Nothing to do with writing

Or at least, not directly.

A web goodie that I found: www.pandora.com

This is a site that allows the user to create up to 100 customized radio stations that are streamed through your internet connection. The program begins by asking you what artist or song you like. Then it creates a stream of music that matches qualities in your example song. You can 'train' it as you use it. The free version is ad supported (which is minimally annoying since for the most part, I minimize the window. You can purchase a subscription that removes the ads.

What I like about Pandora:
*Large database of music
*Large variety of music
*Ability to customize the kind of music you want to listen to--you can rate a song 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' and the program either will or will not retrieve more songs like it
*Each user can have many stations. I have my 'writing' station of primarily melodic jazz and instrumental
*Users can share radio stations with friends (my kids like that feature)
*Information about a particular song/artist available with a click on the title
*No software to load on your computer

Drawbacks:
*Must keep a browser window open
*Can only skip 3 songs/hour (though if you label a song 'thumbs down' it will skip it)
*Can't select a specific playlist (violates the program's contracts with music providers)
*Can't 'rewind' a song (ditto)
*Doesn't have a classical collection


All in all, a very cool site that allows me to have music when I want, streamed over the internet based on personalized criteria.

ps--a direct link to 'share' the station I listen to when I'm writing