Friday, September 2, 2011

Pandora's Box.

So by getting an Iphone, I basically also got an Ipod. Which I never thought would happen.

So what have I been doing with my new toy?

Opening Pandora's box.

It's been interesting. I love me some power pop, so I started with Oasis and Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello.

But after an evening of listening, it turned into golden oldies. Blech.

So I started over. This time, I decided I would thumbs down any super big name. I let Elvis Costello pass.

I also like my singer/songwriters. But with edge; more John Doe, than James Taylor.

So I started with Nick Lowe, T. Bone Burnett, John Hiatt, Marshall Crenshaw, John Doe, Richard Thompson, Boz Scaggs, David Lindley.

After assiduously eliminating most big names, I finally arrived at the sound I like.

The 'base' sound seems to be a group I'd never heard of: Calexico. Also getting a bunch of Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams.

I like hearing groups and songs I haven't heard before; so I consider this a successful channel. Though I seem to be hearing repeats before I hear my first Boz Scaggs, or T.Bone, which is slightly annoying.

Also, if I don't watch out, they hit me with a bunch of mellow soft rock. No.

Oh, oh. Van Morrison. I love Van Morrison, but he's a big name. I'll let it pass.

Next: some country/rock and bluegrass concoction.

Blasted toy.



11 comments:

RDC said...

Now if I recall correctly Pandora traffic goes under data. Which is not unlimited and can burn up a lot of data allocation. You might want to watch that if you are using a lot of Pandora and doing it across cell instead of wifi.

Duncan McGeary said...

Huh??

RDC said...

Translation big phone bill depending upon how much your data use exceeds the amount in your contract.

Basically AT&T has three dataplans:

Dataplus - 200MB for $15 per month with each additional 200MB costing $15

Data Pro - 2GB for for $25 per month and $10 for each GB you go above the limit.

DataPro 4GB - 4GB for $45 per month and $10 for each GB you go above it.

Since Pandora is Internet Data (and you are not using wifi to access it) then each song you listen to goes against your data limit.

A good rule of thumb is 1 to 1.5MB per minute of music so a 2GB data plan would give you between 1300 and 2000 minutes or between 21 and 33 hours per month.

If you want to use it as an IPOD then load up music and then listen to your saved music, not Pandora.

Unknown said...

Or you can just set it to pick up your wifi signal and forgo the entire data plan mess. As long as you have wireless your phone can be wireless enabled.

Unknown said...

...and learned about Calexico in the same place. Really love their stuff. Pandora is great for finding new music if you are willing to take the time. Much like you are doing.

Duncan McGeary said...

O.K.

My base is John Doe. It plays him way more often than anyone else.

The damn thing seems to trend mellow, if I don't watch out. I have to drop mellow songs I like and add louder songs I might not like as much, to keep the blend right.

Because I do like the change up.

Duncan McGeary said...

All right. I looked and I have four thumbs up for John Doe -- I'm going to go back and make sure I have no more than two for any one group.

Repeats?

Why am I getting those?

Carl said...

Why do you need an iPod when you have an iPhone? Ipod touches are iPhones w/o the phone.

If you have wifi available your phone should be set to use the free or available wifi and you will not be using cellular capability and data charges.

Duncan McGeary said...

Sorry. That's what I meant. Basically by hiving an iphone -- I don't need an Ipod.

H. Bruce Miller said...

Does your iPhone store and play back MP3 files? If not, it's not really an iPod.

"The damn thing seems to trend mellow"

I've also noticed Pandora does that -- with all genres of music. Like it's searching for the lowest common denominator.

Duncan McGeary said...

"Does your iPhone store and play back MP3 files? If not, it's not really an iPod."

Hell, I don't know. You're probably right. Wouldn't be much point in making ipod's, right?

The trending toward common denominator. Exactly.

They keep tempting me with the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan -- I mean, how can I turn down those great songs?

But if I don't before I know it, all I get are golden oldies.

Got to be ruthless. Thumbs down on the Beatles. Weird.