Pandora Mobile: What journalists can learn
Pandora Mobile
Pandora, the create-your-own-radio-station music streaming service has gone mobile!
MyDigimedia Note : This phone is not available for sale.
The San Fran-based company had recenly been spanked with RIAA copyright infringement fines and was quickly banned from other countries. (I stumbled upon this tool that hides IPs well enough to sneak through, and it worked well enough to hide my own IP while looking at the MyDigimedia site.)
In essense, Pandora will now stream to mobile platforms. Well, one platform. Right now, Sprint has an exclusive deal and the service will cost $2.99/ month after a free 30-day trial.
I've met some of the Pandora folks before, and I can assure you that they're incredibly forward-thinking, and we should take notice. Here's why:
- Pandora is essentially a very, very smart aggregator. The company isn't producing original music, they're only serving the consumer with songs tailored to her specific taste. '
- Traditionally, you would need a radio (satellite or otherwise), record player, mp3 player, etc. to listen to music. Pandora serves content, but it is delivered to multiple channels: Websites, phones, etc.
- Pandora takes advantage of a hyper-localized community - in this case, music lovers - and has built a very loyal following. Users share, comment, promote and visit without much prompting or outside advertising.
Sadly, I won't return to Sprint...though I can now use my BlackBerry as an mp3 and video player. (Just buy a 1GB micro card, install and drag any digital file. Mac users can mount the Blackberry and then use PocketMac - free version here.)
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