Online music broadcaster
Pandora
has struck deals with two hardware manufacturers to bring the service to
consumer appliances and mobile phones.
The company will work with appliance manufacturer
Sonos and
mobile phone company
Sprint in
the US to put the Pandora service on the companies' devices.
Pandora allows consumers to build radio stations tailored to individual
tastes. The service is based on the
Music
Genome Project, which analyses the qualities of different songs and bands
based on attributes and influences.
Pandora rates the ability to let consumers discover new music as one of its
chief benefits.
"This new system allows us to unleash Pandora from the desktop and deliver it
to any device, in any music format, over any wired or wireless network with
capacity for tens of millions of users," said Tom Conrad, chief technology
officer at Pandora.
Sonos will preload the Pandora service onto its digital music stereo system
which features an internet connection. Existing users will be able to access the
service through a firmware upgrade.
Sprint will make the Pandora service available on five of its mobile phone
offerings, expanding to 10 models by late June. Sprint will require customers to
join its Power Vision service plan in order to access the Pandora software.
Pandora offers an advertising-supported service on its website. Sonos and
Sprint users will have to sign up for the premium service at a $3 monthly rate.
Sprint will also allow users to permanently download songs at $0.99 each.
The new services are currently available only in the US. Pandora did not
comment on plans for international expansion. The web-based service is
available
in the US, UK and Canada.
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