One of the most popular things around the net these days is “personalized” web radio.  While the idea isn’t new, the latest crop of sites such as Pandora and Last.FM have supposedly greatly improved their “learning” systems.  You start out with your favorite band and it gradually plays music it thinks you’ll like.  As you listen to the music, you give it a thumbs up or down and as you listen.  Simple, free, and a pretty cool idea all around.  Eventually, you’ll be introduced to music you’ll like from artists you’re not familiar with.  Unfortunately, my experience hasn’t been nearly as rewarding.

I’ve been messing with Pandora for my iPhone.  What’s my favorite artist?  That’s easy: Dave Matthews Band.  First song, not surprisingly, was a DMB song.  No complaints here…  It’ll eventually start playing “new” stuff from artists I’ve never heard of soon enough.   Or so I thought.  In my few hours of Pandora usage, I’ve had exactly three artists played: Dave Matthews, John Mayer, and Jack Johnson.  That’s being generous though: It has easily been 80-90% Dave Matthews with only the odd John Mayer/Jack Johnson song thrown in.  While I’m not going to complain about getting to listen to DMB, it would be nice to discover other similar artists.  That is the point, right?

Update: As I wrote this blog post, Pandora’s ears must have been burning as they threw in a Red Hot Chili Peppers song to ruin my rant.