Pandora One: Higher quality, dedicated player for $3

Posted on May 22nd, 2009 by admin

Pandora Media has announced that it is now offering Pandora One, a $3 per month subscription service for power users that delivers user customizable internet radio and music discovery with no ads at higher data rates via skinnable stand-alone application.

Pandora One is aimed at “the segment of our listeners that we think are willing to pay for a lot of the features they’ve been requesting,” said Tim Westergren, founder. “They’re sort of the power-user group.”

Pandora claims 27-million registers, adding 50 to 60,000 users daily, though the company doesn’t say what its attrition rate is or how many users have remained active. The company, which relies on advertising revenue, saw its sales double to $40 million.

Earlier this week, Napster launched a $5 per month subscription service that promises customizable streamed content and five “free” mp3s per month. However, the company doesn’t offer a stand alone player, many tracks are only available as 128K mp3s and music credits expire after one month, among other failings.

Likewise, it has to be asked, Pandora, why should we pay you for internet radio? Honestly, it looks like you’re offering a variation on the “pay forever music” theme that has utterly failed to turn consistent profits for any of the dozens, now mostly failed companies to have tried subscriptions.

I’m a big Pandora fan and will continue to use their service both on my Mac and iPod touch (free app available via iTunes)…

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