Audio Video News

By now, you're almost certainly familiar with internet radio service Pandora. If you're not, you should definitely give it a shot. Basically, it uses your musical tastes to suggest other songs and artists, much like Apple's Genius, Slacker or Sooloos. One is their new premium service that will set you back $36 for a year-long subscription. The biggest upgrade comes in the form of a desktop application (works on both Mac and Windows) that lets you stream music without having to devote a browser window to the Pandora site. They've also cranked up the sound quality to 192Kbps. Sure, it's not CD or lossless, but it beats the pants off of a lot of other streaming services, especially the free ones.

You'll also be pleased if you're the kind of person who hates ads, since you won't see or hear any as long as you're logged into your One account. Personally, I never found the graphics or the short audio ads to be all that distracting, but getting rid of them is certainly an improvment. I can definitely live without that Zune ad telling me I'm paying too much for music every once in a while.

Other small improvements, like personalization options for the player and longer inactivity time before the music quits are nice, but probably won't be enticing anyone out of their $3 a month. Ultimately, it all comes down to how much you're actually around your computer when deciding whether it's worth it. If nothing else, it might help keep the service in business for a while. That's good for everybody.