Comments on: Poll: Music to Work By – Last.fm vs. Pandora

By: Can Listening to Music Boost Your Productivity?

Can Listening to Music Boost Your Productivity? — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:15:02 +0000

[...] Toreador Song. If you’re unsure how to come up with tracks for your work music playlist, you can use tools like Pandora and Last.fm to get automatic [...]

By: Todd Finley

Todd Finley — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:59:55 +0000

Seeqpod is very good, but Pandora now has classical.

By: Serge Lescouarnec

Serge Lescouarnec — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:55:23 +0000

Anne

When I am at the computer working, I would rather listen to instrumentals, jazz, classical or other styles.

Right now Benny Wallace ‘The Old Songs’(1993).

All that via ‘Rhapsody Online’.

Serge

By: Anne Zelenka

Anne Zelenka — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:53:17 +0000

@Vergel E: good point about getting music from independent artists.

Reading these comments, I appreciate better the power of social rankings for finding new music.

And I am definitely going to try Slacker (I knew what you meant Craig) though I didn’t get to it today.

By: Vergel E

Vergel E — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:55:20 +0000

Last.fm for a huge win…! As an artist who produces music, I prefer the open architecture of Last.fm. I have my music on there and can listen to the music of other home studio producers as well.

Pandora, Slacker and the majority of other sites do not allow for the majority of independent artists to add their own music to the service. Because of that I will always use and suggest Last.fm.

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:10:30 +0000

I think it’s the difference between the Cathedral and the Bazaar.

Pandora does an excellent job of recommending music based on the qualities of the song, but like the Cathedral it’s top down. If the music hasn’t been put in the system, it won’t get recommended.

The mob mentality of Last.fm gives you the benefit of thousands of opinions, so it can uncover more music, but it’s not going to be as finely tuned as Pandora.

I use both sites, but when I’m not looking for recommendations and know what I want to listen to, I use Finetune.

In order of use, I use:
1. Finetune
2. Pandora
3. Last.fm

By: Craig Kistler

Craig Kistler — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:50:54 +0000

It would help if I listed what I was using :( Lately, I’ve been using Slacker.

By: Craig Kistler

Craig Kistler — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:49:51 +0000

Lately, I’ve been using quite a bit. The desktop app is outstanding. I also like the fact that I can listen to podcasts through the app as well.

By: Anne Zelenka

Anne Zelenka — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:42:16 +0000

I read about Slacker on Mossberg today sounds really cool. Going to try it.

By: Mari Silbey

Mari Silbey — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:15:25 +0000

I *love* Pandora for use on my Squeezebox at home. But I have to admit that Slacker (someone mentioned it above) has a lot more choice built in as a desktop app. If I listened to music more from my PC I’d probably use Slacker.