AT&T Adds Subscription-Based Pandora Service

AT&T today announced the availability of yet another subscription-based music offering on select handsets, this time a mobile version of Pandora, a music recommendation service.

While Pandora can be ad-supported or subscription based when used in a browser, the mobile version will only be available for an $8.99 monthly charge, and integrates user data from the online version.

Joining the ranks of Napster, eMusic and XM Radio in AT&T's music repertoire, Pandora is based on The Music Genome Project. Users of the service can enter the name of a performer, band or song and Pandora churns out a series of similar songs and artists. The results are supposed to share a set of qualities, which have been determined by a group of "highly trained musicians."

For example, if the user was to type "Pegboy" into the search field, it would suggest the artist Jawbreaker, since they're both punk rock bands with subtle harmonies and strong use of minor chords. The recommended song's information shows up on the phone's screen, and can be given "thumbs up/thumbs down" ratings to tweak the stream's parameters.

The option to bookmark songs for purchase in AT&T's mobile music store is also available.

The service is offered on the Samsung SYNC, a717 and a737, the Motorola V3xx and RAZR 2, LG Trax and existing LG CU400 and CU405 models. But AT&T's real rock star, the iPhone, is absent from the list of supported devices, at least at present.