Insight Community

I am a big fan of Pandora.com's Music Genome Project. Pandora has gone to great lengths to analyze an enormous database of popular music by its 'genes.' In their own words:

"Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony."

I started listening to Pandora online several years ago. Their cost-free, commercial-free streaming music service allows users to provide feedback for each song played in the form of a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Over time the station that you created gains a better understanding of the music you like based on the feedback you provide. I must say, after years of using Pandora almost every day, my personal stations are astonishingly well tailored to my discriminating musical tastes. What's more, I have discovered several artists whom I may never have been exposed to elsewhere.

When Pandora annouced that they had built a mobile application for streaming my custom stations on-the-go, I was really excited. I can now listen through my phone's built-in speakers, through my headphones, or even connect a cassette adapter and listen through my car stereo. I do all of these things practically every day. I already have an unlimited data plan on my phone (Samsung SPH-A920 on Sprint) so the only cost of the Pandora Mobile application would be the $2.99 monthly fee to run the mobile application. For me this small fee is well worth having Pandora on my phone. However, I should mention that Pandora's mobile solution would be less cost-effective for users who don't already subscribe to an unlimited data plan, which is required.

If there is a drawback to Pandora it's the fact that one cannot choose a specific song or artist to play on-demand. This is due to artist and record company royalty restrictions. Pandora could not legally be free if users were allowed to choose content on-demand. In that regard, Pandora is more of a traditional radio station than an on-demand music service. Of course there are times when I know exactly what I want to listen to, so I turn to MP3s or CDs. However, most of the time when I am working or socializing and I want good music playing in the background for hours at a time, I turn on Pandora.

The race is on! Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile are all offering music services — and a glimpse of the future. Each service is unique, since the mobile music space is still evolving. But their strengths and weaknesses also give hints about things to come.

• AT&T Mobile Music addresses the biggest problem with all mobile services: the interface. In their promotional material, AT&T emphasizes synching with your PC as the best way to manage a music collection. Most cell phone services still requiring scrolling through menu after menu — which isn't convenient, no matter how cool the service may be. Browsing for music on a phone is always going to be less convenient than doing it on a PC.

  And AT&T's MusicId feature is wicked cool. It can actually listen to a song, and then tells you what it is. But that's not a feature that I need very often — which is the real message behind AT&T Mobile Music. No one's successfully identified a compelling music-related application (beyond simply listening to music). AT&T tried by implementing an unnecessary "community" feature offering cell phone-based chat rooms for fans who like the same artists. I've never felt the need to mingle with strangers who have the same cell phone provider as me — but if I did, AT&T's got it covered.

  And there's something sad about watching music videos on a tiny cell phone screen. Bands spend all that money on special effects — and then you can't even see them without squinting.

   

• Sprint's Music Store does a good job with one really useful feature: the ability create a playlist. (And I'm glad Sprint's Music Store is available on the slick new Motorola V950.) But Sprint's service ultimately highlights the biggest issue. Does anybody really want to pay extra for cell phone "programming"?

  I'm always amazed that providers want to take on the burder of creating (or procuring) original content. It's like the answer to a question nobody asked. Even if you like music — it doesn't follow that you'll also want daily doses of "music news." And the problem with "exclusive performances" is it's never the artists you like. Musical tastes are becoming more diverse, and we've entered an era of unlimited choice — so I'm skeptical of exclusive music content, and I think that's going to be a hard sell.

  Having said that, I do appreciate that Sprint offers "VIP Access" to Pandora. But I'm just as baffled by some of Sprint's other program choices. I like the variety of channels on MusicChoice — but why would I pay for it? It's not like there aren't other free sources of music, from mp3 players to radios. I've had a T-Mobile phone for years, but I never felt compelled to investigate their services. Maybe they need to educate users more on what exactly they're offering — but I think the truth is, the interest just isn't there. "Unlimited" service plans would probably help. I remember reading about new unlimited music downloads programs being offered in England, and feeling some of my resistance starting to slip away...

   

• Verizon's VCast is probably the most impressive service, but mostly because of its strong emphasis on leaving the audio-only phase behind. It's still like something out of the Jetsons — a handheld device that drastically improves the experience. I couldn't believe they were delivering live broadcast television to phones — and technically, they're not. (They displaying "mobile simulcasts" of TV shows, some of which are delivered later on.) Interestingly, this signals an enormous megatrend for the future. With more and more people accessing digital video through online channels, "broadcast time" will become meaningless.

  Most importantly, VCast has shows I'd actually want to watch — including Jon Stewart's Daily Show and Late Night with David Letterman. And I like how its interface displays a list of the available shows. (My old rabbit-ears TV can't do that!) Now when I'm flipping channels, I actually miss the display bar that identifies each channel when I stop on it.

  The biggest drawback is that Verizon's VCast Mobile TV is only available in about 50 markets. And beyond the cool factor, there's a practical reality. Whether it's listening to music or watching TV, there's a limited number of times when you'll want to do it with your cell phone. 

  But when you do, it's nice that the carriers already have a mobile music service in place!