Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
I'm a big fan of Pandora.com, a smart on-line radio station. It first asks you to name a number of songs, albums and artists that you like -- you can actually start with a single song. Then it figures out (with the aid of a huge database where music has been classified in detail according to a large number of parameters) what other stuff you might like -- and plays it to you. As you rate the songs it throws at you, it gets a better and better idea of what to give you next.
But us Swedes are out of luck now. Because of a huge and sudden increase in the licencing rates Pandora has to pay, they're forced to limit their availability to the US. Their very survival, as that of internet radio in general, is threatened. 15 July may be the end.
Read more at SaveNetRadio.org and 10 Zen Monkeys.
[More blog entries about music, copyright; musik, copyright.]
Comments
Aaargh! It was working for me yesterday but I got the "We're sorry but you are in fact a stinken foreigner - so bugger off" front page tonight now that I've tried to log in.
At least last fm is still working .
http://www.last.fm/
Posted by: MartinC | May 6, 2007 3:24 PM
Sooner or later we will have that functionality again. But it's a drag to have to go over bumps like these. Thanks for the tip about Last FM!
Posted by: Martin R | May 6, 2007 4:47 PM
Well, just cheat then!
Go here: http://www.the-cloak.com/
Surf to http://www.pandora.com via this service and Bob is once again your uncle. Isn't geekdom great?
Although this is not so helpful as the site is having technical difficulties...
Posted by: paddy | May 6, 2007 5:07 PM
I was thinking it should be possible to get around that by using some proxy. Thanks1
Posted by: Martin R | May 6, 2007 5:09 PM
Dr Martin,
We as INDIE ARTISTS, INDIE MUSICIANS & INDIE LABELS are fighting hard in the US to stop this RIAA-SoundExchange insanity of MUTING OUR MUSIC. See this Blog:
~ MUSIC INDIES UNITE! ~ Save Indie Radio!
Hang In There...We ALL so hear YA... We Are ALL ONE! - WORLDWIDE through MUSIC!
Gene_Leone_Mix
Posted by: Gene_Leone_Mix | May 6, 2007 6:51 PM
Magnatune.com bypasses RIAA and their government toadys: You can listen for free without "stealing" a single electron.
Posted by: Matt Platte | May 6, 2007 7:27 PM
Even better, cheat by using someone else's proxy.
A whole list for proxy ip's throughout the world will let you into any foreigner-closed site :)
http://www.proxy4free.com/
Posted by: Garion | May 7, 2007 9:30 AM
I started using seeqpod.com
Posted by: Steve Rogers | May 7, 2007 6:57 PM
Thanks you Steve
http://www.seeqpod.com/
I just made a playlist
Posted by: Amy Taylor | May 7, 2007 7:26 PM
Are they talking about cutting that in the us???
Posted by: Organic Chemistry Help | May 9, 2007 8:54 PM