[lo life]

I've been using Slacker & like it, but I can't cache stations & sometimes the buffering drives me crazy.

I've read on here where a lot of people like Pandora better. I've tried to use Pandora & have found it the most irritating app I've ever installed.

How do you get a station to play something other than the artist that you've used to create that station? It doesn't matter what artist I use to create a station, if it plays 10 songs, 8 of those songs will be by the artist I've created the station with.

On Slacker I like the Hip Hop/R&B hits station. It plays Lil' Wayne, Beyonce, Wyclef, Rihanna, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Slim Thug etc, etc, etc. I won't hear the same artist for hours.

When I put in any artist ex. Eminem on Pandora I get Eminem...Dre (feat. Eminem)...Eminem...50 Cent (feat. Eminem)...Eminem...The Game (feat. Eminem)...Eminem...

I've put in Waylon Jennings, I get...Waylon Jennings...Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings...Waylon Jennings...Merle Haggard & Waylon Jennings...Waylon Jennings...Jessi Colter & Waylon Jennings...Waylon Jennings...Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings...Waylon Jennings...

If there's no other way, then Pandora flat out sucks out loud.

I don't want to give up on Pandora so plz tell me I'm doing something wrong.

[toomuchgame441]

I've liked slacker for a long time and I just recently just started liking pandora. For me pandora doesn't always play the artist so many times on that station. It'll play like 4-6 different artist before it plays another song from that artist

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[thedarkfinder]

This has honestly never been a problem for me. Ever.

The first problem is simple. Pandora requires feed back. If you create the station based on eminem, it will play songs that are musically related to him. But will also pay other songs from other artist.

You have to give a thumbs up to the songs that you like. becareful with the thumbs down option, That will tell pandora to add them to the list. And it will try other artist. It will remain small until you rate things.

The next thing you can do is create a station for each of the artist that you like. Then use the quickmix station to get pandora to use them.


Now if that does not fix your problem. you need to log on to pandora's website using your pc.

log into the account. select station, select add variety, add the artist, song, or composer you like. Becareful. Once you add them to the variety, they will be reduced on other channels.

Find the station

[lo life]

thanks for the tips...

I listen to music on my bb while riding a motorcycle so the thumbs up/thumbs down buttons aren't used. I will have to do that in my truck.

maybe it just takes some time before the station tailors itself to my tastes.

thanks again

[jmburke1982]

i use pandora very often, and i have never come across the same artist (used to create the station) too often.

I would say try using pandora on your computer (just sign in and it should already have your stations you created on the BB). see if it does the same thing on the computer Pandora.

i have not experienced this artist repetition to that extreme, and i still think pandora is one of the best ideas that i should have thought of years ago! haha

[lo life]

I've got a 30 min. ride to work. I listened to my Eminem station again & here's what I got

Eminem - Hailee's Song
Eminem - That *** - Live
Jay-Z & Eminem - Rengade
Eminem - Cleanin' Out My Closet
Dr. Dre & Eminem - Forgot About Dre
Various Arists incl. Eminem - Don't know the name of song
Various Artist incl. Eminem - Don't know the name of song
Eminem - Song I've Never Heard
2Pac - Thug's Mansion (finally not an Eminem song)
OutKast - Mrs. Jackson

It took 20 mins of Eminem to get to something other than Eminem.

[tsells]

Pandora recommends setting up a station based on a song rather than an artist. I've done this and it gives you similar songs by varied artists.

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[bseblman1]

Go to Pandora's actual pc website, put in your artist, and then add variety. Like I started with Korn as the "main" artist and then added in Marilyn Manson, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage Against the Machine under that station so it still plays the same genre of music but it picks out more artists. Maybe with your Eminem station, add the variety of Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, The Game, and/or whatever else you like in similar style and see how your station does. Good luck!!

[skafri#WN]

I got frustrated before I found the 'add variety' section on the desktop version of Pandora. I now have near perfect stations!

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[Raiderhog]

Does Pandora cache the stations like Slacker?

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[Cixdk]

No pandora does not cache stations.

However it plays fine over EDGE

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[Carolinagirl_22]

hey whenever I try to log onto Pandora it says I have insufficent coverage. I have unlimited data and really want to use. Does anyone know why it may be doing this?

[lo life]

I never would have known about the add variety if it weren't for this site.

I went there this evening & added some variety to my stations. I will post tomorrow evening on how I like Pandora.

If its as good as what I was listening to on my pc...then Pandora may turn our to be tha $&*+. I will say that even though it played the same artist repeatedly...the music was steadily streaming...hardly any buffering which is a far cry over Slacker.

thanks again

[digitalb0y]

Oh man, you're in for a treat. Put all the artists you mentioned into a single station, then pick like your top 5 favorite songs and add them too. Then don't skip songs, thumbs-down everything you don't like. And thumbs up EVERYTHING you like.

When you say you like a song on Slacker, it plays it more often. When you start saying you like songs on Pandora, it starts noticing whether you prefer minor or major keys, what kind of tempo and instrumentation you like, etc.

I can't listen to Slacker radio very often. WAY too mainstream and nowhere near as tailored to my tastes.

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[lo life]

Adding the variety really helped the stations. I think the more input I put into the stations, the better my stations will be.

I do have another question. Does pandora ever play new music? The newest song I've heard it play is Young Jeezy - Put On & that song is atleast 4-5 months old. Mostly what songs my stations have played are a couple years old.

thanks again for the help

[jmburke1982]

all of the stations i have chosen have played new and old songs...some i have never heard before (artists AND songs).

as far as Eminem...i think the rap genre might be a little different because so many artists cameo or apear on other artists songs, albums, etc....atleast more so than rock, classic rock, etc.

but yea, the more thumbs up/down you give, and the more you add, the more the station will "evolve".

i love this app...pretty damn cool in my opinion!

[jmburke1982]

by the way (since i am not great with technology and its terms), what does "cache the stations" mean?!?!

[moedaddy2121]

i haven't had problems with pandora. went in and chose classic rock as my preference and it plays all classic rock.

[papped]

by the way (since i am not great with technology and its terms), what does "cache the stations" mean?!?!

Slacker lets you store the stations on the memory card so that song switching is instant and network basically isn't required (resulting in way less battery usage).

[jmburke1982]

gotcha...thanks.

[faydina]

Oh man, you're in for a treat. Put all the artists you mentioned into a single station, then pick like your top 5 favorite songs and add them too. Then don't skip songs, thumbs-down everything you don't like. And thumbs up EVERYTHING you like.

When you say you like a song on Slacker, it plays it more often. When you start saying you like songs on Pandora, it starts noticing whether you prefer minor or major keys, what kind of tempo and instrumentation you like, etc.

I can't listen to Slacker radio very often. WAY too mainstream and nowhere near as tailored to my tastes.

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On Slackers site you can further customize stations by adjusting various settings:
-how often do you want favorites to play
-do you prefer older or newer music
-artist discovery

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[digitalb0y]

On Slackers site you can further customize stations by adjusting various settings:
-how often do you want favorites to play
-do you prefer older or newer music
-artist discovery

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I couldn't find any of that when I was there. Is that for basic users too, or the pay version only? I still think the Music Genome Project is a bit more advanced than choosing the frequency a particular artist plays, but it's good to know that Slacker gives more options than I realized.

[anon(631408)]

I prefer Slacker because it does allow you to cache a station or 2 depending on your storage. I also like the fact that I can get Slacker to work with my bluetooth headset (Jawbone II) with just an option from the menu. Another item I dislike about Pandora, the setup time. I would love to be able to put in a genre and just let it pick the songs. It might do this but I have not found it. I did go to the website and bookmarked artist but not sure what that really did. I selected one artist and said make a radio station and when the popup came up it really didn't do anything. I still have choose to add the artist. I guess I am too lazy. I will stick with Slacker for now.

[papped]

I couldn't find any of that when I was there. Is that for basic users too, or the pay version only? I still think the Music Genome Project is a bit more advanced than choosing the frequency a particular artist plays, but it's good to know that Slacker gives more options than I realized.

I found the options. You have to sign in to the account (on the website), then select a station, then there's a small "customize" button.

You can fine tune the years of songs played, popularity, how often your favorites are played. Pretty cool.

[lo life]

I found the options. You have to sign in to the account (on the website), then select a station, then there's a small "customize" button.

You can fine tune the years of songs played, popularity, how often your favorites are played. Pretty cool.

Where is this customized button? I've logged in & listening to my station & I can't find it.

thanks