Pandora was my go-to circa 2007-2009 and I haven't thought about it in years. Looking back, I discovered a disproportionate amount of the music I like in that timeframe... I'm honestly kind of surprised they're still around (and, if I'm reading your comment correctly, haven't morphed into something entirely unrecognizable in the meantime?)
I use Pandora and subscribe to Premium which allows me to listen to albums on demand. When I started out as a free user after I gave up on Youtube in the background apps, I didn't like Spotify because it kept forcing me to listen to awful songs that it pushes on everybody instead of what I actually wanted to listen to. Pandora was a much better experience as a free user because their "radio" plays music similar to what you've already told it you like.
How does Spotify "force" you to listen to stuff? I have a very different experience. Pandora (many years ago when I tried it) did not let you choose what you wanted to play (e.g. am album) and Spotify did (and still does). I have hundreds of my own playlists on Spotify, and my listening time is split between those, Spotify's "daily mix" playlists (generated from your personal music tastes) and occasionally "discover weekly" (one way I discover new music). I like choosing what music I listen to.
Dude... THANK YOU. I just logged back into Pandora and the recommendations are just as excellent as I remember. I also remember discovering some of my absolute favorite songs/albums via Pandora.
One thing that Pandora has is GENRE based stations. I don't know of any other service that can do that. This will be a game changer for when I dive into new genres.
