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http://www.stevekrause.org/steve_kra...a_and_las.html (in the article there are also links to few other, similar).
Very good article presenting both services, worth reading IMHO.
(even if personally I don't totally agree with it's outcome:
- Pandora might be good for its "target market" area, but for me it turned out not very usefull...usually it either gives me obvious recommendations, or doesn't know the query/artist at all - I suppose the reasons are:
1. the US/UK artists with which I'm familiar are generally widely known
2. Other artists (mostly local) I'm familiar with are generally not known at all outside (just look at my last.fm profile...not many from top artists look familiar to you, I guess?)
OTOH last.fm not only has music of all tastes...it actually gets stronger when more people from different parts of the world are using it. How Pandora with it's manual classification by their stuff can please "local markets"?
And yes, last.fm recommendations are sometimes "weird", but I like it that way - usually I like them, or at least I'm neutral, and more often than not it lets me discover new music. In the rare occasion I don't like it - I click "don't recommend this again", which also influneces other future recommendations.
- Also I like the thing that it's "under the radar" - the profile is built even if I don't care at the moment about last.fm, simply from music on HDD...and this can be usefull not only for other people from last.fm, but also for me , to see what I listen to most really.
- Following the topic of "other people", I very much like its social qualities... After all, music was most probably the thing that tied societies together long before advent of modern language. Also, in my experience, my music tastes/library were usually widened when I've met new people (you gotta love the tag line "Last.fm uses its giant computer brain to find the latest and greatest things for you to listen, read, and even talk to, day in and day out."
)
)
Very good article presenting both services, worth reading IMHO.
(even if personally I don't totally agree with it's outcome:
- Pandora might be good for its "target market" area, but for me it turned out not very usefull...usually it either gives me obvious recommendations, or doesn't know the query/artist at all - I suppose the reasons are:
1. the US/UK artists with which I'm familiar are generally widely known
2. Other artists (mostly local) I'm familiar with are generally not known at all outside (just look at my last.fm profile...not many from top artists look familiar to you, I guess?)
OTOH last.fm not only has music of all tastes...it actually gets stronger when more people from different parts of the world are using it. How Pandora with it's manual classification by their stuff can please "local markets"?
And yes, last.fm recommendations are sometimes "weird", but I like it that way - usually I like them, or at least I'm neutral, and more often than not it lets me discover new music. In the rare occasion I don't like it - I click "don't recommend this again", which also influneces other future recommendations.
- Also I like the thing that it's "under the radar" - the profile is built even if I don't care at the moment about last.fm, simply from music on HDD...and this can be usefull not only for other people from last.fm, but also for me , to see what I listen to most really.
- Following the topic of "other people", I very much like its social qualities... After all, music was most probably the thing that tied societies together long before advent of modern language. Also, in my experience, my music tastes/library were usually widened when I've met new people (you gotta love the tag line "Last.fm uses its giant computer brain to find the latest and greatest things for you to listen, read, and even talk to, day in and day out."
))
(and they do point you to some short first steps page when you download it)
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