Pandora is dying

[Carlman]

In my opinion it is, anyway..
http://blog.pandora.com/2014/03/18/6128/

Going from $36/year to $5/month is stupid.  There is no choice to pay annually.  Plus over 50% increase is a bit steep.

I like Pandora but I don't love it... I hate monthly payments especially that small amount.

[DaveC]

It does seem like music is going the way of subscription services though, for most people that's a better plan than paying $1 per track or going through the effort to pirate the music. It's not something I feel most audiophiles will appreciate because of the lossy compression involved but for background it's nice to have.

[Carlman]

I have no problem with paying for it.. just not at $5/month.. when promised $4/month initially.. and no annual option... just annoying and kind of scammy.

[sleepyguy24]

I found this graphic on a Motley Fool article.



I wonder how these companies can stay a float with losing money per year.

My friends who enjoy music and are in the tech sector rave about Spotify. They love it over Pandora even though it is slightly more expensive.

With what I pluck down each month to Popmarket, Amazon for CDs and LPs and Feedbands I may just end up getting Spotify. It will be cheaper for me in the long run I think. I do sometimes sell CDs and LPs to get some cash back but I never get exactly what I paid for it.

I'd love to see an annual option for discounted payment for Spotify or Pandora.

[DRN]

Ahh my Pandora is up this month and found out  now there is no yearly subscription. Bye Pandora.

I'm working on Time Warner next.

[tmazz]

Like in many other cases the technology may be cool or useful in and of itself, but it will never survive in the long run unless somebody can figure out a way to effectively monetize it.

[Carlman]

I just don't get taking away the annual amount.  It makes me mad because I budgeted for it as an annual cost.  I knew it'd go up.  $60/year is still not bad... The cost of 4 or 5 cd's.. to listen to good quality mp3's for a year.  Seriously, the paid subscription sounds so much better... and I like my stations.

Spotify was confusing to me the last time I looked at it.  Also, I don't know exactly what I want to listen to.  I want to listen to 70's lite rock and hear something I knew but never knew who it was... I'd like to hear something new also.. on other stations... but I don't want to have to engage much... Pandora is perfect in this regard... sigh.. I guess I'll have to pay monthly... I don't have the time or energy to do something else.

-c

[tmazz]

I haven't looked, but I would be very surprised if they did not have a payment option where they just bill your credit card every month. That would at lead
St take the effort out of paying a monthly bill. Or you could use online banking to set up a recurring payment from your end.

Either way I don't understand either by Pandora no longer offers  an annual payment option. Even if it was just 12 times the month I am sure there are lots of people who would opt for it if only for simplicity's sake.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I use both. I pay for Pandora, and use the free version of Spotify. With one touch of Pandora, my system will stream many hours music from a few dozen stations I've created.
I love it.
With Spotify, I've not been able to make it work like that. Like having the "Bob's radio station" like on Pandora. Like Carl, I just don't understand Spotify. Maybe there's no way to make it work like Pandora, maybe you only get that when you pay for it.

If they get out of hand, or make it a pain in the butt, I'll just use the free version of both.
Let them suck those eggs. 

Bob

[Carlman]

I ended up doing a recurring charge on my cc but it still annoys me to pay monthly instead of annually.  I guess if they go under, I'll be out less money, though.. Reasonable sound quality and no commercials make it worthwhile for me... plus the custom channels I've made..

[satfrat]

I dropped paying for Pandora once Directv offered it in their Menu (internet connection required). Even though I had a paid subscription, the additional audio quality didn't transfer to the DTV DVR. But neither did the commercials and unattended time limit that the unpaid Pandora has.

Considering I'd rather have the DTV DVR running all the time instead of the computer for for simply listening to Pandora's background music, I dropped my subscription well before Pandora made their payment switch. DirecTv must have paid a pretty royalty fee to offer Pandora to their subscribers. Doesn't sound like a dying Pandora to me. More like they're just adapting to an ever changing business environment.

With all the music channels DirecTv offers, I find myself always going back to Pandora. 

Cheers,
Robin

[richidoo]

I don't have any noticeable restrictions on my free Pandora account. SQ is very good, so I wonder if I'm getting the 192kbps feed? I setup my Pandora account from inside the Sonos app as a Sonos promotion to buyers pre-depression. I guess Sonos is subsidising me now. I like being the subsidy recipient for a change. I feel so entitled.  If they take it away I will start a riot.

While they may be dying in reality, the "growth" numbers will keep them going for a long time in this business climate of worthless money and empty promises. Their bank will never let them go belly up. "Look at your growth! Chin up! Here's another extension."

[DaveC]

I don't have any noticeable restrictions on my free Pandora account. SQ is very good, so I wonder if I'm getting the 192kbps feed? I setup my Pandora account from inside the Sonos app as a Sonos promotion to buyers pre-depression. I guess Sonos is subsidising me now. I like being the subsidy recipient for a change. I feel so entitled.  If they take it away I will start a riot.

While they may be dying in reality, the "growth" numbers will keep them going for a long time in this business climate of worthless money and empty promises. Their bank will never let them go belly up. "Look at your growth! Chin up! Here's another extension."

 

[JBNY]

I don't have any noticeable restrictions on my free Pandora account. SQ is very good, so I wonder if I'm getting the 192kbps feed? I setup my Pandora account from inside the Sonos app as a Sonos promotion to buyers pre-depression. I guess Sonos is subsidising me now. I like being the subsidy recipient for a change. I feel so entitled.  If they take it away I will start a riot.

While they may be dying in reality, the "growth" numbers will keep them going for a long time in this business climate of worthless money and empty promises. Their bank will never let them go belly up. "Look at your growth! Chin up! Here's another extension."

That's because it is running through Sonos. No commercials on their app. I have sonos too. Both free and paid get no commercials, but they will only stream the 192k feed if you have the paid for app.

[djdube525]

I don't have any noticeable restrictions on my free Pandora account. SQ is very good, so I wonder if I'm getting the 192kbps feed? I setup my Pandora account from inside the Sonos app as a Sonos promotion to buyers pre-depression. I guess Sonos is subsidising me now. I like being the subsidy recipient for a change. I feel so entitled.  If they take it away I will start a riot.

Squeezebox had a similar agreement... you got higher quality, no commercial feeds. Seeing how my Squeezebox is in an unidentified box for the past many many months, I can't confirm that's still the case. I hope it is.