One of my all-time favorite hobbies is music. I’ve been a music lover all of my life, so when I came across Pandora’s Internet Radio service a couple of years ago, I jumped on it with both feet.

Wednesday October 28^th, Pandora announced some new features that allow you to share your Pandora stations with others beyond the old method of email. You now have the ability to share stations and songs via Twitter and Facebook. What a great enhancement to an already great service.

When you click on the Facebook icon, a pop-out window appears allowing you to post the song or station to your Facebook account, thereby sharing with your friends.

Similarly, selecting the Twitter button provides a window with the Tweet already typed (link included) and the actual character count shown, in case you want to add a little something extra as you Tweet out.

On the recipient side, you simply click the link in the Tweet and you are taken to the sender’s Pandora station. This is actually a landing page that provides a 30-second preview and an opportunity to create your own station based on that particular selection.

These are really cool enhancements and a very convenient way to share.

There is also a feature for gifting (on the same toolbar) that frankly, I have never used although it appeared some time ago. This allows you to create a station and couple it with an eCard to send to someone as a gift. I’ll likely use this soon with the Holidays approaching.

If you are unfamiliar with this wonderful service, you really need to check it out.

This is set-it and forget-it radio. Simply enter the name of an artist and Pandora will play that artist and similar music. This is accomplished by using hundreds (over 400 last I looked) musical attributes. You the listener then provide feedback in terms of whether or not you agree with the selections.

Pandora Internet Radio has been and will continue to be a winner, in my opinion. The new features are likely to increase it’s usage, which was the point of the enhancements in the first place.

There are two versions of this service. The free allows you to listen to 40 hours of music per month, which is pretty decent for no cost. You will get 1 or 2 commercials each hour which last 10 to 15 seconds. They serve to remind you that you are listening to a radio feed. I used the free version for many months before upgrading and never reached the 40 hour limit.

The pay version is called Pandora One, and the cost is $36.00 annually. This comes with a Pandora desktop app, allowing you to play music without opening a browser. The desktop player can also be minimized to save desktop real estate and customized with available “skins”.

Unlike the free version, there is no limit on the amount of music you can listen to.

This upgrade option provides completely commercial free, high quality streaming that makes the music sound great. If you have a surround sound system with a sub woofer connected to your desktop, you’re really in business.

For more information on Pandora visit the Frequently Asked Questions page of their blog.

Happy Listening!

While you’re out and about, swing past  and and I’ll see you on the other side.