Pandora Premium--the rebirth of rdio!

So via Android app in general?
Looks that way. Odd that it isn't yet on the iPad. It's been on Android and iOS phones since it rolled out, but just now, as of the update 3 or 4 days ago on the Android tablet. App updated same day on iPad, but still just stations, not the premium access.
 
I'm curious about PP's file type and bitrate. I currently use GPMAA at 320kbps MP3, but have thought that 320k AAC sounds a bit better (short-term auditory memory being what it is, of course). Wasn't RDIO 320k AAC? I seem to remember that they were. I know Tidal is, but I jumped off the Tidal bandwagon for other reasons.
 
Just my luck. 30+ million tracks available, and my favorites aren't among them. :D
I double down on your ECM sentiments. There are other things I listen to that no streaming companies offer, which is why I'm reluctant to ever give one of them my money.

CCA casting has a bigtime bug. Upon sleep or not being primary window it loses focus/control of the current CCA stream. Waking the app, it starts a 2nd “new” auto-playing instance on the phone. Boo hiss! :mad:
Still does that, but, I now have a Google Home shortcut to where I say "Mambo" and my custom Pandora mambo/salsa channel plays on the kitchen system. When I start Pandora that way, the instance stays only in the CCA, but I can still can control volume either via voice ("turn up volume in kitchen") or via the Google Home app.

Lately, though, it seems that when I do start Pandora from the phone, and it detaches, it more easily reattaches now. If a second instance starts on the phone and I tap the Cast icon, the music stops on the phone and I regain control. It is not a huge bug for me, as I tend to put on a station for one to two hours during dinner and let it run.

I'm still reluctant to try their six month free offer for Premium, as I don't want to lose my grandfathered $3.99/month Plus rate when the trial expires.
 
I'm still reluctant to try their six month free offer for Premium, as I don't want to lose my grandfathered $3.99/month Plus rate when the trial expires.
*Keep your PLUS account/rate!

Despite enormous potential when Pandora acquired rdio's assests and stellar features over two years ago, Pandora Premium remains a half-baked bastard step child...even compared to other present day services. With Westergren out as their "fearless leader" and now XM/Sirius' investment driving a considerable portion of future focus...I feel Pandora Premium has been back-burnered and lingers lackluster . #sad

*That said, no reason you can't give their trial a whirl... for what it's worth. Just sign up using a new ID. ;)
 
I have a Premium account, mostly because Pandora integrates so nicely with my car’s touchscreen, including album play. However, the albums need to be saved first in the Pandora app, can’t call up a random album from the car’s touchscreen.

With the Roav VIVA in the car now, I can play anything at random via Alexa voice control, including albums, same as at home (to any of my speakers). So, will probably give up the Pandora Premium sub.

Amazon is leading this space, though their music service still lacks a good number of titles compared to others.
 
Amazon is leading this space, though their music service still lacks a good number of titles compared to others.
I agree that Alexa is leading the voice assistant space. Yet as an on-demand service (in addition to the relative lack of available titles) Amazon Music is still playing third fiddle on the feature & functionality front.
With the Roav VIVA in the car now I can play anything at random via Alexa voice control
They're scheduled to add Spotify at some point this year. :)
 
They're scheduled to add Spotify at some point this year. :)

Yeah, maybe I’ll have to re-evaluate Spotify at that point, as it does have a full catalog. Never liked their UI, but with the Sonos integration and voice control, I could live with it, I suppose. Not convinced they can survive the competition from the big boys, though.
 
Yeah, maybe I’ll have to re-evaluate Spotify at that point, as it does have a full catalog. Never liked their UI, but with the Sonos integration and voice control, I could live with it, I suppose. Not convinced they can survive the competition from the big boys, though.
Since it's been awhile, you really should re-visit Spotify.

Back when...I'd been thru em all. I settled in with rdio as a daily driver because they, well, just had the best UI and feature set than anyone else. Yes, Spotify was a train wreck on the usability front and their aesthetics were downright dirty. Back then, they were totally playlist centric on library management with practically no album oriented collection aspect at all. That was annoying & aggravating.

On the heels (about a year prior) of rdio's demise however, Spotify overhauled their schtick and adopted a more conventional album oriented library option. That was a big positive step forward and greatly improved their UI. While playlists are still central, you then could now view and manage your entire library "conventionally". So when rdio went tits up and I was a refugee, I chose Spotify. At the time it was mainly because there were third party library import tools to move my hefty rdio show directly into Spotify. It was awkward at first having everything dumped into 2 giant (11,000 tracks) playlists, but it worked and salvaged all my hoarded shite. It was damage control time with slim of none other option than staring from scratch. Sans rdio...I toughed it out and made do.

Moving forward, Spotify has continued to improve...since "when". They regularly massage and tweak their UI and feature set such that, frankly, on whole, no other service can touch today. Collection centric when you want/need it, much improved static mobile menu nav, personalized Discover Weekly/Daily sets, New Release Radar sets that are tuned based upon your entire library, Shazam/SoundHound integration, Private collaborative (friends/family) playlists, gappless playback, an overwhelming amount of fun/functional 3rd party API plugins. And gratis of their market share muscle...they've damn near ubiquitous native integration across the gamut of third party hardware folks.

While I'm still not a fan of their UI's (2006 is calling) "dark theme", meh..that's a livable and minor aesthetic caveat considering what the rivals offer in terms of overall utility and innovation. Speaking of innovation and "raising the bar" in this space, here's a difference I've come to realize. While I'm sure Amazon, Google, Apple, have a squad of engineers that "stay busy" with UI and algorithm tweaks, there's just something different with Spotify in this universe. They just seem more focused, active, and open in that realm. Despite their relative huge size, they remind me of rdio engineering-wise as they frequently conjure shit up and throw it on the wall. Meanwhile it appears their competitors simply hang out to see what sticks and copy it; but not until it becomes "a thing". I dunno, Spotify just seems to be more "scrappy" and WTF wish-list accommodating in this space presently.

So yeah, you owe yourself a favor. Give it another whirl. Feed it (upload/match) as full as you can with your existing library to seed their system, play around, and let stew awhile. I'm confident it will abide. :)
Disclaimer: I've mentioned this before but I feel it's due again. Thanks to a few industry connections and affiliations, I'm fortunate to have had and maintain comp streaming accounts with Google, Pandora, Tidal, and Spotify (Premium). Earliest dating back to 2007. During which time, despite having "free" access to the aforementioned, I paid out of pocket for rdio....because it was that much better than my comp'd alternatives. IMO rdio was the best and most ground-breaking service at the time in on-demand streaming. At the time, Spotify suked ballz in both form and function (at least for what I wanted from a streaming service). I only played with it occasionally to keep abreast of all the players on the field.
Goes without saying that things have changed and morphed greatly the past 5 years on this landscape . While Spotify isn't the holy grail, it sure as hell ain't yesterday's Spotify. While I have other major player free options, my saddle is strapped to Spotify as the most satisfying and robust horse.

To bring this semi-circle jerk back to Pandora/rdio ---Pandora ****ed up bigtime. :(
 
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Hey Guys!

Bringing this thread back instead of creating a whole new one because I have a few questions regarding Pandora Premium.

(1) Does it function the same as "traditional" Pandora - pick a band, create a station, then play music of similar style?

(2) Can you simply search for and play an entire album?

The ability to play full albums would be the only reason that I would have to switch from one subscription level to the next. I don't stream that often, but it is just so easy to open the tablet, connect with CCA and let it play.

Thanks!
 
You can free trial Pandora Premium as well as Spotify Premium and/or Apple music. If you haven't, I suggest you back scroll this thread and note my reluctant opinion on Pandora premium. IMO, Spotify or Apple Music is head and shoulders above Pandora's on demand offering. :)
 
So, have been testing Pandora Premium on the Google Home Hub, set to play music to a CCA, optical out into a pair of Roland powered monitors in my home office. Unlike the Pandora app on a phone/tablet, this never gets out of sync with the cast target. The current tune displays nicely, in large font, on the Hub, while playing through the high quality monitors. It’s a pretty sweet setup.

Once Sonos finally integrates Google Assistant, I’ll switch to a pair of Play:1s to save a bunch of cables and space. Will be ideal for the home office.
 
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