By now a lot of you have possibly heard of, or maybe even used either Pandora or Last.fm. If not, give them a try. They may just broaden your musical horizons, and help you find something new you really like..

I’ve been using Pandora.com for a while, and came across another similar site called Last.fm… Both sites are streaming music sites that attempt to match your music preferences, and essentially give you your very own, customized online radio station to listen to at your leisure.. Although similar, their approach is a little different.

Pandora- I believe Pandora’s way of matching your musical preferences is based largely on the actual qualities of the music itself. An artist or a song, when entered into Pandora, is compared to other songs based on its musical properties such as rhythm, harmony, lyrics, etc.. For example, I simply entered Norah Jones (whom i happen to like very much), and these are a few of the artists they recommended:

• Alice Peacock (never heard of her)
• Missy Higgins (not very familiar)
• Molly Cole (never heard of her)
• Sweetbird (not too familiar)
• Hem (not familiar)

Last.fm- To me, Last.fm seems to give the closest matches to my personal music tastes. Let me rephrase that. Last.fm typically plays music by artists I am familiar with, and happen to like. I think the model Last.fm uses is one based mainly on other peoples’ song preference, not on the actual properties of the music as Pandora does. If I enter James Blunt, Last.fm assumes that if I and another group of people like James Blunt, then I will like the rest of the music that other group likes. It will then play songs that it knows that people that like James Blunt also listen to. Again, I entered Norah Jones, and was given, among a ton of others, the following:

• Dido (occasionally listen to, like some songs)
• John Mayer (not a huge fan, but his latest CD is phenomenal)
• James Blunt (listen to daily)
• David Grey (listen to quite often)
• Maroon 5 (not huge fan, but like several of their songs)

As you can see, they are quite different, and I guess I like them both in different ways. Pandora seems to give me recommendations that I perhaps would have never listened to, so when I am tired of listening to the same old thing, I use Pandora. Last.fm tends to suggest songs by artists I know, but of songs that I may be unfamiliar with.

Either way, if you love music, give one or both a try. They are both free, and who knows, you may just find something you really like..

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