I recently purchased the LG Voyager phone- it’s awesome, I love it. I went through the whole cell phone company debate and nearly switched to T-Mobile, but in the end my wife and I stuck with Verizon. Their network is great, customer service has never been a problem, and the phones are better (in my opinion) than what any other service provider offers. The only downside is that Verizon doesn’t use SIM Cards. Basically- this means you can’t just up and grab a new phone, swap your card into it, and have it work.

One of the only reasons I was tempted to go with T-Mobile is that they do use SIM cards. The only phone (again in my opinion) that rivals what Verizon’s line-up has to offer, is the iPhone. However, I decided that the extra money and hassle wasn’t worth it. It IS possible to unlock the iPhone and use it on T-Mobile, but only after going through the headache of purchasing a wireless contract with AT&T (this didn’t used to be the case… but now it is), breaking that contract, incurring and paying the charges associated with breaking that contract (think the iPhone prices fell? Think again- you’re paying for it elsewhere now…), finding someone to unlock the phone, and then FINALLY using it with T-Mobile. To me, that just wasn’t worth it.

Apple has also recently launched its iPhone application store. A place where developers can create applications that run on the phone. I knew this would be a cool addition but still couldn’t imagine it justifying the cost.

Then I saw an ad on Pandora… they now have an app out for the iPhone that allows you to use it for free. Wow. Anyone who visits here often knows that I am a Pandora endorser to the extreme. The fact that Pandora has been released for the iPhone is amazing. Essentially it means that you’ll have full, near-mp3-quality music with you whenever you want it… again for free. Forget satellite radio, forget the iTunes music store, and forget your MP3 player. With this app you can bluetooth streaming internet radio into your car, home speaker system, headphones, or pretty much anywhere else you can take your phone.

Does anyone else realize how groundbreaking this is? This is the most portable audio has ever been! I do love my Voyager, but my goodness… this app makes an iPhone extremely enticing, yet expensive, option.

I had, until recently, been unaware of the existence of the music service Last.fm (thanks Brett for showing me this!). Basically, Last.fm is the direct competitor to Pandora. As many of you know, Pandora has been my online music service of choice for creating customizable and adaptable radio stations. So when I heard that there was another service doing the same thing, I was excited to check it out. Let me preface this post by saying that there is already an excellent posting written by Steve Krause concerning the differences between these two services. If you want the nitty-gritty details of what is different between these two services, check out his post first.

While I think Last.fm is a great service, I am still going to stick with Pandora. I say this lightly, as it is only a personal preference. It really depends on how you like to listen to music and what fits your musical personality.

Something that Steve Krause touches on in his article is the way music is picked and added to the radio stations you create. Pandora relies on comparing musical characteristics of a song to pick music that it ‘thinks’ you will like. Musicians at Pandora listen to each song and then diagram it into ‘genes’. These ‘genes’ are the qualities of the song that give it shape and form. Examples of these qualities are speed, volume, voicing, key changes, tonal quality, genre styling, etc. On the flipside of this, Last.fm uses social nuances to classify and suggest music. This means that songs are picked for you based on how society in general groups them, not how they musically correspond. As a musician I prefer Pandora because it is not influenced by social likes/dislikes. It looks at the raw music and does not account for popularity.

As far as aesthetics and interface go, both have their strong points. I tend to opt for the simple, straightforward approach of Pandora. Pandora can be accessed through any web browser, does not have standalone software, and every part of the service can be accessed through one static panel. Last.fm is much more robust in the options department, but borders on chaotic and confusing at times in my opinion. There is somewhat of a learning curve getting used to it’s interface. There are many, many ways this service can be used and there is also standalone software that can be downloaded to run the service outside of your browser window.

Both seem to be amazing services and for those of you not yet utilizing one of these, I’d strongly suggest you check them out. However, this blogger is sticking with Pandora for now.

Pandora is incredible- I’ve stopped eating sliced bread since discovering this service. You know why? Because its better than sliced bread- thats why (you knew it was coming, don’t pretend you didn’t)! Check it out and thank me later.

Alrighty… I promise I’ll stop my shameless service plugs here for at least a few days… I think…