Pandora Personalized Radio Comes to Sprint
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 23, 2007 Comment on this |
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Sprint today announced that it will be bringing online streaming radio service Pandora to select handsets in its lineup. Pandora provides personalized online radio by matching songs that users say they like with similar music. Users can customize their personal radio station by adding additional sample songs and can rate songs they hear based on whether they like it or not. Pandora is one of the most popular internet radio stations with over 6.5 million users. The service will cost $2.99 per month for subscribers of Sprint's Power Vision data plans.The service will initially be available on five phones from Sprint, the LG Fusic, Samsung A900 & A920 and Sanyo 7500 and 8400. Sprint states that the service will be available on all Power Vision phones by the end of June. This is the latest move by Sprint in the mobile music space. They recently reduced prices for songs from their over the air music store to 99 cents. Songs you listen to on the Pandora service can be bookmarked to be purchased on Sprint's service later.
Internet radio has recently faced a serious challenge as the Copyright Royalty Board recently ruled that stations will need to pay higher royalties. Internet radio stations are seeking relief from congress, arguing that the new royalty rates will put most of them out of business. The effective date for the new royalties has been delayed to July 15. The new royalty rates will be retroactive to January 1, 2006, which means that internet radio stations will face significant upfront costs if the new rates stay in place. There is no word on how the deal with Sprint will affect Pandora's ability to pay the new rates.
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