One of the most popular radios today is Pandora, an online radio. I listen to it quite frequently, so I have a lot to say about it. If I had to choose between traditional radio and Pandora, I would most certainly select Pandora. Why, Pandora, you ask? Well, I think you’ll have an answer to that by the end of the article.

 Pandora is an Internet radio, which was created in 2005 by Tim Westergren. Seven years later in 2012, it is still in use. The whole point of Pandora was to make an online radio, where people could listen to music that they like. Pandora isn’t just an ordinary radio, however. There are lots of qualities that make it unique.

 On most radios, you’re given stations, which are a random assortment of different genres of music, like pop, country, jazz, rap and hip-hop. Most radios just throw together some music that falls under one of those categories, without even bothering to think whether the music is high quality or not. Though on Pandora, you won’t have those problems. Pandora has a system where you choose your own music.

 All you have to do is type in a singer, album or song you like and Pandora will make a station for you based on that singer, album or song. For instance, if I chose to make a station for the singer Kelly Clarkson, I would just type her name in and Pandora would give me a station, which consisted of some of her songs and songs similar to hers. It’s that simple.

 You might think that Pandora is a great radio and that it will let you do whatever you want. I’m sorry to tell you this, but you’re wrong. Pandora does have its disadvantages as well as its advantages. A good thing about Pandora is that it will let you skip songs, whereas most radios do not. However, its skipping of songs is very limited. It only allows you to skip six songs per station. Sometimes, if it’s in a really bad mood, it will only let you skip six songs on the entire radio. I’ve had problems with this before, so trust me, it’s not fun. Even Internet radios like Pandora have limitations.

 Another bad thing about Pandora is that it comes with commercials. I know we all dislike commercials. However, there is a solution to this problem. You can sign up for Pandora One, which is commercial free. Pandora is free, because you have to listen to the commercials too. If you want it commercial free, then you can sign up for Pandora One, which costs $36 per year. If you don’t want to pay, I suggest that you just stick with Pandora and just turn down the volume during commercial time.

 One last thing about Pandora that makes it stand out from other radios is that it gives you more information than just the name of the song, artist and album. Pandora gives you a brief biography about the singer, a list of four to five artists similar and other songs and albums by them. You can also comment about a song. However, I don’t do this, because when you comment, your name appears next to the comment. Also, sometimes people lose self-control and post really negative comments about certain songs.

 All in all, Pandora is a very interesting radio. It goes beyond traditional radio. You get to skip songs, though the skipping is limited, you get to choose your own music that you actually like and you get to learn about your favorite artists. Even though the commercials and skipping may be irritating to some, it is a much better choice than what radios used to be.