Pandora Debuts Premium On-Demand Music Tier (usatoday.com)

Pandora will now let you listen to whatever you want, for a price. The internet radio firm today announced Pandora Premium, for which it will charge customers $9.99 a month. From a report on USA Today: The new on-demand service Pandora Premium, which costs $9.99 monthly, lets subscribers choose and play any song or album and use new playlist creation features. Currently, Pandora's Internet radio can be listened to free with advertisements, but you cannot choose a specific song, only artists or a type of music. Listeners can give songs a thumbs up to hear more songs similar to that or thumbs down to not hear that track again on that station. Pandora will send out invitations to current select users on Wednesday, with options for all users to upgrade in coming weeks. Pandora hopes this new tier of service helps strengthen its position in the competitive music streaming market. It already reigns as the top music service in terms of overall listening, earning 28% of all streaming music hours in 2016, according to research firm MusicWatch.

Comments

You know what's better than streaming?

[Gravis Zero]

Actually having the files and not having to pay someone constantly for something you will never own and can be cut off at a moments notice.

Re:You know what's better than streaming?

[Kjella]

Actually having the files and not having to pay someone constantly for something you will never own and can be cut off at a moments notice.

Half of me agrees. The other half wants to slap you and say it's mass produced temporary entertainment, like if you go to the cinema or to the theater or to a concert does it matter that you can't put it in a box and take it home with you? I like convenience and hate DRM, but the whole "jukebox in the cloud" service can be pretty convenient too. I just get a bit tired of people that act like their copy is the last copy of the missing Doctor Who episodes and if it were lost it would be like the family album became ash. Which of course doesn't make it okay if they do bait and switch or mislead you about the terms, but it's no greater crime to rent a music collection than to lease a car. It's not like the world will run out of cars unless you buy and keep it for the rest of your life.

Re:You know what's better than streaming?

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Here's a novel idea:

Use the $10/month streaming service to discover new bands, through functions such as recommendations, related artists, curated playlists. Enjoy the gigantic selection of good music that is available to you.

If you happen to discover a band that you keep listening to, buy their albums!

It's not an either/or situation.