Quick Look: Pandora is a streaming music service that plays music based on the user's selection of a genre, song, or artist. Users can also select from a variety of moods and activities. Giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down refines the music selection based on the users likes and dislikes.
Pandora offers three levels of service, all of which are available through the Roku app:
- Pandora Free is an ad-supported service. Users at this level have no ability to select specific tracks - like a streaming radio station, the service auto-programs the songs that you hear. You can skip a limited number of tracks, but you have no ability to rewind.
- Pandora Plus is an ad-free subscription service that costs $4.99 per month. New users can sign up for a 30-day free trial through the Roku app or through the Pandora website. In addition to being ad-free, Pandora Plus gives you unlimited track skips.
- Pandora Premium is $9.99 per month and also comes with a 30-day free trial when upgrading through the Roku app, or a 60-day free trial when upgrading through the Pandora website. The Premium subscription includes the ability to search and play songs on-demand and make and share playlists in addition to providing unlimited skips.
After linking Pandora's Roku app to your Pandora account, the app will launch on the My Stations screen, which lists all of your previously-streamed stations from all devices. When you stream a station, the screen will show cover art, the track name, and the artist and album. This screen allows you to pause or skip the song, and you give the track a thumbs-up (which will help in refining the auto-programming) or thumbs-down (which will result in the song never being played for you again). Scroll up to reveal an autohide menu with the options My Stations (also accessible with the "back" button), Browse, Search, and Settings.
The My Stations screen shows all of your stations in grid fashion, along with the number of days since last listened to each. If you don't want to be confined to a single selection, the Shuffle option (shown in the grid as its own channel) will play tracks from all of your stations. TIP: To delete a station, use your remote to highlight it, press the * button on your remote, then select the Delete option.
If you're looking for something new, the Browse menu option will show you stations based on genre. There are currently over 50 genres, such as Reggae, Texas Blues, and Beach Bar Lounge to name just a few. You can also browse Recommended Artists (based on your Pandora stations and thumbs-up refinements), Decades (50s through 2010s, which are then broken down into genres for each decade), and Moods and Activities (Holiday, Family Time, Gaming, Rainy Day, etc.)
You can also create new stations through the Roku app. Just go to the Search option and enter an artist, song, or genre, then select from the results. The new station will play immediately and will then be listed on the My Stations screen.
Settings are found by selecting the small box with your initial in the menu at the top of the screen. You can turn an explicit content filter on or off, set your station sort preference (recent or A-Z). You can also modify your account settings here and upgrade to a higher-level account. Currently only one user account can be associated with Pandora on Roku; you cannot switch between accounts unless you log out from one account and the log back in with the other.
More information on using Pandora on Roku can be found here.
-- Information is current as of December 24, 2020
Developer's Channel Description: Find the music you love on Pandora. Create personalized stations from your favorite songs and artists or upgrade to hear songs, albums and playlists ad-free & on-demand in Pandora Premium.
CHANNEL STORE CATEGORY: Music
DEVELOPER: Pandora
FEES: None for basic Pandora; $4.99/month subscription for Pandora Plus with free trial; $9.99/month subscription for Pandora Plus with free trial
RELATED LINKS:
Pandora Website
Pandora Facebook
Pandora (@pandoramusic) on Twitter
