“Free” Pandora Has Hidden Limits

A funny thing happened the other day.  We were listening to Pandora online, as usual, and the music stopped.  We were not asked if we were “still listening” nor had we skipped too many songs.

Instead, we found out that the “free” Pandora that already hits you with both ads and a need to keep telling it you are still, in fact, listening, has a 40-hour-per-month listening limit.  Once you reach 40 hours in a month you have to upgrade to a premium account to keep listening.

While 40 hours of music seems like a lot, that wouldn’t cover more than one full work-week a month.  I can’t imagine this problem strikes many users but, considering all the other limitations already imposed on their “free” account, this new limitation is disheartening.

It also led to us moving on to use Slacker.com and Last.FM as an alternative.  Now that a new month is upon us we are reluctant to return to Pandora.

Not sound business, Pandora.

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