Pandora vs Last.fm vs Slacker ?

[PulsonicVoid]

They are all useful in slightly different ways:

PANDORA: good for finding music that all sounds like a certain artist/genre (better used for artist i've noticed). e.g. search "megadeth radio" and it'll play Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, and other bands that have similar rhythms and vocals.
Pros:
- good at finding new bands, songs that you'll probably like
- good at listening to a specific band
Cons:
- tends to repeat music more frequently than the others
- voice ads (1 an hour or so...very infrequent)
- can only skip a certain # of songs/hour (I think it was 6)

LAST.FM: good for listening to more general genres. e.g. "techno tag radio" will play a wide range of techno songs.
Pros:
- wider range of music (doesn't repeat as often)
- better at finding broader, musical genres
Cons:
- worse at playing specific artists/songs right away
- since the music played is recommended from the Last.fm community, it isn't always relevant (i.e. the "80s tag radio" station may play Disco music sometimes)

SLACKER RADIO: I haven't used this as frequently; but, the few days I had it it seemed like a mix of Pandora and Last.fm.
Pros:
- plays similar music like Pandora, but has more info like Last.fm
- seemed to have a broader range of music than Pandora
Cons:
- had the most voice ads out of the 3
- limited amount of songs you can skip/hour

------
I use Last.fm if I feel like listening to, say, "80s" music but don't have a specific song in mind.

I use Pandora if I feel like listening to music that sounds like one of my favorite bands/songs.

I don't use Slacker any more as it was too much like Pandora but with more ads.

 

[elcompaLalo]

They are all useful in slightly different ways:

PANDORA: good for finding music that all sounds like a certain artist/genre (better used for artist i've noticed). e.g. search "megadeth radio" and it'll play Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, and other bands that have similar rhythms and vocals.
Pros:
- good at finding new bands, songs that you'll probably like
- good at listening to a specific band
Cons:
- tends to repeat music more frequently than the others
- voice ads (1 an hour or so...very infrequent)
- can only skip a certain # of songs/hour (I think it was 6)

LAST.FM: good for listening to more general genres. e.g. "techno tag radio" will play a wide range of techno songs.
Pros:
- wider range of music (doesn't repeat as often)
- better at finding broader, musical genres
Cons:
- worse at playing specific artists/songs right away
- since the music played is recommended from the Last.fm community, it isn't always relevant (i.e. the "80s tag radio" station may play Disco music sometimes)

SLACKER RADIO: I haven't used this as frequently; but, the few days I had it it seemed like a mix of Pandora and Last.fm.
Pros:
- plays similar music like Pandora, but has more info like Last.fm
- seemed to have a broader range of music than Pandora
Cons:
- had the most voice ads out of the 3
- limited amount of songs you can skip/hour

------
I use Last.fm if I feel like listening to, say, "80s" music but don't have a specific song in mind.

I use Pandora if I feel like listening to music that sounds like one of my favorite bands/songs.

I don't use Slacker any more as it was too much like Pandora but with more ads.

Great review of all three!

Sent from Droid2

 

[GrillMouster]

PulsonicVoid's post above mine precisely summarizes my own findings when comparing Pandora and Slacker. I haven't tried Last.FM. I've stuck with Pandora, because for a long time Slacker had terrible-sounding low frequencies (although posts in this thread indicate that has changed with a recent update).

In the end, I've chosen Pandora over Slacker for two reasons.
1) Pandora (and Netflix) is now integrated with my Tivo and many new devices, like Blu-Ray players, etc. It's nice being able to have my Pandora stations and preferences sync on my phone and my home entertainment, etc.

2) Several months ago (nearly a year?) Slacker released a version that completely wiped the SD card of everyone who installed that update. I think they were testing out the offline cache feature. They apologized and quickly released a new update with a bug fix, but it was too late for affected users. As far as I'm concerned, that was a MAJOR goof; enough so that I wouldn't ever chance using them again.

 

[PulsonicVoid]

Great review of all three!

Thx hope it was helpful!

2) Several months ago (nearly a year?) Slacker released a version that completely wiped the SD card of everyone who installed that update. I think they were testing out the offline cache feature. They apologized and quickly released a new update with a bug fix, but it was too late for affected users. As far as I'm concerned, that was a MAJOR goof; enough so that I wouldn't ever chance using them again.

SD card WIPE? Wow...

-----

Ah yes, I forgot to mention each service connects well with certain devices. For instance, my XBox 360 has a Last.fm channel that synchronizes w/my account, phone, etc. which is pretty nice. It also seems to have the best scrobbling (like tweeting your current song to their servers) feature that other music programs tend to connect with.

Another contender is "A Online Radio" -- it connects to a lot of the popular streaming radio stations (Shoutcast, etc) so if you use Winamp to stream music you'll be familiar with it. The sound quality and amount of voiceovers/ads makes it not quite up to par with the rest; but, you can find a lot more worldly music (especially European club stuff)

 

[xekrubx]

I have never used last fm so i know nothing about it. I got a signal cable to play pandora in my car. I was extremely disappointed with the audio quality. I tried everything to make it sound better in the settings to no avail. I have a full custom amped audio setup with high quality components which makes the lower quality very noticeable and unbearable. The next morning i downloaded slacker. The sound quality blows pandora away. Sounds much closer to the music files i have on my usb stick at 320k. Another thing that annoyed me about pandora is it would just play the same bands over and over that you selected and i would get bored of the assortment. I like having slacker decide what to play for me when i pick the genre. When using the free version i found you would get a quick 20 second commercial every 2-4 tracks which wasnt so bad. Just tonight I decided to pay the subscription to end the commercials. While adding the ability to skip as many tracks as i want and station caching so i dont lose my music when i lose service. I just love slacker. 90s rock 90s hip hop classic rock and tons of other good stations. Ive read some complaints about the bass quality on slacker but having 2 12" subs in my trunk i can say there is absolutely nothing wrong with the bass quality.
Thanks for reading and sorry for rambling.

 

[vatothe0]

I couldn't give you an idea where to check but you must be doing something wrong with Pandora. I listen to it a lot and it sounds great.

Bass is fine too. SoloBaric 15" probably helps.

Sent from my DROIDX² using Tapatalk Pro

 

[DroidGurl]

When I got Android 2.2 on my Moto Droid 1 the sound quality on Pandora was ruined, forcing me to look at other options. (In communication with Pandora directly it appears to be that the new update doesn't process certain music files properly, I think that included AAC but I don't recall for sure.)

I have been using Pandora on my desktop for years and LOVED the mobile version. I have found so many new songs and for the most part really enjoy the playlists it creates for me! I ended up trying Slacker which seemed similar...however I uninstalled after not even a couple of hours....the ads were frequent and at possibly three times the volume of the music. To date I haven't found the ads on Pandora too obnoxious and just wish that audio quality issue could be resolved. It has gotten better but I still notice it on maybe 25% of the songs played.

I looked at LastFM but for some reason didn't install. I did install CherryRPlayer (if I typed that right), not the most slick app but I like it for the sleep function, lots of variety to choose from and I don't think I've heard an ad yet.

 

[mcgriff]

I am enjoying Slacker so far. Sound quality is quite good. I can't speak to the others as I have only had the phone for a day.