Pandora officially sucks.

[yepimonfire]

is it just me or does anyone else notice their sound quality has gotten worse then before? voices sound so plastic and unnatural, supposedly its AAC at 64KBPS but there is no way, more like AT THE MOST HE-AAC at 24 or 32 kbps with crappy "parametric" stereo encoding.

/rant

 

[its phillip]

It depends on what you're listening to, but 64kbps AAC+ is unacceptable to me anyway.

I emailed somebody at pandora the other day to ask about how the music was encoded:

Hi Phillip,

Pandora on the Web or the Desktop app plays 64k AAC+ for free listeners and 192k for PandoraOne subscribers.

All in-home devices receive 128k MP3 audio.

Mobile devices receive a variety of different rates depending on the capability of the device and the network they are on, but never more than 64k AAC+.

Hope this helps.
Tom K.

Listener Support
PANDORA® internet radio

 

[yepimonfire]

It depends on what you're listening to, but 64kbps AAC+ is unacceptable to me anyway.

I emailed somebody at pandora the other day to ask about how the music was encoded:

yeah i did that before too. real 64kbps aac sounds better then the horror i just experienced signing into pandora for the first time since about 6 months ago. if it's aac+ using that parametric stereo crap (which is just worse then normal stereo because it never works like its supposed to in theory) then maybe that explains it. it almost sounds as bad as a stretched out tape.

 

[j_garcia]

I only use it once in a while anyway, and not really interesting in forking over funds for One. I typically only use it as background music anyway.

 

[96cobra10101]

I use Slacker. I even let my Sirius subscription run out and use Slacker in my truck because it sounds better. Much closer to CD quality than Sirius ever was. I don't know if Pandora does it, but Slacker caches music so you can listen even without a connection, ie; airline flight.

 

[its phillip]

I just stuck about 55GB of mp3s on my computer at work. Can't be bothered to use crappy internet radio stations.

 

[yepimonfire]

I use Slacker. I even let my Sirius subscription run out and use Slacker in my truck because it sounds better. Much closer to CD quality than Sirius ever was. I don't know if Pandora does it, but Slacker caches music so you can listen even without a connection, ie; airline flight.

you sir have solved my dilemma.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

My Wife uses Spotify at home. I have not paid for it so I have not tried out the mobile app but at home it sounds better than Pandora or Slacker. I have no idea what the encdoding is though.

 

[tattoo_Dan]

I only use it once in a while anyway, and not really interesting in forking over funds for One. I typically only use it as background music anyway.

me too, I agree.

 

[zhimbo]

My Wife uses Spotify at home. I have not paid for it so I have not tried out the mobile app but at home it sounds better than Pandora or Slacker. I have no idea what the encdoding is though.

The Wiki says:
"Audio streams are in the Vorbis format at q5 (approx ~160 kbit/s),[49] or optional q9 (approx ~320kbit/s)[50] for Premium subscribers, the highest streaming rate for any online service. "

The Mobile maxes out at 160Kbps, though.

Pretty damn good. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how awesome Spotify is.

 

[markw]

I listen to it via my wi-fi equipped Panasonic Blu-ray player though my HT and, maybe because my choce in music here is basically old timey rockabilly and western swing, it sounds pretty good.

 

[bikemig]

The Wiki says:
"Audio streams are in the Vorbis format at q5 (approx ~160 kbit/s),[49] or optional q9 (approx ~320kbit/s)[50] for Premium subscribers, the highest streaming rate for any online service. "

The Mobile maxes out at 160Kbps, though.

Pretty damn good. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how awesome Spotify is.

MOG and Linn both do high bit rate internet streaming. Linn is free btw but there are only 3 stations to choose from: http://radio.linnrecords.com/. MOG does 320 kpbs, http://support.mog.com/kb/general-information/what-audio-quality-bitrate-does-mog-support. I think Pandora is pretty good at 192 kpbs and not bad even at 128. BBC radio three is at 320 kpbs and you can stream it via itunes.

Edit: btw, Spotify works with squeezebox; MOG does not. So Spotify and Pandora get my vote (and money).

 

[starbuk]

I think Pandora is okay maybe for earbuds but to stream that **** at home is a waste. 24/7 FLAC and other lossless formats for me.

 

[tcarcio]

If your useing Pandora for critical listening then you are asking for more then what it is meant for, IMO. If you just want to listen to some music to pass the time while with some friends or just while surfing the net and things like that it is fine, Otherwise don't use it. Just my 2cents........