Out of the box with Pandora

It's funny – we missed most of the big Internet Summit because we were slaving away at the office to the sounds of Pandora.com. And when we finally did make it to the big Summit, what should we walk in on but the keynote presentation from Pandora's president and CEO, Joe Kennedy.

Yeah, Pandora – it can take over your life. And you won't want to get it back.

If you haven't experienced it, Pandora is your own online radio station. Just type in a musical act and Pandora will start streaming a string of tunes in that style. So, "Rolling Stones" gets you Mick'n'Keef plus the White Stripes, the Black Crowes, Chuck Berry and more.

Music that you like is great, but the major difference between this and other Internet radio is what goes into making Pandora so smart: the Music Genome Project (http://www.pandora.com/corporate/mgp). You gotta have "Gimme Shelter"? Give it the big thumbs up and you'll get more like it. "Wild Horses" putting you too sleep? The thumbs down will help ensure no more snoozers. The more you listen and vote, the more it knows and the more likely you are going to have a radio station that fits your exact tastes, throwing you old favorites and new tunes.

You as program director is the new frontier, and it's what makes Pandora fit perfectly with today's Web consumer, according to Kennedy. The Internet is an intensely personal experience, he explained to the crowd at the Raleigh Convention Center, where YOU can choose what's going to entertain you, as opposed to having some exec do it for you.

But he also wondered aloud if the Web was played out in terms of its personalized wonders. There's Google. There's Facebook. There's Pandora. What else is left? Probably lots, but to find it you "have to see what others are blind to." Something so obvious-helpful-entertaining, it escapes the attention of 99.99% of us.

Of course, sometimes all you have to do is look backwards to find something nifty and improving on it. Being strapped to your computer at all times can be tough outside of the office when music is still a necessity. In comes Livio, a radio maker that is taking Pandora and putting it into a familiar and classy format with their new Livio Radio featuring Pandora (http://www.livioradio.com/learn-more/). We're itching to get our hands on one and continue our search for the song striking that perfect balance -- halfway between Radiohead and Tammy Wynette.