Tupac, Bon Jovi, Green Day, Madonna, Pink, TLC and U2 you can listen to this station, or, you know, create your own maybe adding some artists you actually like instead. No development time was wasted on this station at all.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-89044085613601078362007-10-18T09:23:00.000-07:002007-10-18T10:37:54.838-07:00Station Building 101: Moving Ups To SeedsNearly a year ago I heard Tim Westergren speak in Berkeley. He mentioned that the list of thumbed-up songs were averaged to form a single seed which could then generate sets. I'm not sure I believed him, and I did not include that fact in <a href="http://mertseger.blogspot.com/2006/12/pandora-town-hall-uc-berkely-dec-4-2006.html">my write up of the event</a>. However, a recent update to the Pandora FAQ <a href="http://blog.pandora.com/faq/#18">confirms</a> that this is what the player is doing.<br /><br />Given that information the question becomes whether we improve the focus of a station by making the best thumbed up songs into song seeds for a station. The idea is that by having many more similar seeds generating song sets, the station should become more consistent.<br /><br />I examined my list of stations and picked a candidate for improvement. <i>I Sing The Body Electric</i> has always had a bit of an identity crisis. I wanted a station that played world-influenced electronica, but the only two bands I really liked (and of which I was aware) that were doing so were Engma and Afrocelt Soundsystem. And so to have enough bands to get the station going I added Polyphonic Spree and Jon and Vangelis both of which were looking for a home in my stations but neither of which met the ideal I had in mind for the station. It was time for major surgery.<br /><br />I sorted the list of thumbed-up songs by artist, pressed the "show all" button, and printed out the list. I listened to the sample of each song in the list except for those of the four artist seeds and decided for each song whether to make it a seed, leave it alone or remove it from the list. Starting with the 183 tracks I had thumbed-up to date I made 45 songs into seeds and removed 95 of the tracks since they were more associated with the artists I was eliminating.<br /><br />As I listen to the resulting station it seems that this a useful procedure; however, the station will need to go through a period of listening in which many new songs being drawn in by the influx of seeds will need to be thumbed down. And, of course, any new songs which are particularly appropriate will need to made into seeds as well as being thumbed up on an on-going basis. It is unclear at this point whether this process of constantly bringing in new seeds will result in a stable, consistent station, but I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.<br /><br />A final point to consider is whether, in the long run, a station should use any artist seeds at all. My feeling is that as long as it is likely that new tracks by the artist will be made available to play on Pandora, then having artist seeds in a station is good because it will draw those tracks in as they become available. If an artist is no longer producing albums and Pandora has pretty much covered all the artist's albums then you might wish to include only the appropriate tracks by that artist in your stations.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-53572032680031736072007-10-12T13:19:00.000-07:002007-10-12T14:04:47.355-07:00Station Review: Four More For Visa SignatureAnother advertiser to re-up for the Pandora promotional station advertising program is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/people/visa">Visa Signature</a>. Last December they introduced four of the better promotional stations, and now they're back with four more.<br /><br />First up is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/6fa17bd9c9883e5d65f67179e225aeda031e47a4a9c2defd">Brit Rock Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=1610836077384543">click to play)</a>. This station is based on Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Cure, The Fratellis, The Rolling Stones, The Who and a tune by Oasis. It's sort of a Boomer nostolgia station. Zzzzzzz... At least the station has some development with two thumbs up and five thumbs down. Kudos, at least, to Visa for being unafraid of offending The Ducky Boys.<br /><br />Next, let's take a look at <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/54233c0bd010e5364c3c6b0ea9cfc322bd857e8c2474ad0f">World Traveler Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=1610586969281375">click to play</a>). Could it be? A promotional station I actually like? Something must be wrong. In any case, this station is based on five bands, only one of which has any fame at all in the US: Ladysmith Black Mambazo. There are two song seeds as well. Lot's of drums and call-and-response vocals. The station is slightly developed with 2 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down.<br /><br />The third station is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/30d74d334d1bb0edf9443e274bdcfa352fe793abc7ce949f">Blarney Stone Radio</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=1611604876530527">click to play)</a>. It's not a bad attempt to create a Celtic station. I would note, however, that my <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/8355829b972f80d81a9bfc9927c977bf67dcb5f5c19f6840">Tir Na Nog</a> station (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=191449764950119263">click to play</a>) covers all the same artists plus many more, and is far more developed. Their station is based on three artists, two songs, one thumb up and one thumb down. Since it has no real development it pulls in a lot of folk and bluegrass which is not remotely Celtic.<br /><br />Lastly, we take a look at <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/3b4f867e41a58273e11cf54a8a05d9f2ef6976cf01487acf">Tokyo Pop Karaoke Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=1612360790774623">click to play</a>). Again, Visa Signature should be applauded for the mere idea of using a J-Pop station in their campaign. It has five artists, and one thumb down, and so no one stayed up hights perfecting this station. Nevertheless, Puffy is a good place to start any station.<br /><br />Overall, I'd say that this set of stations is one of the best promotions to date. Much is still lacking in the development of these staions, but at least they are examining genres beyond "what the kids are listening to now".Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-81620105746555831022007-10-12T12:13:00.000-07:002007-10-12T13:08:43.215-07:00Station Building 101: Spring CleaningIn a <a href="http://pandora-review.blogspot.com/2007/08/station-building-101-twiddling-your.html">previous Station Building post</a> I mentioned that I probably should try to insure that no track is a seed or thumbed up on more than one station. I have several stations that are relatively close to one another, and so the idea is reduce the cases of tracks bringing the same songs to multiple stations.<br /><br />And so I opened each station page and copied the lists of song seeds and thumbed up tracks into one long column of a spreadsheet. I added a column indicating which station the song came from and whether it was an up or a seed. At that point (Aug. 28) I had a list of 3,481 tracks which I then sorted alphabetically.<br /><br />I then worked my way down the list looking for duplicates. When I found a set, I made decision on which I'd like to keep and copied the other rows in the set to another page. In the end, I found 75 duplicate tracks to eliminate. Sorting this latter list based on the station allowed me to quickly remove the duplicates.<br /><br />The only downside to doing this task is the fact that afterward you will almost inevitably give a thumb up to tracks that you've cleaned out (particularly if you are listening to mobile Pandora where you cannot see the station). Nevertheless, this technique does help firm up what belongs in each of your stations.<br /><br />The resulting list of all your seeds and thumbed up tracks is interesting in its own right. Currently, in that strange intersection of what I like and what Pandora has, Loreena McKinnet leads all others at 29 tracks edging out Kraftwerk at 28. Sadly, my two favorite artists, Vangelis and the Swedish/Finnish band Hedningarna (released in the US as The Heathens), are horribly underrepresented at 3 and 0 tracks respectively. (The Jon Anderson and Vangelis collaborations do score another 7 tracks for Vangelis, however.)Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-23765142771000620642007-10-07T21:10:00.000-07:002007-10-07T21:27:31.804-07:00Station Story: Pretty Pop PrincessesThis station is probably the closest I'll ever get to having a true, current pop station. I do not listen to currently charting artists. When I was in my teens I definitely turned my nose up at anything popular. I was one of those music snobs who loved a band if I got to know them before they became popular, and scoffed at any band that only became popular because of the marketing machinery of a major label.<br /><br /><i>Jagged Little Pill</i> is the only album I've ever bought when it was at number 1, as far as I know. I came across Shakira by catching a video of hers on a Spanish language channel years before her first album in English. I mush say that I was turned onto Lavigne by happening on the "Complicated" video on MTV, and, thus, caught her in a rather mundane fashion. I like the fact all three artists participate fully in the writing of their songs (the lyrics, if nothing else).<br /><br />The additional song seeds for this station come from the period in Pandora history when Quickmix was first implemented. There was a time when you could move tracks while listening to an individual station, but not when you were listening to Quickmix. Thus, I heard these songs on other stations and moved them manually by adding them as seeds to the station.<br /><br />I try to keep the male lead vocals out of this station. Even by thumbing down every male lead vocal, about ten percent of the tracks do have a male vocalist. Still, I'm pretty satisfied by this station.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-91060241095845066812007-09-24T14:12:00.000-07:002007-09-24T14:20:11.804-07:00Station Review: Comcast Likes SpeedWell, Comcast's promotional station which is shockingly named <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/d0e1211fc67a3b7016c2680c747173ae0ca57b8cf83371fe">Comcast Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=236030395906200415">click to play</a>) has not been developed at all as usual. Nevertheless, I must give it a cautious vote of approval for matching Guns & Roses and AC/DC with Daft Punk and other techno bands. The station is based on four bands and five songs, but it's an interesting mixture, and better than the usual bland and homogenious selection of music.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-87095179396980484212007-09-24T13:59:00.000-07:002007-09-24T14:09:41.474-07:00Station Review: MTV Commemorates the 2007 VMA's with a Station that Contains No Britney WhatsoeverThe <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/833976aed2d797ca79a9124392fbbe53466957fc96e4da2e#tbl_artists_table,all">MTV VMAs Radio*</a> station (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=235435143503745887">click to play</a>) does contain 16 other artists who are not worth listing here. Just imagine a list of every pop artist that's appeared in every other promotional pop station in the last twelve months. No song seeds or thumbs of any kind. A slow jam rap is currently boring me to tears. Lot's of down tempo songs about teh sexy. Bleargh.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-26218452590931971782007-09-24T13:40:00.000-07:002007-09-24T13:56:56.455-07:00Station Review: Southern Comfort Fails To Be Hip By Calling Itself "soco"But they did pay for two Pandora stations, and they also posted up a cringe-worthy version of every alcohol ad you've ever seen on their <a href="http://www.pandora.com/people/soco">profile page</a>. (I swear I thought it was an anti-drinking ad parody until I saw the closing panel and found out what "soco" was.)<br /><br />The first up is a mostly harmless jam-band station: <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/7ff2edaaaf7adbe3f56f17a6710ae8a477ad315f15b8f3bf">Jammin' Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=232611855341654879">click to play</a>). The Dead, Phish, DMB and Widespead Panic form the basis with two additonal song seeds. Ho Hum. Two thumbs up and two thumbs down. There are probably better jam stations out there.<br /><br />The second station attempts to take you back to the heady days of 2006 with <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/ad050886a10e8d07eec2c737212d11fb016b09a065d4485e">Dance With A Drink In Your Hand Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=232611868226556767">click to play</a>). Timberlake, Akon, Lily Allen, and Rihanna (and a Pink track) do the obligatory pop thang. One thumb up and two down. This station might be useful for some future ethnomusicologists to write an equally boring paper about early 21st century Pop.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5068824619880336886.post-13778544964740046132007-09-24T13:16:00.000-07:002007-09-24T13:35:30.150-07:00Station Review: Bud Select Introduces Two New Stations in AugustAs far as I know, <a href="http://www.pandora.com/people/budselect">Bud Select</a> is the first company that has paid for a second set of stations. They had an earlier campaign in February of this year which included five stations which, I beleive, I reviewed at Pandorastations.com. This campaign features two stations.<br /><br />The first is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/03204a507bf4554a86af3892754cc9099a20949ec58d2630">Step Up To Select Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=232604373508625247">click to play</a>). This is yet another alt-rock station based on the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, four other bands and four other songs. It exibits minimal development with one thumb up and no thumbs down. The couple of songs I've listened to have been synth-heavy whinefests without much interest.<br /><br />The second is <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/dd887b24fd62e9a61e824fd31043b3c01a4394cc54d97b8b">99 Radio*</a> (<a href="http://www.pandora.com/?ext_lsfi=232604403573396319">click to play</a>), and it is equally insipid. It an techno-y R&B station based on M.I.A., Kanye West, Foxy Brown and six songs. No development whatsoever. I'd recomend <a href="http://www.pandora.com/stations/656cd7277f1d61b633622b159690773668f6545495cedc47">Z Huge Rap</a> instead which I found by doing a quick station search on the artists.Mertsegerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12579425232247367065noreply@blogger.com0