amuck-landowner

Looking for a Pandora alternative.

KuJoe

Well-Known Member
Verified Provider
My Pandora One annual plan expired this week and I was planning on renewing it but streaming on any desktop is annoying as f*ck because every 5 or 6 songs it will start playing a 2nd song while the other song is still playing forcing me to pause the 2nd song to let the other finish, then I have to stop what I'm doing to bring up the window again to hit play (mostly annoying when I'm working in an RDP session or console window).

So any suggestions out there for something I can stream on my desktop and android phone for a few hours a day without commercials and under $60/year?
 

MannDude

Just a dude
vpsBoard Founder
Moderator
Was going to suggest Spotify. Where were you for the TurnTable parties? Been using that site for years and they shut'er down. :(

Pandora One is nice, it's what I use now. If your phone has a decent battery life that you wanna drain on tunes, can just stream it from that when in situations where just streaming it normally on a computer isn't possible for you.
 

trewq

Active Member
Verified Provider
I've been using Spotify for about 6 months now. About double the price of what you pay now but I've never had any problems with it.
 

nunim

VPS Junkie
Spotify is pretty awesome, the web only version is free (was?).  I believe the Android/mobile version is free now as well, however it is ad supported.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Ruchirablog

New Member
www.sky.fm + www.di.fm subscription is $4.99 per month. Sign up at sky.fm and you can use the same logins to listen di.fm premium. its the same company 
 

texteditor

Premium Buffalo-based Hosting
www.sky.fm + www.di.fm subscription is $4.99 per month. Sign up at sky.fm and you can use the same logins to listen di.fm premium. its the same company 
It's been a few years, but I loved having di.fm premium

edit:

wow, they've really stepped up the channel count. A dedicated moombahton channel? lol
 
Last edited by a moderator:

telephone

New Member
What OS? and what are you streaming from?

If you're on Linux, I'd recommend trying Pandora via Pithos. Just make sure to use v3.1.7 as the recent version has buffering issues.

It uses the Pandora API, so you can avoid a lot of the fuss along with a minimal CPU/RAM usage.

^ I've been using it for over a year now, and never run into any problems... Although recently I get a 20sec ad every 10 songs (Pandora free account), but heck I can't complain being able to skip without limits on a free account.

The only negative is it only listens to media keys via keyboard, but this can easily be "hacked" using custom key bindings, xdotool, and bash:


#!/bin/bash

function pithos_command {
dbus-send --print-reply --dest=net.kevinmehall.Pithos /net/kevinmehall/Pithos \
net.kevinmehall.Pithos.$1
}

# Check if pithos is running
line=$(ps aux | grep /usr/bin/pithos | grep -v grep)
if [ $? == 1 ]; then
# Send keys as normal
case "$1" in
PlayPause)
$(xdotool key "Super_L+Down")
;;
SkipSong)
$(xdotool key "Super_L+Right")
;;
LoveCurrentSong)
$(xdotool key "Super_L+Up")
;;
TiredCurrentSong)
$(xdotool key "Super_L+Left")
;;
esac
else
# Send commands to Pithos
case "$1" in
PlayPause)
pithos_command PlayPause
;;
SkipSong)
pithos_command SkipSong
;;
LoveCurrentSong)
pithos_command LoveCurrentSong
;;
TiredCurrentSong)
pithos_command TiredCurrentSong
;;
esac
fi


exit 0
You can take the script further, and create a custom launcher... Launch pithos and this script, and then kill it if pithos process isn't found.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

WebSearchingPro

VPS Peddler
Verified Provider
Just an FYI, Spotify has a plan called "Unlimited" for $5.00USD / Month instead of $10. The only difference is not high quality and no phone streaming. However, Spotify has opened up unlimited streaming (with ads) for mobile phones. 
 

HalfEatenPie

The Irrational One
Retired Staff
rdio.com? Never used it but Rallias recommended it to me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

dave

Member
I tried Spotify once.  After installing and running, it proceeded to saturate my uplink.  Uninstalled.
 

shovenose

New Member
Verified Provider
Spotify.

They have a web version at play.spotify.com or you can download the computer program or mobile app.

Personally I have both Spotify Premium and Pandora One so I always have something that works :)
 

mojeda

New Member
I've always used Anesidora for listening to Pandora on my computers, though because it's a chrome extension it requires google chrome to be used but offers unlimited skips, no ads (even for free users).
 

Awmusic12635

Active Member
Verified Provider
If you don't choose Spotify you could always do iTunes radio:

It is free to use with ads, though if you already have an iTunes match subscription ($25 per year) ads are removed for free.

Works on computer however as you have an android phone it will not stream there, only iOS
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Aldryic C'boas

The Pony
rdio.com? Never used it but Rallias recommended it to me.
Was it him though, or an imposter?

:p  But seriously - I recently moved away from Pandora myself (I primarily used it just to expand and find new music to acquire - I run a Subsonic streamer for my own devices).  Giving Google Music a try now - it's a little quirky, and the price is a bit higher than what you're wanting (10$/mo) - but it's doing decently enough so far.  If it doesn't pan out, I'll likely just go the I<3Radio route and browse stations.
 

MartinD

Retired Staff
Verified Provider
Retired Staff
Spotify defo. Have a few premium subs for this and the amount of music and features makes it well worth it.
 
Top
amuck-landowner