Pandora is a free or paid Internet radio available for Blackberry. Personally, I’ve been using the free version of Pandora since my first Blackberry (Sprint 8330) almost 4 years ago now.
Account set up is very easy:
For the set up, all you need is to enter a valid e-mail address and create a password.
You can choose you audio quality (Depending on the speed of your connection 3G work fine on high quality).
Next, you’ll want to choose your stations:
In general I use the create a station to search for stations by artist name, but you can also use something general like 80′s, pop or rock. You also have the option to use quick mix, which will sample all you you music for you.
Once you’re listening to the station of choice, you can pause, skip or mark the track you are listening to with a thunbs up or down. When it comes to skipping, if you are using the free version, you only get 6 skips in a 60 minute period.
Since this application is very battery hungry, make sure you completely shut it down when your done listening. which can be done with your blackberry button.
Account options:
Free (ad-supported) Pandora accounts receive 40 hours of free listening per calendar month.
TIP: To see how many free listening hours you have remaining, click here, or from the Pandora homepage, click the blue “account” link in the upper right corner. Your remaining hours will be displayed along the bottom edge of the “Your settings” panel in the default “Account” tab. In addition, a green alert will appear above the main Pandora controls when you run low on hours.
When you reach 40 listening hours within a certain calendar month, the music will stop, and a message will appear over the main Pandora controls that you have reached the monthly limit. You will then have three options:
1) Pay 99 cents for the rest of that calendar month. In the message window that appears after the music stops, you can pay 99 cents to receive unlimited listening hours for the remainder of that calendar month. You can only pay the 99 cents after you actually hit the limit and the music has stopped. Anything you see until then is just a friendly warning that you are getting close to the limit.
The 99 cents is a one-time payment: it does not recur automatically, nor is there any future obligation whatsoever. If you reach the listening limit again in a future month, you will once more have the same choice whether to pay 99 cents again, or to pay nothing at all and wait for another round of 40 free hours to arrive on the first day of the next month.
Paying the 99-cent fee requires a credit card. We do not accept any other form of payment.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The 99 cents only provides unlimited hours until the end of that calendar month (for example, if you pay any time during March, you’ll be covered up through the end of the day on March 31st). Then, on the first day of the next calendar month (for example, the first day of April), the 99 cents expires and you receive another free 40 hours for that month (April). This occurs because 99 cents isn’t enough to cover the costs of a full thirty days of unlimited listening.
NOTE: Paying the 99 cents does not remove advertising, or the daily skip limit, or have any other effect; it just gives you unlimited listening hours for the remainder of that calendar month.
NOTE: You can use a “gift card” credit card for this transaction. Click here for more details on that.
NOTE: If you want to use a different credit card for future transactions, just enter a new card at the time of your next 99-cent payment.
2) Pay $36 to upgrade to Pandora One for one full year. Pandora One, our paid subscription service, has unlimited listening hours every month, no advertising, no daily skip limit, higher audio quality streams, and several other benefits.
You will see a reminder that upgrading to Pandora One is an option when you are a few hours away from reaching the limit. You do not have to upgrade to Pandora One to get unlimited listening hours, though. You can wait until you actually reach the limit, then just pay 99 cents as above.
Pandora One requires a credit card. For more information about Pandora One, please click here.
NOTE: You can use a “gift card” credit card to upgrade to Pandora One. Click here for more details on using “gift cards.”
3) Pay nothing. If you cannot afford either of these options, or simply prefer not to pay, that’s perfectly fine. The 40-hour listening cap is reset on the first of each calendar month. You are welcome back next month for another free 40 hours of listening. Your stations will always be there waiting for you.
TIP: You can conserve your listening hours by making sure you always pause Pandora when you’re done listening– don’t just turn down the volume. Also, if your web browser has the option to re-load all of websites you were using previously, make sure Pandora is not running in the background with the volume down when you start your computer or restart your web browser.