Online music streaming is a Pandora’s Box (News - Alert) of discovery – sites like Spotify, Grooveshark and 8tracks offers countless tunes that could repopulate a music library. But for me, amidst this plethora of opportunities, I find myself returning to the most literal Pandora’s (News - Alert) Box: Pandora Radio. I’m attached to it the way I’m attached to my old stuffed animals or broken-down laptop – as much as I can’t bear to say goodbye, I know the time is coming to move on. And concerning Pandora, the upcoming release of iTunes Radio may be just the cue I need.

But I won’t shut this Pandora’s Box without considering what iTunes Radio has to offer in comparison – and with the following points of consideration, an epic musical battle for my heart begins.

1) Music selection

Pandora’s Music Genome Project uses professional “musicologists” to analyze and categorize individual songs, and Pandora users reap the benefits of this meticulous process. In January of 2013, more than ten thousand artists were played in the Genome (as opposed to just under three hundred on the nation’s top broadcast radio station). Pandora users create “stations” based on music they like, and the Genome streams songs with elements to match those of the original selection. Flagging a song with “thumbs-up” will adjust your station to include more like it; “thumbs-down” removes that song from popping up again, and tries to streamline your station accordingly.

The system seems inclusive, but it isn’t perfect – the Genome tends to repeatedly match you with song traits you might not desire. For instance, right now I’m listening to Delta Rae Radio. Earlier this week, a friend sent me the newest single by Delta Rae, and after searching the band online, I was hooked on their folk/pop sound. But unfortunately the Music Genome Project seems to have highlighted Delta Rae’s subtle bluegrass elements, a genre I don’t particularly enjoy. After a few skips, though, I landed on a track by the Head and the Heart, a folksy indie-pop group that I considered well paired with Delta Rae and with my interests. In short, the effectiveness of Pandora station-making isn’t consistent, and that can either be the road to great discoveries or the path to frustration.

How would iTunes Radio compete? According to Apple’s (News - Alert) advertisements, the fundamental setup echoes Pandora – a comprehensive music library allowing users to make stations based on specific music elements, with like/dislike features to further adjust preferences. However, iTunes Radio goes one step further than Pandora: its personalization of stations is influenced by preferences it detects from your iPod, iTunes library or downloads. For me, this is a huge update from Pandora – anyone can be a fan of Delta Rae’s style, but when I intentionally don’t have much like them in my library, I want new artists that relate well to both new and old interests. It will be interesting to see how well iTunes Radio can perceive and adjust to the music I like, but it looks like there’s promise for it to perform.

Music selection winner: if it can meet my expectations, iTunes Radio is coming out on top.

2) Design

For argument’s sake, let’s say iTunes Radio only somewhat meets my expectations for music selection. Then it’ll come down to other factors in making my music alliance. In that case, app design would be something to consider.

Pandora has a lot of this down pat. It’s eight years established on the Internet and the third-highest grossing app in the Apple store, so people are clearly comfortable with it. The controls are easy to locate on mobile and computer, and the band bio and lyric display with each song is one of my favorite features. But I can’t lie, I find the ad displays intrusive and distracting from an otherwise clean design. In terms of social integration, Pandora users can now flip a switch to automatically share their listening history via Facebook (News - Alert), and see their friends’ histories as well. Although I personally find Facebook music updates to clog my newsfeed, the idea of sharing does have benefits in the search for new music.

iTunes Radio doesn’t have any social features advertised yet, but otherwise looks like it’ll hold up well against Pandora: integrated via both computer and mobile, with a sleek new mobile design courtesy of iOS 7, not to mention Siri compatibility and accessibility from the new iOS control center. It’s also ad-supported, so users will have to continue to put up with song interruptions (at least in the free version; see #3 for more details). And while I like the sound of the “wish list” feature, allowing me to save songs for later download, the iTunes purchase link with every song seems more forceful than convenient. Maybe it’s the broke college kid in me, but I want to enjoy the music I’m streaming, without impulsively shelling out for it. 

Design winner: for now, it’s a toss-up.

3) Cost

Free is key – and both Pandora and iTunes Radio thankfully are, with upgrades available for a price. Pandora becomes Pandora One for $36 per year, earning users ad-free listening, a desktop app and better audio quality. I’ve been satisfied with regular old Pandora, and although I wouldn’t mind fewer ads, I haven’t been bothered enough to cough up the cash.

My willingness to pay might increase with iTunes Radio. For ad-free listening, users pay the $25 annual fee corresponding to iTunes Match, a system that matches songs in your library to their twins in iTunes. The benefits of Match would also be reflected in iTunes Radio – for instance, I recently uploaded the Jersey Boys soundtrack into my iTunes library from a CD, and iTunes Match would recognize those songs in the iTunes store and use them in iTunes Radio decisions, giving my stations that touch of Frankie Valli they’d been missing.

Cost winner: the benefits seem greater for the lower cost of iTunes Radio, but hopefully the experience can be valuable enough without my checkbook.

So if those are the battles, who wins the war? As an established Pandora user, iTunes Radio has got to be really good – but if it meets expectations, I think I’m ready for a change. Come fall, we’ll have to see what the Pandora’s Box of music streaming lets loose.


Edited by Rachel Ramsey