Pandora sets its sights on in-car music streaming
By Donald Melanson 
posted December 8th 2009 10:07PM
posted December 8th 2009 10:07PM
Pandora has already come a considerable way from its rather modest beginnings, but it looks like the company unsurprisingly has some even grander ambitions for the near future, including a variety of options for in-car music streaming. That word comes straight from Pandora's Chief Technology Officer, Tom Conrad, who told attendees at the SF Music Tech Summit that the company is now working with various car manufacturers (including Ford) to better integrate Pandora music streaming into vehicles. That will apparently first come in the form of in-dash or hands-free controls to let folks use a docked device running Pandora and then, "within a few years," evolve to include full-fledged Pandora services built right into various in-car entertainment systems. Details are otherwise a bit light, but Conrad reportedly hinted that he'd have more to say at CES.
Surprising, I thought they were going bankrupt from royalties. Thats what they said when I ran over my monthly quota.
This happened over the summer
http://gigaom.com/2009/07/07/pandora-royalty-crisis-is-over-for-internet-radio-companies/
Or, if you've got a bluetooth enabled car, slacker + cached stations is available now.
Your cars BT has to support for this to work last I checked.
@Hung
Or you can stream Pandora directly to your BT enabled headunit via A2DP stereo, like I do with my iPhone 3GS and Alpine IXA-W400.
3G FTW.
awesome. i quit downloading music after i discovered pandora ONE almost a year ago...
all for it!
Any smartphone, streaming Pandora and plugged into the Aux in.
We got ourselves in-car Pandora streaming :-)
@(Unverified)
I tried this, but my truck's speakers such... so I ended up just sitting the phone in the cup holder and listening to music through the Droid's speaker. =/
I wonder though, is it going to require a $60/mo Verizon data plan to listen to the radio? (I'd say AT&T, but we've all seen the commercials...)
@(Unverified) Say it!
@(Unverified)
Amen to that! AT&T charges something like $8 a month to get Pandora on anything but the iPhone...well thank god for Windows Mobile. I thought I was at a dead end, but turns out the cab file for Pandora isn't very hard to find. Pandora is the shit!
@(Unverified) Yeah, cassette adapter works fine too if you haven't got aux in.
OMG FINALLY. i drove 8 hrs to NY during thanksgiving and was tired of my metal collections. i really wish i had pandora so i could listen to classical on the boring highway.
@(Unverified)
And here I thought I was one of the only people who listened to classical music while cruising down the never ending highway.
@7egend You are not alone! I don't have a ton of classical music, but listening to Yo-Yo Ma on the highway is great
pandora should be setting its g**damn sites on winmo!
"yeah, lets support blackberry and apple. huh, whats this win...mo...? oh you mean that thing we have a qvga app for that is hardly finger touch friendly. no, no revs there. lets support cars!"
@MrGoodCat
You forgot Android, its on that too =)
@MrGoodCat
Clearly they know where the audience is.
Um if you search in this thread you will find an official Pandora cab.
I mean this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=407305&page=2
I do this every day on my commute. iPhone streaming pandora or sirius or slacker, plugged into aux in. Occasionally drops out though. There needs to be a better cellular data network though (ie not AT&T). Maybe when LTE arrives.
Now, if only they could just expand their service to outside the US of A, we'd be golden. kthxbye
@DTJ - Ditto (lol, my real name is TJ!) Ive been doing this for quite awhile now with my Alpine iDA-X305 head unit and my 3GS. I just open pandora with my iphone plugged into the deck and bingo, ive got Pandora playing all my stuff throughout my speakers. In fact, I believe any Alpine deck should be able to do this, also since they make the best iPhone/Car decks out of anyone.
Maybe they need a new logo.
I've already integrated pandora music streaming into my car by connecting my HTC Hero to the aux in connector. (set stream to high quality) ;)
as (Unverified) already said.
This post is really worthy to read..thanks for sharing the this news with us..i appreciate your work..this information is very much useful to me.
Pandora is the best DJ in all of NYC in my opinion, who is this guy?
Seriously, the service and the music lineup for each of my genres is awesome, makes my desk at work some much better, why not my car!
This is GREAT! Unless you cap out at 40 hours. It would be surprising if they offered this for free.
Pandora absolutely KILLS XM and Sirius. In fact I prefer Pandora streaming over my iPhone through the car despite satellite's coverage superiority. If they found a way to match the coverage of satellite radio with the superiority of Pandora, XM and Sirius better be shaking in their boots. I don't care if XM/Sirius have 100+ stations if the 90% play music I'd never listen to in the first place. Being able to custom tailer your stations to play just the music you like and train them over time to "learn" your exact preferences freaking rocks. XM/Sirius had better drastically change the way they work or figure out how to buy Pandora and offer it's service under their own name or they can expect a slow and painful death (well, slower and more painful than they're already suffering)
@anothernerd
I totally agree! Using my iphone, I use Pandora 90% of the time and passed on buying xm adapter unit for my car sound system. If I want local radio (while out of St. Louis), I just use AOL radio app for KMOX, or Slingbox for Directv (watched Packer/Lions game whilst traveling to Chicago). USB keeps phone charged while streaming to JVC head unit. Only a few judders in route in deep rural areas.
And I'd gladly pay Pandora what I'm currently paying Sirus if it meant no ads. I can't imagine they could offer the service for free anyways.
Awesome, the same 10 songs over and over and over again...
...oops normal radio does that too, 6 in one...
Been doing this with my iPhone for a long time now :)
"If they found a way to match the coverage of satellite radio with the superiority of Pandora"
they have its called verizon! with my motorola droid running pandora and google navigation at the same time all the way from jacksonville florida to the smoky mts. and back never not had 3g
I use last.fm and do it with my G1. I see from the post that pandora has a cap. I don't use last.fm that much. What's the difference in the two?
Cant wait to see this..
alls ya need is a smart phone and a 3.5mm jack, BOOM!
Pandora is wonderful, but, I kind of miss D.J.s. They used to offer background stories about songs and musicians, and addedd something personal to the selection of songs. That, of course, was in the days before corporate driven play-lists.
Pandora would be perfect with a D.J. driven channel or two.