Pandora on VUDU?

[rgbyhkr]

Well, this was interesting. A story was on Crave on hour ago but is gone now. Here's the Google result:

Vudu adds Pandora to its bag of media tricks | Crave - CNET
Mar 15, 2009 ... The Vudu box will now offer access to Pandora's free on-demand streaming audio service. Read this blog post by John P. Falcone on Crave.
news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10185691-1.html - 1 hour ago - Similar pages -

Interesting....

[raaurora]

I love my Vudu (quasi-addicted to it, actually) but Pandora does not seem like a great fit to me since there is no video aspect to the content. I have a Logitech Squeezebox Duet which I use to stream audio content to my stereo/entertainment system. It can do Pandora though I typically stream Rhapsody since their content is 192k.

It is interesting, as you say. But I'm not sure it's as good a fit as video related content such as flickr, you-tube, et. al. We'll see if it makes it to a future release of Vudu Labs.

[rgbyhkr]

The screenshot that was in the article showed cover art for the currently playing song. If you've used Pandora through a browser, the Adobe Air App, the iPhone app, Sonos Controller, etc you can get an idea for what kind of use Pandora gets out of a display. They offer artist Bio info in addition to the cover art and a wealth of options for creating new stations and giving thumbs up/down on songs playing, etc. It's not terribly exciting, but if you don't have another client to play Pandora through your TV's audio zone, this isn't bad. It's a value add at the very least for folks who like Pandora and, since you can use the free version, Vudu users can get the benefit even if they have never even thought of using Pandora at all before.

BTW, the story will be re-posted at 9PM PST (was accidentally posted at 9AM this morning).

Jeff

[Citizen Erased]

If this happens I'll be very happy. I've mentioned this before (http://forums.vudu.com/showthread.php?t=6057) and I think it would a great fit. My Vudu box plugs into my 5.1 speaker setup (naturally) so that beats using a laptop. The display can be used for album art, sleeve notes, etc or just switched off to save power.

[tamanaco]

Originally Posted by raaurora

I love my Vudu (quasi-addicted to it, actually) but Pandora does not seem like a great fit to me since there is no video aspect to the content. I have a Logitech Squeezebox Duet which I use to stream audio content to my stereo/entertainment system. It can do Pandora though I typically stream Rhapsody since their content is 192k.

It is interesting, as you say. But I'm not sure it's as good a fit as video related content such as flickr, you-tube, et. al. We'll see if it makes it to a future release of Vudu Labs.

I tend to agree with raaurora's view on this issue... adding Pandora is not a bad thing, but it is not the right fit for the Vudu box as it won't do justice to the audio stream. As far as I can tell the Vudu box is optimized for Video not Audio. I also have a Squeezebox which I use to stream audio because it has a high-end DAP to reproduce high quality audio which I then feed to my stereo system. Again, if Pandora is added, I won't be against it, but I think Vudu should be concentrating its resources on adding more streamed video sources and enhancing the existing video rental/purchase selection. If and when the Video Labs development kit is made available... plugins can be independently develop to add audio sources to the Vudu box via Vudu Labs. I think that this is a better model to expand the Vudu box functionality and to add other types of content. (Audio, video, pics games, podcasts, RSS... etc) The independently developed (open source) plugins, that expand the functionality, is what sets the Squeezebox apart from any other product in its class. You like a plugin... you install it.... you don't like it... don't install it. The choice is "yours".

[redwein]

Originally Posted by tamanaco

I tend to agree with raaurora's view on this issue... adding Pandora is not a bad thing, but it is not the right fit for the Vudu box as it won't do justice to the audio stream.

But then again, Tivo has Rhapsody and doesn't everyone have to have everything to compete?

[RonV]

Yes lets see...

TiVo- Rhapsody
DirectTV - XM Radio
Dish - Sirius
Uverse - Urge
Xbox - XBMC (define your own by internet stream)


Yep there is a lot of set top boxes that have music channels. But the quality varies by channel/platform/bitrate.

[Rusdude]

Interesting. Pandora is very hip & all and I'm a user, but I find myself using Slacker most of the time (even have Slacker G2 player).

[NA9D]

I've only recently discovered Pandora and it's very cool. This would be a great addition to Vudu if it happens.

If Vudu is going to be successful long term, I've always felt that two things need to happen:

1.) Portability of Content - Unfortunately, we see no answer on this yet.
2.) Ability to play other audio/video content.

Number 2 began to take shape with the addition of You Tube and Podcasts. Pandora is a logical next step. If I could play my own audio or video files, even better.

I doubt VuduLabs plug-ins take all that many resources to develop..

But I think Vudu should ultimately become an entire media system player...

[davezatz]

FYI I dug up a swiped portion of the CNET post, which includes a screen grab that I'm embedding. Unfortunately, there's no Google cache of the entire CNET story.

http://newtechnologydirectory.com/in...1280&Itemid=92