Pandora to limit free mobile users to 40 hours per month

Pandora has said today that it will limit free mobile users to just 40 hours per month of music.

The move will help the company control rising royalty costs.

In its blog post, the company says the average free listener normally spends 20 hours listening to music throughout the course of the month, and not necessarily on mobile only.

The company adds that only 4 percent of active users ever hit 40 hours per month.

Per-track royalty rates have jumped 9 percent this year, following a trend since 2009. The rates are expected to rise another 16 percent by 2015.

If you hit the 40 hour mark, you can pay $1 for unlimited listening for the rest of the month, or just continue to listen on your PC.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Feb 2013 0:05

oneguy

"Tune in radio" is looking better and better. Especially since I found out you can set alarms that'll play a radio station of my choosing.

28.2.2013 04:42 #1

Justoneguy

Seems pretty fair to me. What will happen to the record companies if they keep raising the per track royalty rate? Maybe then no one will play their music, and they'll go the way of the dinosaur; or has that already happened?

28.2.2013 08:24 #2

Mrguss

Originally posted by oneguy: "Tune in radio" is looking better and better. Especially since I found out you can set alarms that'll play a radio station of my choosing. Agree. I use internet No-Ads radio http://zonemixgolds.eu/ apps or Live-Players 'cos the radio stations here, all together do not make one [Vegas].

+5000

28.2.2013 16:59 #3

Mr-Movies

Originally posted by Justoneguy: Seems pretty fair to me. What will happen to the record companies if they keep raising the per track royalty rate? Maybe then no one will play their music, and they'll go the way of the dinosaur; or has that already happened? They won't go away as they have a monopoly of sorts and people won't stop listening to music, just like sports, no matter how bad they get people keep watching them.

Originally posted by oneguy: "Tune in radio" is looking better and better. Especially since I found out you can set alarms that'll play a radio station of my choosing.Originally posted by Mrguss: Agree. I use internet No-Ads radio http://zonemixgolds.eu/ apps or Live-Players 'cos the radio stations here, all together do not make one [Vegas]. I prefer no-ads too which is one reason I don't use Pandora often. Another excellent reason is the quality of audio is very poor from them so I can only use them as background music or for sampling new music before buying it which is not great for that either as I can go to CD Universe and sample what I want when I want.

I'll have to try Zone Mix Gold. Thanks Mr. Guss...

ADDED: March 1st 2013
I tried Zone Mix Gold and there is no way I'll solicit that site as it is too narrow in its form and I'm not going to listen to dance/electronic all day, it would put me over the top faster then country would.

28.2.2013 21:04 #4

Bozobub

Utterly bad move by Pandora. There are a good number of competing services that haven't pulled this boner. Slacker, for example.

28.2.2013 22:37 #5

rtm27

I have been using Slacker for quite a while now, even listen to it from my pc. I gave up on Pandora a while ago.

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvd_to_avi_autogk.cfm

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/673257

http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com/

1.3.2013 05:31 #6

Bozobub

Slacker also, imo, has significantly better station-generation tools than Pandora. They also play fewer commercials.

If you're listening from your PC, however, try Grooveshark. They charge (like most of these sites, except for Slacker, Pandora, and - I believe - Spotify) for their mobile app, but their PC site is free and quite good. Since it's P2P based, their library is immense (with certain notable artists missing, such as Pink Floyd, who have sued them; lol). You can also search for and play individual titles/albums/whatever as you wish, and there is no "skip limit" on the radio portion.

Grooveshark's radio is actually a "track" you add at the end of a playlist, which it then tries to match to the genre(s) in that list; pretty neat, I think. Radio tracks are also added sequentially to the end of the list as they are played, where you can keep or delete them in the list (and the radio will then process in deciding the next tracks to play). This lets you very easily create a custom station out of little "stub" playlists.

1.3.2013 18:44 #7

rtm27

I paid $2.99 a month for Slacker for more stations and unlimited skips...also plays much fewer commercials than the free version.

From time to time, I also listed to IHeartRadio, nice to be able to hear fm stations from other parts of the country.

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/dvd_to_avi_autogk.cfm

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/673257

http://www.letmegooglethatforyou.com/

1.3.2013 19:26 #8

Mr-Movies

$3 and still commercials, I don't think so, at least for me...

1.3.2013 19:33 #9

Bozobub

I use Slacker for exactly what the name implies: when I'm just too lazy to do a search or w/e on Grooveshark. I find that Slacker repeats a LOT less than Pandora.

As for ads, ehh, whatever. You can always jump to another station, then back, as a free "skip" (works on commercials too). That doesn't work, btw, with Pandora.

1.3.2013 21:02 #10

Mr-Movies

I'll still pass, but if it works for you that's great.

1.3.2013 21:39 #11

Mrguss

Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by Justoneguy: Seems pretty fair to me. What will happen to the record companies if they keep raising the per track royalty rate? Maybe then no one will play their music, and they'll go the way of the dinosaur; or has that already happened? They won't go away as they have a monopoly of sorts and people won't stop listening to music, just like sports, no matter how bad they get people keep watching them.

Originally posted by oneguy: "Tune in radio" is looking better and better. Especially since I found out you can set alarms that'll play a radio station of my choosing.Originally posted by Mrguss: Agree. I use internet No-Ads radio http://zonemixgolds.eu/ apps or Live-Players 'cos the radio stations here, all together do not make one [Vegas]. I prefer no-ads too which is one reason I don't use Pandora often. Another excellent reason is the quality of audio is very poor from them so I can only use them as background music or for sampling new music before buying it which is not great for that either as I can go to CD Universe and sample what I want when I want.

I'll have to try Zone Mix Gold. Thanks Mr. Guss...

ADDED: March 1st 2013
I tried Zone Mix Gold and there is no way I'll solicit that site as it is too narrow in its form and I'm not going to listen to dance/electronic all day, it would put me over the top faster then country would. [3 internet radios in 1 place] Is just an example on how internet radio is become to be.
I am not into sing-in web-sites or skipping 75% of wherever or big silence in between songs, etc.

I am working on my own internet radio that will offer most of the music genders hope to lunch is less that a year from now.

+5000

3.3.2013 17:08 #12

Justoneguy

Originally posted by Mrguss:
I am working on my own internet radio that will offer most of the music genders hope to lunch is less that a year from now. Huh? Maybe I'm having a little comprehension problem, could you clarify?

4.3.2013 22:32 #13

Mrguss

Originally posted by Justoneguy: Originally posted by Mrguss:
I am working on my own internet radio that will offer most of the music genders hope to lunch is less that a year from now. Huh? Maybe I'm having a little comprehension problem, could you clarify?

No ads Radios at http://radi0mix.com/ soon :)

+5000

11.3.2013 23:59 #14

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