How To Use Pandora The Complete Beginner S Guide

Free: This is the ad-supported version of Pandora that lets you create radio-like stations based on your favorite songs, artists, and musical genres. You can improve your stations by giving a thumbs-up to the songs you like, and a thumbs-down to the songs you don’t want to hear (which also skips the song). [1] X Research source You get 6 skips per hour per station, up to 12 total skips per day. [2] X Research source You can unlock more skips by listening to ads. Pandora Plus: The first paid level of Pandora gets you all of the features of free Pandora with unlimited skips, the ability to listen to your top 3 stations offline, and higher-quality audio. [3] X Research source Pandora Premium: The top Pandora tier gives you features similar to services like Spotify and Apple Music, letting you search and play any songs on demand. You can create fully-customizable playlists, have top-quality audio (even better than Pandora Plus), and unlimited offline listening for all stations.

Visit https://www. pandora. com in a web browser to listen to Pandora right in your web browser. If you’d rather install an app, you can get the Pandora desktop app for Windows and macOS from https://www. pandora. com/desktop.

You can also use your voice to search—just tap the microphone icon at the top-left and say what you want to hear.

For example, if you’re searching for Beyonce and want to hear a variety of music that other Beyonce fans would like, tap Stations to see existing Pandora stations featuring Beyonce. If you want to create your own station based on Beyonce’s songs or if you just want to hear certain Beyonce songs, you’d tap Artists—then you can tap Beyonce to bring up Beyonce’s “Backstage” page on Pandora. If you searched for a song title, tap the Songs tab to see only individual songs that match what you’ve searched.

With a Free membership, you’ll need to listen to a quick advertisement before you can dive right in to a specific song or podcast. But with a Pandora Premium or Plus subscription, you’ll hear it right away.

To create a station from an artist, tap the icon under “Artist Radio” and the station will begin to play. To create a station from a song, tap the song name and select Start Station next to the Play button. Pandora will also start playing the station, which includes songs similar to the artist or song you selected.

When you tap Thumbs Up, Pandora will play similar songs and artists to the current song on the station. When you tap Thumbs Down, Pandora will no longer play the song on the station. If you have the Free version and have skips remaining for the day (skips are unlimited for other memberships), Pandora will also skip the song. [7] X Research source You can edit your Thumbs votes at any time.

You can sort your stations alphabetically by tapping the menu at the top-right corner and selecting A-Z. To delete a station, swipe left on its name in My Collection and select Delete.

Tap the My Collection tab. Swipe left on Shuffle Stations and tap the pencil icon. If you have Pandora Premium, you’ll need to tap Stations first to filter your collection. [8] X Research source Select the stations you want to include in your shuffle mix. Tap Save (iPhone/iPad) or the back arrow (Android) to go back. When you’re ready to shuffle, just tap Shuffle Stations on My Collection.

In addition to artists and songs in the search results, you’ll also see Stations and Playlists. Clicking any of the results marked “Stations” will take you to the song or artist’s Pandora station, while clicking a Playlist result opens a playlist containing additional songs.

If you have a Free membership, you’ll need to watch a quick advertisement before you can dive right in to a specific song. But with a Pandora Premium or Plus subscription, you’ll hear the song right away.

If you click Start Station on a song’s Backstage page, you’ll have the option to Start Station from Artist or Start Station from Song.

When you click Thumbs Up, Pandora will play similar songs and artists to the current song on the station. When you click Thumbs Down, Pandora will no longer play the song on the station. You can edit your Thumbs votes at any time.

If you specify an artist, the first song in the playlist will be from that artist. After this, the songs will be from similar artists with the original artist sprinkled in.

Once you’re on My Collection, you’ll see your recently-played artists and stations at the top, and the “Collected” area at the bottom. The “Collected” area contains all the stations, podcasts, and episodes you’ve added to your collection. This makes it easy to find and listen to your favorite stations at any time. To delete a station, just hover your cursor over the station name and select Remove from collection.

Click the My Collection tab. Click Stations under “Collected. " Click Shuffle Stations at the top-right corner of your stations. This turns on shuffling instantly. Click the pencil icon next to “Shuffle Stations On. " Choose which stations to shuffle and click Play.

First, make sure your Chromecast device or Sonos is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your computer, phone, or tablet. If you’re using the mobile app, just tap the casting icon (the square with several small waves at the bottom-left corner) on the Now Playing screen, then select the device you want to stream to. On a computer, you’ll need to use Pandora in the Google Chrome web browser. One you’re listening to a song, click the three dots at the top-right corner of Chrome, select Cast, and choose your device.

First, make sure your AirPlay is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your computer, phone, or tablet. On your iPhone or iPad, go to the Now Playing screen and tap the AirPlay icon, which is a square with a triangle at the bottom. Then, select your AirPlay device. On a Mac, launch the Pandora app or open Pandora in your browser. Once you start playing a song or station, click the Control Center icon in the menu bar (the two sliders) at the top-right, click AirPlay under “Sound,” then select your AirPlay speaker.

If you have Pandora Plus or the free Pandora on a mobile device, you’ll need to take one more step to get to the Backstage page—tap the small “i” in a circle at the top-right corner to get there. [12] X Research source

On a phone or tablet, tap Add Variety, type a song or artist you’d like to add. Tap the matching result to add it, and continue adding variety until you’re satisfied. On a computer, type a song or artist into the “Find an artist or song to add to this station” field, then click a matching artist or song to select it. You can always remove an artist or song later by returning to this screen and tapping the red-and-white minus sign (phone/tablet) or clicking the three dots and selecting Delete.

My Station is the default mode, which plays music based on what you’ve added to your station. When you interact with songs by clicking Thumbs Up (to like a song) or Thumbs Down (to dislike and skip a song), your station updates accordingly. Crowd Faves plays music influenced by your station preferences but focuses on the songs that get the most Thumbs Up from other users. Discovery is great when you want to hear music you haven’t heard before, including artists and songs that wouldn’t normally play on this station. [13] X Research source Deep Cuts is like the hipper version of your station, focusing on lesser-known artists and songs in the same vein as what normally plays on the station. Newly Released sticks to the newest songs and artists inspired by your station. Artist only is a great choice when your station is focused on a single artist—you’ll only hear tracks from the artists you’ve added to the station.

You’ll only see this option as a Premium subscriber.

On a phone or tablet, tap Next to continue.

You can also add songs to a playlist while listening elsewhere in Pandora, including on stations—just click or tap the three dots below the album art on the Now Playing screen, choose Add to Playlist, and then select your playlist’s name. If you’re having trouble deciding, tap or click Add Similar Songs to have Pandora automatically add similar songs to the playlist.

Premium subscribers can choose individual stations, playlists, albums, and songs to download for offline listening. [15] X Research source Plus subscribers can still listen offline, but not choose which stations will be available. Pandora will automatically download your top 3 stations for offline listening. It’s not yet possible to download podcasts for offline listening. Fortunately, your phone usually has a built-in podcasting app like Apple Podcasts (iPhone/iPad) or Google Podcasts (Android) that lets you download podcast episodes for free.

If Pandora opens to the Now Playing screen, tap the down arrow to minimize it first.

Once you download music for offline listening, it will be available in the Pandora app even when you’re not connected to the internet. Some tracks may not be available for download.