On-demand radio and podcast streaming
Pandora is a free music and radio application for PC developed by Pandora Media Inc. This online streaming service lets users listen to various radio stations and podcasts. Its catalog is categorized into various genres, letting users easily browse and pick the want they prefer.
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Similar to TuneIn Radio or Tapin Radio, Pandora sources freely available stations from the web, as well as being a platform for discovering podcasts. It is also available in Plus and Premium subscription plans that will remove ads and unlock more advanced features.
How is it compared to the competition?
Before the success of Spotify, streaming platforms already existed, and Pandora is one of the pioneers. While it has fallen behind the times somewhat, it has been continually improving to offer more features and a better user experience that can keep up with today's saturated online streaming landscape. One of the steps it took was creating a dedicated desktop client that no longer needed a browser to work.
Pandora features a minimalistic user interface. You have three tabs at the top-right to navigate through and a search bar at the center. You can start with Browse to discover music or podcasts. Pick one, and you’ll then proceed to the Now Playing window that shows a playlist and a large album art side-by-side. My Collection saves a history of everything you've listened to, as well as those you've saved.
As mentioned earlier, the streaming service is available in Plus or Premium subscription plans, and with them, you can remove ads from streams and unlock more features like personalized playlists based on your listening history, and many others. One important thing to note is that it is currently only available for users living in the US. It is not available yet in other parts of the world.
A good streaming service with limited reach
All in all, Pandora has matured into a capable streaming service for music and podcasts that can keep with the heavy hitters in the market today. The main thing that is keeping it from reaching wider appeal is its limited availability. If you live in the US, though, it's a decent alternative to try out.
