Pandora or Last.fm?

Pandora or Last.fm? I recently set up an account at Pandora after being turned on to it by  a friend who said it was much better than the crap that is played on the air these days. For me, it’s been nearly 2 years since I tuned into a radio station (98 Rock out of Sacto), opting for MP3s instead.

Last year I signed up with Last.fm through my XBox 360. While I really don’t use it often enough to stream music, it was a simple concept I found to my liking. The song recommendations were based off my likes and dislikes. This is the same concept Pandora uses, allowing you to “thumb up” or “thumb down” any song that is played. The catch, you only get 6 of those skips in any given hour.

Using Pandora I entered “The Clash” as the band/genre/music I wanted to hear. After hearing a Clash song to start the stream, I quickly got into other bands, such as The Ramones, The Jam, Misfits, Sex Pistols” who were all inline with my “thumb up” of numerous songs.

Unfortunately, there are some artists who beg the question of “WTF?” where did that recommendation come from. For example, after liking a few other bands of the UK variety like the UK Subs, The English Beat, Madness, The Specials I ended up getting Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Huh? I was hoping for more music from bands such as The 101’ers, The Pogues, Joy Division and former Clash members, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones.

I have not been too upset by the recommendations though. It might take some more time and tuning to get the likes and dislikes sorted out. If you have not checked out either service, I recommend you do so. Very simple idea, great catalog of music that will most likely have something to your liking.