![]() Right below that is a list of everything in your collection, sorted by most-recent additions. The top of the home screen is a lovely carousel of everything you've recently played. It's clean and minimal but at the same time doesn't skimp on the sort of features you'd expect to see in an on-demand music app. If you've ever used the Rdio mobile app, there's a lot that feels familiar here. What I've found is that the spirit (or is it ghost?) of Rdio is very much alive in Pandora Premium - for better and worse.īecherer said that nearly every single Rdio designer came over to Pandora to build the new service, and it shows. I've been testing Premium for the past week or so, to see if these selling points are enough to make the service a viable option. These presumed advantages show themselves in a variety of ways throughout the app. To me, the most important among those are a simple and clean design language and more data about listening habits and how songs relate to one another. ![]() If you're happy with the free, ad-supported tier, Pandora isn't going to stress about converting you to a paid plan, as it thinks it's figured out how to monetize the free tier - something it says other companies haven't done.įor those of us who can't stand ads and need an on-demand service though, how does Pandora Premium stack up? Chris Becherer, Pandora's VP of product, who came over from Rdio, said that the company has identified a few places where it has an advantage over the competition. Instead, it views the Premium service as another option but not necessarily the best one for all users. Currently, only a small percentage of those pay for the $5-per-month Pandora Plus service (which removes ads and lets you skip more tracks and repeat songs), but the company doesn't see that as a problem. Pandora believes its massive user base (80 million per month) gives it a pretty big advantage. ![]() The question Pandora has to answer is not only whether Premium can compete but also whether there's enough of an audience for it in an already crowded market. Both of those rival services have been rapidly gaining subscribers as of late. Today that service is finally ready to launch.Īs announced in December, Pandora Premium is a combination of traditional radio stations as well as an on-demand competitor to Spotify and Apple Music (with the same $10-per-month price, to boot). Eventually, Rdio shut down - but at the same time, Pandora acquired its assets, which the company used to build Pandora Premium. A combination of smart discovery, social features and excellent design (something most music services still can't nail) made it a great option, but it couldn't attract subscribers the way Spotify could. Rdio wasn't the first streaming-music service I used, but it remains the one that I've used the longest. ![]()
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