I’m back from my hiatus. Things have been insanely busy lately, but I am confident that I shall be able to post consistently now.
If you aren’t using Pandora, you really are missing out.
Pandora is a free Internet radio site. It is so simple to use, and so amazing, I don’t really have words to describe how much I like it.
How does it work you ask?
Simply signup for free on their site, and subsequently follow their instructions to make your own “station.”
When you make a station, you type in the name of an artist/band, song, or album. It will begin playing music from that artist/band, and music that is similar in some manner to the artist/band, song, or album that you based the station.
Each song that plays, you can rate with a thumbs up or thumbs down. I implore you to rate the songs. If you rate a song thumbs down, it will, it will skip the song and play a new one. ***If you skip too many, too quickly, it won’t let you skip more for an hour, unless you pay for a full membership (which you don’t need).*** If you run out of skips, make a new station and start using that one.
You can add additional artists to a station and make a hybrid. One of my coworkers made a Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Queen station that he is very happy with.
Also, as you rate the songs, Pandora fine-tunes your station.
All of my stations are trained so well, that I rarely ever skip a song anymore. My “Eric Clapton Station” plays a spectacular combination of blues and rock.
Once your station is synced up with your tastes, it is a ton of fun each time the song changes. You never know what it is going to play, but you know you are going to like it.
I use Pandora at work everyday because I don’t really want to bring an MP3 player in. I just leave my headphones in my desk. No hassle at all.
… and it’s all legal.
The Geek Whisperer 
Pandora rocks! I feel though, that it might be too good to be true… I just hope that it lasts just as it is – no commercials, no paying, etc. It’s also great to use at parties instead of having an mp3 player – everyone can put in their recommendations and you have music that satisfies all.
I never thought to use it at a party, but that is a really good idea.
There are image based ads on the page if you are using the free version. If you pay for a subscription, the ads go away (or so I’m told).
Also, there has been some controversy as to whether Internet radio is legal. For now it is: http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/technology_news/4285474.html