Today’s Superior App Mobile Music Award goes to Pandora, the online radio station that could. Famous for their “Music Genome” project, Pandora can be accessed for free via their free mobile apps. As any Pandora user already knows, Pandora is aptly named because you open up a “Pandora’s Box” of music discovery with one click.
Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, BlackBerry, HP webOS (used on the Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Palm Pre 2, and HP Veer), and Windows Mobile.
Strengths: Installs easily, elegant user interface and exceedingly fun to use. For newbies: you just pick an artist, enter their name, and Pandora starts streaming you a channel of music related to and from that particular Artist. It’s not something you can truly comprehend without trying it, and once you do, if you’re a music lover, you’ll be instantly hooked. On my Android right now is Pandora’s Frank Zappa channel, which is giving me Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9,” Pink Floyd’s “Any Colour You Like,” and Zappa’s “Drowning Witch” for starters. It’s an endlessly surprising and entertaining user experience.
Limitations: You can only skip a certain number of songs per hour, due to their licensing agreements. And there’s advertisements occasionally, like any commercial radio station (oh boohoo, what do you want, it’s free!). You can upgrade to Pandora One to remove all ads, and get some additional features as well.
Send this app to your cell phone the easy way: GET.IT
