Search Results for: pandora

Found 26 search results for pandora (this is page 2 of 3).

On the air with Rivendell

By LeRe Pics

My use of online music services like Pandora, Mondomix, TaintRadio.Org, and my recent voiceover dabbling has gotten me itching to start my own online radio station. Or reignite my itch, I should say: back in 1997 I became one of the first to apply to the Library of Congress for a compulsory license for Internet radio (back when the list of online radio stations would fit on just few pages). I never followed through with it because it was a leap of faith: the song royalty rates were not fixed and could have been enormous once they were.
Continue reading →

Cheap thoughts: the hallway pitch

A coworker noticed my Pandora shirt as we passed in the hall.

“Pandora … what’s that?” she said.

It took me a beat to answer. I was on my way to getting my first cup of coffee and wasn’t expecting a question.

“It’s a music service,” I responded.

“Oh, yeah,” she said as we continued in opposite directions.

It made me realize that this is a good exercise for entrepreneurs. In addition to an elevator pitch, where you get 30 or more seconds to describe your business, you also need a hallway pitch where you can summarize your business in the time it takes to pass in the hallway.

Update: looks like another extremely wise, successful, and attractive individual has thought of this, too.

Netflix streaming with the Samsung BD-P1600

For Christmas, my parents gave us a gift card to apply towards a Blu-ray player that could stream Netflix. I did some research on models this morning and picked out what I wanted: the Samsung BD-P1600. I don’t own any Blu-ray discs and may not ever. All I wanted was a player that would excel at streaming Netflix movies. If it could play discs too, well, so much the better.

I spent the evening playing around with it. How does it perform? Fantastically. On the first power-up, it took several minutes for the system to download an apply a firmware update. After that, though, it’s worked very well. I was stunned at the picture quality when I tried streaming some movies: it’s amazingly good. So much so that I’m not at all surprised now that the big cable companies are shitting bricks over this technology. The writing is on the wall for cable TV: I have 12,000+ titles of movies and television shows available for watching anytime. Why would I want to saddle myself with a costly cable subscription?
Continue reading →

We’re Not Getting Any Younger

Another gem Pandora brought me. What a great pop song.

We’re Not Getting Any Younger (free mp3 from ReverbNation)
Color Theory

I say I should take you home but you want to stay here
On the beach all alone with our blankets and beer
In the dark how we ache to fulfill this hunger
Cherish it now cause we’re not getting any younger

Ashes in fire pits and fires in our hearts as we move
Crashing waves in an urgent and quickening groove
Consummating the end of a perfect summer
Cherish it now cause we’re not getting any younger
Continue reading →

They

I’m down to my last 15 hours of free Pandora for the month. Yikes! Guess I’m in their top 10% of listeners after all. If the music industry were smart (now THERE’S a ludicrous thought), they would comp Pandora’s licensing fees. No one markets music better than Pandora!

They (YouTube)
Jem (warning:self-playing music)

Who made up all the rules?
We follow them like fools,
Believe them to be true,
Don’t care to think them through

And I’m sorry, so sorry
I’m sorry it’s like this
I’m sorry, so sorry
I’m sorry we do this
Continue reading →

Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)

A song about pioneering paleontologist Mary Anning: how awesome is that? Pandora does it again.

Mary Anning (1799 – 1847)
Artichoke

do you know Mary Anning? born on a southern shore
her father Richard was a cabinetmaker
and Richard died too early and left the Annings poor
but lucky Mary Anning found an icthyosaur

by circa 1820 she ran a fossil store
she put the bones together for the collectors
and science was the province of men of noble birth
but I’d take Mary Anning over those stuffed white shirts
ancient life that sleeps as fossil

she was walking the cliffs on her own by the sea
she was wondering if there were shapes underneath
there were men with their cash but that’s not what it took
she could read every line on the ground like a book
she assembled the bones of the past in cement
and she sold them in town for a couple of pence
and she showed all the men how the bones could connect
though at first some would scoff they would grow to respect

(repeat first verse)
how did you get in here? show me what you found dear
hello isn’t that queer do you have any more?

Record stores

I woke up with The Police’s Born In the Fifties on my mind. That got me thinking to my early exposure to The Police – in a music store of all quaint places. I vividly remember browsing through The Record Bar in a Columbia, S.C. mall and seeing the Ghost In The Machine logos everywhere. Must have been 1981.

That got me missing the glory days of record stores. My kids may never grow up to know the joy of browsing actual, physical records in racks. There was a kinship there with other customers: just being around would often lead to someone suggesting a band to you you would’ve not otherwise heard. Its not so easy doing that in the age of iTunes (though Pandora comes close).

Math Prof Rock Star

I swear Pandora will be the end of my wallet. After reading about the Red Elvises show, I created a Red Elvises Pandora station and this was the first song. This band reminds me of The Uninvited.

What other rock songs actually have the value of pi in the lyrics?

Math Prof Rock Star
Jim’s Big Ego

All the girls in the class room think he’s hot
he shows up wearing the sandals with the white socks
he hears them giggling while he’s got his back to the class
he thinks he’s got an eraser mark on his ass
and all the girls from the hall show up to hear him talk
even though most of the time he’s covered in chalk

Math Prof Rock Star!
woo hoo!
Math Prof Rock Star!
oh yeah!
Math Prof Rock Star!
who knew?
When he was young he never thought that he would be a
Math Prof Rock Star
Continue reading →

Webcaster bill passes Senate!

The Senate voted Tuesday to pass HR. 7084, the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008! GovTrack.Us says the bill passed the Senate by “Unanimous Consent.”

Should the President sign it into law, the act law will allow internet radio stations such as Pandora to negotiate rates with music rights holders.

I’ve heard (and purchased) more new music since I found Pandora than I have in years. Thanks to everyone who called on behalf of the bill!