Malcolm Lewis:
I've dabbled with Pandora in the past but recently rediscovered it on my iPhone in the car where it is simply AWESOME. I haven't bothered using the radio now I can run Pandora on the iPhone and play it through the car stereo.
For anyone that doesn't know Pandora, its main feature is that it only plays music you like (more on that below). It's way better than listening to your own music because Pandora plays any song on the planet, not just the songs you own on your iPod or iPhone.
To use Pandora, you create custom "stations" that only play music you like. You create a station by adding one or more songs or artists you like. Pandora will then automatically find and play similar songs to your selection(s) using clever algorithms that understand the "music DNA" of songs and artists. You can also choose from dozens of stations already created by Pandora like "Classic Rock" or "British Invasion!" You can fine-tune each station by thumbing up or down the songs selected and played by Pandora. You can also skip any song you don't want to listen to.
The free version of Pandora has short ads every few songs. You can eliminate the ads by upgrading to the premium service for $36/year.
Some of you have been using Pandora for years. For those that haven't tried it before, give it a shot! You'll be glad you did...