Music streaming has overtaken digital downloads in the US, with premium services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer surging in popularity. Pandora, a household name in radio-style streaming, has now launched Pandora Premium—an on-demand service to rival the leaders. Following its acquisition of key assets from the shuttered Rdio, Pandora Premium arrives with strong potential. But can it carve out a unique space? As someone who's tested it extensively over weeks alongside my long-time Spotify Premium subscription, I've uncovered compelling strengths.
Success isn't guaranteed, but Pandora has 81 million monthly active users—outpacing Spotify's 50 million Premium subscribers and Apple's 20 million Music customers. Converting just 10% would place it ahead of Deezer's 6.9 million paid users, making it the third-largest service.
For $9.99/month, Pandora Premium delivers unlimited access to millions of songs across devices, including offline downloads—much like competitors. But after weeks of daily use, here are six standout reasons to give it a try.
While Spotify excels in discovery, Pandora Premium shines by surfacing what you already love. The "My Music" tab organizes recently played songs, albums, and stations in reverse chronological order, with your most-played tracks at the top for effortless access.
Not everyone craves endless new music; for fans of familiarity, this focused approach is a breath of fresh air.
Pandora Premium dials back aggressive curation but still delivers personalized picks. The "Sneak Peek" section offers weekly recommendations based on your liked albums and genres, plus top songs from fellow Premium users.
Boasting 40 million tracks, Pandora Premium's catalog rivals the best. Unlike some rivals, it excludes karaoke versions, tribute covers, and duplicates that clutter searches and slow performance.
Search speeds feel comparable to services like the revived Napster, but results are cleaner and more reliable—making me trust its selections more.
Pandora's signature thumbs ratings carry over, smarter than ever. Every thumbs-up song across stations auto-populates a "My Thumbs Up" playlist—covering all your history.
Station thumbs-ups build dedicated playlists, and "Add Similar Songs" uses the Music Genome Project to expand them intelligently. For instance, seeding Classic Rock tracks like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" yielded spot-on additions from The Mamas & the Papas and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Manual playlists get the same boost.
Pandora Premium favors clean design over info overload. Main screens are navigable, and the "Now Playing" view is visually stunning:
Menus and controls feel logical and user-friendly.
Recognizing not everyone wants explicit content, Pandora Premium lets you disable it easily in settings—for cleaner radio stations and searches.
No exclusive albums yet, as CEO Tim Westergren confirmed to The Verge. Autoplay—Rdio's seamless endless playback—is coming soon.
I'm sticking with my 60-day free trial; it's a refreshing, legal way to enjoy music. Long-time Pandora users will appreciate the seamless upgrade, while others should test it against their current service.
It's rolling out gradually—visit the official site for an invite. Pandora Plus users get six months free; others, two months.
Planning to try Pandora Premium? Share in the comments!
