I'm sure you like discovering new music just as much as we do. Enter Pandora, the Internet's best way to find it.

Whether you like music heavier than your friends, more obscure than most people have heard of, or happy tunes from your local radio station, Pandora is the web service for you. Simply put, it's our favorite find this year (well, next to Kait). Instead of simply comparing artists by genre, Pandora breaks down the music you say you like to figure out what elements of it you might like. Even with fairly nonstandard music tastes, I was able to find a pretty good description of Kevin Barnes's band "Of Montreal" and was played some very musically similar recommendations that I highly enjoyed.



With such a vast selection of applications to be found on the network that calls itself The Internet, you're sure to strike this sort of gold occasionally. Put aside Yahoo, MusicBrainz, and even your friends for recommendations of new music. Pandora is here.

Do you enjoy alternative music like Cartel? Let Pandora search for "electric rock instrumentation, a subtle use of vocal harmony, a vocal-centric aesthetic, punk influences, and major key tonality, and many other similarities identified in the music genome project." Do you relax to the sound of Enya? We'll find you more "new age aesthetics, acoustic rhythm piano, smooth female lead vocalist, and many other similarities identified in the music genome project." The upbeat heaviness of My Chemical Romance? "Punk influences, a subtle use of vocal harmony, minor key tonality, an emotional male lead vocal performance, and many other similarities..." Or do you degrade yourself to listening to the grime that is T-Pain: "Modern r&b stylings, extensive vamping, prominent percussion, and six flavors of shit." Wait a minute...

It's not just choosing artists that help determine what you hear, though. Each individual song in Pandora's database has over a hundred "genes" used to help sort your music through your chocies. As you go, you can approve or disapprove of songs you're listening to, customizing your station's taste. After you leave, your stations are saved for when you come back, or (if you register an account) for other computers you move to. Can you ask for anything more?

Minimal ads intrude your view, especially when using a tool like AdBlock Plus. There are very few restrictions on your listening, all imposed only by record companies themselves, but Pandora's team has done a good job of keeping things as comprehensive and as useable as possible. I cannot comprehend how more people do not use Pandora--though now that you've read this article, I'm sure that's one more convert to such a great service.

If you're spiffy enough to use Last.fm to track your music, other tools have even been developed to help keep track of your Pandora listening. Don't lose sleep over inaccurate listening profiles just because you're using a web-based music player.

Can't find a use for Pandora, even after seeing and hearing all about it? Surely, at very least, you need something new to listen to while you relax.