In today's media-driven world, music streaming has become a hot market-and Pandora is one of the leading names in that market. A subsidiary of Pandora Media, Inc., Pandora was founded in January 2000 by Tim Westergren, Will Glaser, and Jon Kraft. Its current CEO is Brian P. McAndrews. While its headquarters are in Oakland, California, the business streams music for people all over the United States as well as in New Zealand and Australia. More than 1,300 employees strong, Pandora has 26 office locations and (as of 2012) brings in about $274 million in revenue. If you've used Pandora at all, you may have heard of an effort called the Music Genome Project. Doesn't ring a bell? The project is basically the effort of music analysts to study every facet of every genre of music-all in the effort to anticipate what song you, the user, would want to hear next. These analysts examine more than 400 musical traits of each and every song. Considered "musicologists," they typically have a four-year degree in music theory, composition, or performance. With this extensive background, the people on the Music Genome Project use their expertise to not only master your personal listening preferences but also introduce you to music you'd probably love. In this vein, Pandora is an excellent resource for streaming music you already like and discovering new tunes. So what can you expect with Pandora? For starters, their basic version is ad-supported-a.k.a. free to users. To sign up, you enter your email address, gender, zip code, and birth year and create a password to sign in. After that, you can browse stations that are based on songs, artists, genres, and occasions. While listening, you can click the familiar thumbs up or down, and Pandora will keep track of your likes and dislikes and base their suggestions off of those.

Top Ranked Companies

#1 Spotify

6.3 Overall Score

4.6

star star star star star_half

(1,230)

View Profile View Profile

#2 Apple Music (Beats 1)

5.9 Overall Score

4.6

star star star star star_half

(371)

View Profile View Profile

#3 Amazon Music

5.7 Overall Score

4.4

star star star star star_half

(441)

View Profile View Profile

thumb_up

The Good

For users, probably the best and simplest aspect of Pandora is that it's free. If you're tired of hearing an ad every several songs, you can certainly subscribe to the uninterrupted Pandora One for $4.99 per month. But if not, you can count on Pandora to listen to a wide variety of songs at no cost. And what a wide variety they have! With Pandora, you can listen to practically every genre out there-everything from alternative and rock, to blues and jazz, to oldies, to pop, to country. What's more, you can look up stations specifically for dinner parties, road trips, and holidays. Oh, the convenience of it all. Pandora stays up-to-date with new releases as well. There's also room on your Pandora account to create up to 100 different stations. So it's no problem to save mixes for your workouts, your kids, and your study time. Once you create a station on Pandora, it will stay on your account unless you delete it-ready for you to access at the click of a button. Conveniently, Pandora also saves all your preferences. Once you click a thumbs up or down for a song, Pandora takes note. If you click up, the song is added to the list of likes in your account history. If you click down, Pandora will never play the song again. (And if you click the button in between for "I'm tired of this track," Pandora understands. They'll take a break from playing it for awhile.) Here's another bonus: Say you're feeling indecisive and don't know which genre you're in the mood for. There's an option to hit shuffle, and Pandora will play songs from all the stations you want. Unlike some competitors, Pandora doesn't require you to download anything to stream their music. You can simply sign in and hit play. They will also play on a variety of devices, including Web, iOS, Windows, and Android. You can listen to it on home devices, on your phone, or in the car. Besides the conveniences of actually streaming their music, Pandora has a positive reputation with 14 years of experience to back them up. Their staff are considered music experts (those "musicologists" from the Music Genome Project we talked about). So you can feel confident that they'll understand your tastes and be able to match them.

thumb_down

The Bad

Every rose has its thorn, however, and positive as Pandora's reputation is, it does have its limitations. For better or worse, "free" isn't purely free for everyone. Because Pandora makes no money off consumers who use their free version, they display banner ads and interrupt your streaming every several songs to play a 30-second ad. (What's more, they often repeat the same ads for days.) So you have to either be willing to pay for Pandora One or put up with the interruptions. In addition to ad interruptions, Pandora also times out on you. If you've been streaming music for an hour or two without clicking anything, Pandora will stop playing and ask if you're still listening. If you are, you can just hit yes and keep listening. But you might get tired of the pauses. Next limitation: the limit on the number of skips. For one reason or another, we all want to skip a few songs when streaming music. But with Pandora, you can only skip a handful of songs per hour. If you happen to be skipping a lot of songs, you'll eventually have to put up with the current song or switch to a different station. In essence, while Pandora is a leading service for discovering new music, it doesn't give you as much control as other competitors do. With services like Spotify, you can select specific songs to stream or put your favorite track on repeat. Unfortunately, Pandora doesn't let you do that. Instead, you're fed whatever songs they suggest.

gavel

The Bottom Line

At the heart of it, Pandora is a prime tool for music discovery. From its beginnings, its staff members have strived to scrutinize all types of song and introduce users to music based on their individual tastes. It's also one of the few streaming services that offers a free version (though it's supported by ads). So despite some lack of control you'd have with Pandora, you can expect to enjoy a wide variety of stations and a ton of suggestions that are based on your preferences. You can also be confident that you're giving business to an experienced company that has helped lead the way in the online music industry we know today.

Was this content helpful?

thumb_up Yes thumb_down No

border_color Write a Review

User Reviews

Star Rating

4.2

star star star star star_border

942 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

48%

4 grade

31%

3 grade

16%

2 grade

1 grade

Sentiment Criteria

Value

star star star star star_half

Quality

star star star star star_half

Service

star star star star star_border

Trustworthiness

star star star star star_half

cancel

Filter by:

arrow_drop_down

Sort by:

arrow_drop_down

star star star star star_border

Michael Perlich Fishers, IN

I have been listening to Pandora on and off since 2000. I recently spent the last couple years going from Spotify to Tidal to Amazon Music and finally back to Pandora. I just feel the most comfortable using this service. It does not have the most tracks to listen to but when you are counting millions of songs really who cares. I do wish they would increase their sound quality . It is considered worst among all streaming services and compared to the others you really can tell a difference. That said I came back to Pandora's premium service and don't plan on leaving again.

1 year ago

star star star star star_border

Eliza Jane Arledge Smithfield, UT

Pandora is an amazing music streaming app, but it is also a great way to find new music that you may be interested in. I love how you can find other albums that others have already created or you can create your own. I love how user friendly it is. I am always finding new song I love by simply putting in a song I already like and them doing all the work to find other songs I may like. Pandora is always my go to when looking for new songs to jazz up my playlist.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Sydney Van Nuys, CA

I love pandora! But lately it’s been crashing, and so I can’t turn my phone off without the music turning off as well. I am paying for pandora plus too. I am a music lover so getting to listen to great music is important to me but it’s super frustrating when I need to do something else on my phone while listening but I can’t because the app will crash. I’m hoping that it’s just a big or something and will get fixed soon.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Maranda J Hilton Bountiful, UT

I use Pandora daily, I don't know if I could function without it at this point. I like the idea behind playing music based off what is similar to what you already like. I do not like that once you thumbs up a song it will play super super often after that. The best advice I've ever received about Pandora is to never use the thumbs up, only thumbs down what you never want to hear again. And it has been sound advice.

7 years ago

star star star star star_border

Myra Howes Provo, UT

I have been using Pandora for a number of years. I like it a lot, it has introduced me to many songs and artists that I have come to love. I like the setup. I know I am not a paying customer, but for people like me, the commercials can get really redundant. The "sweater, sweater" and coffee stain commercial have been playing for a year it feels like, and it'd be nice for a change. Also I feel like after a while I hear the same songs over and over again-not sure if that would be fixed if I paid. Sometimes I'll hear the same song a few times in a row too, if it's done by a different artist. It would be nice, if Pandora didn't allow the same song to be played twice in a row like that-if it payed attention to the song titles more. Other than that, this is my go to app for music. Thank you

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Joseph Faenza Washington, DC

I have found Pandora to be a great option as a music streaming service. The amount of content they have for all different kinds of music categories is exceptional. I have been using this service for years and it’s great for a long car ride!

1 year ago Edited August 7, 2023

star star star star star_border

Elizabeth LaFlamme Anderson, SC

WOO I love Pandora! I have been using it for 10+ years and have recently upgraded to a premium membership because of the student discount. I will definitely keep it even when I am no longer eligible for the scholarship and need to pay full price. Sometimes, it’s really buggy, but good overall.

2 years ago

star star star star star_border

Darrin Pelham Rincon, GA

I have used Pandora for sometime now and I have really gotten used to their app and navigating around it. Pandora has a genre for everyone with endless music in each genre. There is a feature that will introduce you to new music that you might not have heard of or styles that you have not tried before. Try Pandora and enjoy!

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Carla Joyce Pequannock, NJ

I would give Pandora a 5 if the ads I was made to listen to were in English!! If I were Barcelona, Mexico or Madrid I’d expect the ads to be in Spanish. But I live in the United States of America where last I checked English is the national language. So disappointing and frustrating!!!!!

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Jeremy Balls Kaysville, UT

Pandora is the service I use the most. I pay for other services, but I get Pandora Plus free from my T-Mobile service. It is simple I have set up several different genres and just open the app and can listen, without having to make any selections.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Kay Smith Piedmont, SC

I subscribed to Pandora Plus for a couple of months because of all the commercials. i loved my music. However, during the Christmas season I chose the Christmas Carols Radio - everyday. It will play a couple of Christmas songs but will start playing my regular music which is not Christmas music. Very, very frustrating. So much that I cancelled.

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Kathryn M Smith

I have really liked being introduced to new artists. It has helped me to build my personal collection. The thing I don't like is they only play a few cuts off if each album. Many of the album's have other songs that are really good as well.

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

kcnell

I have been listening to Pandora since they launched their service so I have never tried other services. I obviously like their programming or I would have switched. I dislike that they repeat songs I have already heard during the same session.

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Blake Wilcox Salt Lake City, UT

I like Pandora but there are better way to stream music. Pandora is great to find music from the artists you like, but they have a lot of advertisements. Also, the limit on the skips of the songs is very limited and makes it difficult to find the songs you really want to listen to.

7 years ago

star star star star star_border

Christopher Haueter Salt Lake City, UT

I use Pandora on a daily basis and I really do like it. It's easy and I like hearing a variety of different music instead of trying to pick all of the songs that I want to listen to. The problem is that my stations are very repetitive and there are a lot of advertisements which are the same advertisements every time.

7 years ago

star star star star star_border

Debora Paez Columbia, MO

If you're looking for a simple, background music site/app, Pandora is your go-to. Although semi-outdated compared to its competition (i.e. Spotify, Apple Music, etc.), Pandora continues to be as useful as when it was more popular. My favorite part being how great the radio feature is at providing office music or background music for a homework session. Additionally, having a free version and an ad free version, student discount AND military discount also sets Pandora up to perhaps really compete with Spotify one day.

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Kaylee Gay Columbia, MO

Pandora has some of the best music on their stations. They allow you to favorite songs and create your own playlists. If you pay the premium you even get no ads! I especially love Pandora because it has such a variety of music that I can listen to more pop or country whenever I feel like it. It is such a simple process to find your radio stations and favorite music! And if you don't want to pay you can access Pandora for free.

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Nyla C. Edison, NJ

Pandora was one of the first music apps that I ever downloaded. After years though, I don't often use this service anymore. But, I do remember it shuffling good music. It is an app that plays a lot of ads though, so this can get a little annoying. But it is a free music-streaming app that every music lover needs. I would say that Pandora is a great music platform overall, but definitely not my first choice.

4 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

star star star star star_border

Ryan Harpenau Fayetteville, AR

Pandora is definitely not as good as other streaming services like Spotify, but it is a great app if you can't decide what to listen to since it plays based on artists you tell them you like. I used it a lot in the past when I didn't want to pay for a streaming service, so I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a free streaming service.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Kylie Howes Provo, UT

Pandora is a great way to stream music for free online, but I've never been able to build my own playlist on their website, which is kind of disappointing because you'll pretty much always run into songs that you don't love somewhere in their playlists. They also play ads every now and then, which get repetitive and annoying, since they usually only have one or two that they repeat over and over. But overall, it is a pretty easy way to listen to free music online.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Anne Sainsbury Payson, UT

Pandora is a service that I used about 8 years ago. I never have paid for their services as I just used the free service that they provided, but I was happy with the service that I received. When spotify hit the market I no longer was interested in using Pandora and have not used it since. If you want to throw back to the past a bit, I would recommend giving this service a go.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Julia Halliday Pleasant Grove, UT

Pandora is very easy and simple to use! Create stations where you can listen to a variety of songs that are geared toward your music tastes. If you don't like a song, merely click on the thumbs down button and you won't ever hear that song again! Pandora allows you to listen to music that you want to hear, anytime! There are a few ads, but they aren't too long, so it doesn't bother me too much. If you want to skip the ads, you can get Pandora Premium.

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Hadley American Fork, UT

Pandora has pretty good song options. I use it quite often. It is pretty easy to put together stations you like listening to. It is kind of annoying though, because ads will pop up all the time, and you can't skip them. Plus they are usually the same ad multiple times in a row, which gets extremely annoying. After skipping a certain amount of songs, it won't let you skip anymore which isn't the best.

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Shawn American Fork, UT

Pandora is my favorite streaming service I have used both the free service and the paid service and both work well obviously the paid service is better so that we don’t have to listen to commercials all day and the rates are reasonable. I will admit some of the stations that we choose get way off on the music choices after time. Wish that could be improved.

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Kyla Schramm Pleasant Grove, UT

I love Pandora. I have used this service for nearly 3 years. I found out about Pandora from a few of my friends and I just had to try it. I get to select my favorite type of music to match which mood I am in and jam to those songs. The only sad thing about Pandora is that they added advertisements, but it is still worth listening to because of the free music!

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Lynette Jorgensen Herriman, UT

Pandora has a variety of music to choose from. I don't like the ratio of songs from a particular playlist of the band that I want to listen to. There are too many other bands included in the playlist.

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Julia Howe Logan, UT

Pandora is a great way for me to listen to music. The best thing is that it is free. The one thing I would change is how many adds they have. Other than that I would totally recommend this to everyone I know.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Jass Tallahassee, FL

Pandora is a great music app to be free. The ads may be a little excessive and I would like a few more skips, but it definitely gets the vibe right when you don’t want to listen to anything specific.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Maria

I really like Pandora as I listen to it on my TV which is way better than the radio and no commercials. I think they are great but I've not used any of the others either. I'm most comfortable with Pandors

6 years ago

star star star star star_border

Pete Centerville, UT

I used to use Pandora all the time and I loved the selection they would give me based off of my favorite artists. They have a lot of good music and it makes things easy for when I don't know what I want to listen to.

7 years ago

star star star star star_border

Brian Harrison Cassopolis, MI

They no longer have ability to share songs to social media so can't show support to artist. Also, no longer can move a song to a different channel that may be more appropriate channel.

7 years ago

star star star star star_border

Phalda Morris Jacksonville, FL

Pandora is a great streaming service, especially if you're looking to find new music. Pandora allows you to listen to music just based on the genre or artist, which exposes you to music that you may not have heard before but is similar to your taste. I have discovered many new music through Pandora.

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Brianna Sutherland Tallahassee, FL

Although I do not use Pandora as much since I have Apple Music, I do still appreciate the streaming service. I really like the use of channels based on artists, songs and/or genres, but I wish skips were not limited. Also, sometimes the channels can get a bit repetitive.

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Karen Torino Tallahassee, FL

Pandora is great for exploring new music based off artists I already like. The thumbprint radio is also nice because it is supposed to play music that most correlates with liked songs. The limited skips and the ads can be annoying, but that is why they have a premium service.

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Molly Smith Herriman, UT

I've been using Pandora for awhile and it's alright. I like that I don't have to make any real decisions when I open the app, I just hit a radio and it plays a bunch of vaguely related music, but it's a little annoying that I can't really make playlists (as far as I know, anyways).

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Frances Harmatuk Baltimore, MD

I love the ability to find stations. My only issue is having to sit through the ads. I don't listen to music on my phone often enough to justify paying for the ability to not have ads, and the ads are what keeps me looking for other services to provide music when I need it. Sorry Pandora. The ads are the worse

3 years ago

star star star star star_border

Taylor Hall Los Angeles, CA

Pandora is a quality app if you are not looking for anything specific to listen to. It’s a great alternative to the radio with less at. Sometimes I am just feeling a genre but I’m not sure what I want to hear. Pandora helps me out.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Freddy V Layton, UT

Pandora is a pretty good app to listen to music. I type a song and then it pulls up a radio based on that song, it’s pretty awesome, most of my friends at work use pandora and we always have a blast knowing pandora always picks the right songs for us

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Vikti Mehta Frisco, TX

Pandora has a great app for playing music from various radio stations you might be in the mood for. I love that the app is free and offers a wide selection of music. There's not as much control in deciding which specific song to choose, but it is still a good music app.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Desiree Pleasant Grove, UT

Pandora is not my favorite music app, but I like the stations and it's cool to listen to new kinds of music. There's a limited amount of skips and you don't get to choose your music. It's just a station. I like how Pandora figures out your preferences and favorite kind of music to listen to though.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Ericka P Collins, GA

I like that when I create a pandora station, it plays a variety of music related to the artist I created the station about. This way I am exposed to new music I might not have heard otherwise. I also like the thumbprint station feature because it plays all of the songs I’ve liked in one place.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Mindy Smith Smithfield, UT

I have had an account on Pandora for probably over 10 years now and I love it. I love selecting music from my past and having Pandora choose similar music for the station. The best part of this company is that it has a free option to use!

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Rachel Logan, UT

I love that I can get a huge music library for free. The ads are annoying but totally worth it to not have to pay for an account. Once in a while it does glitch and won’t work for a while. I usually have to restart the app a few times to get it working again. But again, not bad for a free basic account.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

AF ,

I love listening to a great mix from Pandora. I like that I can make a station and they will find other songs that are similar. I wish there were a way to have parental controls (at least I'm not aware of them). That way I could have my kids pick stations without being worried about profanities.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

Jolene Pleasant Grove, UT

I use the free service of Pandora and love that I can select a type of music or artist and it creates playlists for me. I don't have to worry about running out of options. So much music on there. I also like that it will adjust to my likes and dislikes by how I rate songs on the playlist.

4 years ago

star star star star star_border

SamO Brigham City, UT

Pandora let's a user stream music. I liked Pandora, but they made some changes to thier app I just did not like. Changes I did not like included design and more. Pandoras services are nice but not as good of quality as Other companies.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Mike Ika West Valley City, UT

Of all several music streaming services I subscribe to, Pandora is my second favorite. I feel that the music selection is pretty vast, however my biggest complaint is the constant barrage of requests to subscribe to the paid service. I dont mind the ads, so enough with trying to get me to pay for ad-free music already.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Nichole Hiatt Eagle Mountain, UT

I have been streaming with Pandora for a few years now, and I like the station choices I have on my account. I feel like the commercials have gotten to be more frequent, which sometimes deters me from listening with Pandora.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Aaliyah Lobendahn Orem, UT

I love how on pandora it works almost anywhere I go. I also really like that I’ve learned about so many artists I didn’t even know about until Pandora showed me. I like how was you like a song they give you more songs that are similar genre and you can learn so much about them and find new artists you love.

5 years ago

star star star star star_border

Khori Howard Tallahassee, FL

I used Pandora for awhile before I started paying for my music streaming, but to be free, Pandora is a great option. Sometimes, when I don't know exactly what I want to listen to, but know what kind of music/vibe I'm going for, I turn on Pandora to get me going because it's way better than the radio.

5 years ago