Why Pandora Made Me Write to My Congressman

Folks, I'm a bad American. The only time that I have ever written or called a congressman was not to ask for money for schools (and I'm a teacher) or to lobby for a cellphone law. No, it was to save free internet radio, namely Pandora. It might be lame, yes, but you need to understand something: Pandora is awesome. It is the reason why I've got close to 5,000 songs on my ipod. It's also the reason why I've spent way more money on itunes than Mike would like, but that is a whole other beast I don't want to tackle. Ever.

There was a moment there, close to three years ago, when free internet radio was in serious jeopardy. Something having to do with royalty fees, I don't know. All I know is that I was working at a job where I sat in the middle of four women who were on the phone 90% of the work day and gossiping the rest of the time. One of the few reasons why I survived working there was because of Pandora. I turned that bad boy on in the morning, put on my trusty headphones and got to work.

For those not in the know, this is how Pandora works. When you first go to the website, you create a station by adding some of your favorite artists and/or songs. Then, the Music Genome Project takes over. To keep it simple,the MGP (I renamed it) analyzes your music, then suggests new songs based on "400 different types of criteria." It's all very scientific. I don't bother with that stuff so long as I keep getting cool, new music.

I find that I never listen to terrestrial radio (as Howard Stern likes to call it). There's no point in listening to the same crap over and over again. I also hate listening to commericals. This monster is commercial free!

Ok, other great features:

- You are entitled to about five or so skips for an alloted amount of time. It might be more but I don't remember. If you skip that many in a row, you'll just have to wait for about a half hour before you can start skipping again.

- The thumbs up/thumbs down feature works like a charm. If you like a song, give it a thumbs up and vice versa for songs you hate. Once you thumbs down a song, it'll never play it again. The thumbs up also brings up similar songs.

- If you're sick of a song, just click "I'm tired of this song" and it won't play it for a month.

- You can make up to 100 different types of stations. 100.

- You want new music, just add some of the artists or songs that you've given the thumbs up, otherwise, you'll get stuck listening to the same songs.

People, I'm not lying when I say Pandora is one of the loves of my life. I should by stock in the company. Heck, I've already bothered Congress. Bottom line: Check it out and see what you think.

Have you guys experienced the awesomeness that is Pandora? Do you love it as much as I do? Do you hate it? Thoughts in the comments!

Today's picture of the day is a request from my awesome friend Quinn who wants to see more from my session with one of the cutest girls ever. This is Sammie in one of my favorites: