Spotify vs Pandora for "Radio" (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

I was on Pandora back when it first started. I love picking a song and letting the algorithm pick more songs that are similar.

I've been on Spotify about as long. It's obviously the leader.

But I consistently find the radio on Pandora better. Seems it suggests songs more like the one I started with. Anyone else find this?

 

[Cowboysfan8]

But I consistently find the radio on Pandora better

Hmmm, I may have to try pandora. I listen to Spotify pretty much daily and I’ve been looking for new playlists because I’m hearing same the stuff alot

 

[Joe Bryant]

But I consistently find the radio on Pandora better

Hmmm, I may have to try pandora. I listen to Spotify pretty much daily and I’ve been looking for new playlists because I’m hearing same the stuff alot

You can do a free version that has ads. That's what I have now.

I'd be interested to hear if your experience is like mine and the radio function is much better on Pandora.

 

[titusbramble]

TuneIn has everything I need

 

[Desert_Power]

I use Apple Music. Feel like their algorithm does the best in suggest similar and new music.

 

[Cowboysfan8]

You can do a free version that has ads

That’s what I have with Spotify too

I’ll try it and report back

 

[Don Quixote]

I use Apple Music. Feel like their algorithm does the best in suggest similar and new music.

I’m on Apple Music as well. I don’t know much about algorithm, but I’ve found their song quality higher and love the Classical music app.

 

[bro1ncos]

Sirius XM in the car and through the app

 

[3C's]

TuneIn has everything I need

I use it for sports radio and I want to find something else. Nothing quite like being in the middle of an interview or segment and tunein decides to go to a commercial.

 

[Grahamburn]

I use Apple Music. Feel like their algorithm does the best in suggest similar and new music.

I’m on Apple Music as well. I don’t know much about algorithm, but I’ve found their song quality higher and love the Classical music app.

Another vote for Apple, but obviously we pay for it.

I have found so much access to music I never would have heard.

 

[-OZ-]

I didn’t find it close, Pandora with a family plan.

Apple for podcasts.

 

[Dwayne Hoover]

But I consistently find the radio on Pandora better

Hmmm, I may have to try pandora. I listen to Spotify pretty much daily and I’ve been looking for new playlists because I’m hearing same the stuff alot

Have not tried Pandora in a long time but I'm pretty happy with Spotify. For your personal recommended playlists, I kind of agree that it does recommend a lot of the same stuff but overall the library on Spotify is pretty expansive. If you can good recommendations for other playlists that people curate, there is still a lot of new things to enjoy IMO. It also does help with recommendations the more things that you add to "liked' songs and playlists in general

 

[titusbramble]

TuneIn has everything I need

I use it for sports radio and I want to find something else. Nothing quite like being in the middle of an interview or segment and tunein decides to go to a commercial.

I get a commercial for 30 seconds when I start a stream, but have never had one interrupt a stream. Ever. And no, that isn't in the paid for version either

 

[3C's]

TuneIn has everything I need

I use it for sports radio and I want to find something else. Nothing quite like being in the middle of an interview or segment and tunein decides to go to a commercial.

I get a commercial for 30 seconds when I start a stream, but have never had one interrupt a stream. Ever. And no, that isn't in the paid for version either

Happens every day multiple times a day during shows like Dan Patrick and Rich Eisen. And it's not the radio station I'm tuned into since it happens on more than one, and the radio station breaks for commercials when the show does, like it's supposed to.

Kind of like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/tunein/comments/18gw54g/tunein_ads_keep_cutting_off_actual_radio_content/
And: https://en.community.sonos.com/cont...pearing-randomly-through-out-stations-6844299

 

[AAABatteries]

I use Amazon Music - I've heard it's not great for searching for new music but honestly, I don't listen to a lot of new music and the algorithm for similar older stuff works great as far as I can tell. Mainly use it as it's part of prime and I like the interface and it's easy to use with our Echos.

 

[Godsbrother]

Pandora isn’t bad but they seem to focus on the same artists and songs. Yes you can give a thumbs down but it kind of defeats the purpose of automated play lists.

 

[3C's]

For music, I use Pandora. And I started with a "station" and added bands to the station to create more variety. I listen to that one most often but I also added a bunch of "stations" that are bands and genres I like and put it on shuffle for more variety. There's also modes in the app to listen to "deep cuts" and other options.

https://help.pandora.com/s/article/Pandora-Modes?language=en_US

 

[MTskibum]

Pandora messes up my other apps when I exercise.

If I adjusted the volume when listening to a podcast on a different app then Pandora would start playing music.

I eventually uninstalled.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I use Amazon Music - I've heard it's not great for searching for new music but honestly, I don't listen to a lot of new music and the algorithm for similar older stuff works great as far as I can tell. Mainly use it as it's part of prime and I like the interface and it's easy to use with our Echos.

Use Amazon also. I do find it repetitive is I just say “play some music” I swear 90% of the time it’s mellow 70s gold or something like that or even if I ask if to play a specific artist it seems to default to a specific playlist

That said 90% of the time I’m playing a specific playlist or just shuffling songs from my library.

 

[UncleZen]

I use Youtube premium. Originally got it just to watch YouTube without ads but I now use the music app more than the videos. I listen to a wide variety of types of music and it does a good job of creating playlists for me. One will be everything and then several others in the various genres. It's also nice that I can look up and listen to just about any album ever released from Willie's "Red Headed Stranger" to Metallica's "Master of Puppets."

 

[Joe Bryant]

For music, I use Pandora. And I started with a "station" and added bands to the station to create more variety. I listen to that one most often but I also added a bunch of "stations" that are bands and genres I like and put it on shuffle for more variety. There's also modes in the app to listen to "deep cuts" and other options.

https://help.pandora.com/s/article/Pandora-Modes?language=en_US

That's how I use it too. I've found it far superior on the curation aspect than Spotify. I regularly get songs on "radio" that feel exactly in line with the song it's based upon.

And the thumb up or down seems responsive.

For Spotify doing the same thing with radio and a song, the following songs often seem to get way off base from the original.

For sure though, the momentum and sheer number of people on Spotify make it great for things like collaboration or suggested playlists. There's a huge advantage when so many people are there.

The podcast experience on Spotify is excellent too.

I just find the radio function for Spotify to be far inferior to Pandora. Went ahead yesterday and bought premium Pandora so now I have both. We'll see how that goes.