As I type this, I’m listening to a rapper I’m unfamiliar with go on about how bad some guy smells. The rapper seems pretty enthusiastic about lambasting this unnamed person’s body odor, and I can’t really blame him – the guy is apparently ninety different things that rhyme with ass, and who hasn’t had to deal with that? The answer is nobody, because he’s rapping about the issues.
 
This listening experience came about thanks to Pandora, a magical internet radio service generated from user input. Songs are selected for you based on artists and songs you already enjoy, so you don’t have to sit and wait for a good song to come on the Alternative Rock station, because that blanket term covers a wide variety of shit you don’t have time for. Just tell Pandora what you’re into, and let the Music Genome Project do the rest for you, in a far more personalized way.
 
Do you like Weezer? Give Nerf Herder a shot, nerd. Do you like The Magnetic Fields? Here’s a tune from one of the sixty other bands run by the same guy. Are you into The Beatles? Congratulations, you like music.
 
The success rate with new material so far has been pretty high, with the occasional less-impressive moment where Pandora plays songs by artists I already told it I like. I can’t really criticize it for using these as a sort of tent pole in between riskier blocks of content, but I’ve gone so long without actively seeking out new music that what I have heard, I’ve heard a lot. But other than that, I don’t really have any complaints, as I’m always up for new experiences that don’t involve standing up.