Pandora App Issues.

[Phog Allen]

Gents, if any of you use the music streaming app Pandora, please feel free to offer up an opinion.

Lately the app is going a bit nutters on me. I am sure the problems began after the last update. For starters, it will not truly close. It goes into a sort of minimised version at the top of the screen in the notification area. If you click on it it comes up in a minimised bar. There is a notification in the app itself that says 'unknown' and clicking the play button. Does nothing. If you open from the apps menu it works fine but I have noted more drops and stutters...a lot more.

They have also fiddled with the stations bar and no longer keep the station you were playing first in queue directly below the station you just switched to. So you need scroll through the stations to get back to the channel you want.

Barring this being settings issues and an easy fix, is there an alternative service to consider? Paying is no problem if I can keep it reasonable and find something that doesn't repeat itself every hour. Thanks.

 

[MrLara]

my problem with it was my wife could listen to it at work, and i could listen to it as well, way across town. but about a month ago it says that someone is listening to it and won't let us listen at the same time to different stations. We have been able to do this for at least 3 maybe 4yrs.

i'm thinking of going with spotify, it lets you listen on different devices

 

[Phog Allen]

Mr Lara, another thing I had forgotten about was Sirius XM. They bought Pandora a month or two ago. They had been invested in Pandora for a year or two and now own it completely.

To be honest, I have no desire to deal with them. Just look up their history with billing issues, lawsuits, and TOS. I am not surprised at the issues you are having. I moticed mine started shortly after they took over completely. I am not sure what the causes are but like you I am about ready to bail. Just like terrestrial radio.

 

[Phog Allen]

Alright, should have done this anyway. I went to the PlayStore and started lokking at current reviews. Bingo. The exact same issues I am having. And these are from premium paying members! The 'unknown' thing in the staus bar is driving everyone nuts. Thanks Sirius/Pandora. Time to check Spotify or...something. Even Amazon has a paid service these days.

 

[Frozenshades]

I've heard others complaining of similar issues.

My current disappointment with Pandora is not working with Apple car play in my new vehicle. Nice to have music to set and forget for longer drives; may just start using Amazon (since it's included with Prime) or spotify.

 

[Haggises]

If you've already got Prime, Amazon includes a subset of their music for free.
I prefer Spotify over Pandora, especially if you're going free. Catalogue is good, more likely to hear the stuff you want to hear, and can listen to practically everything on demand on the PC version.

 

[TexLaw]

i'm thinking of going with spotify, it lets you listen on different devices

I did that a couple of years ago. It's a much better service. Pandora has (or had) some conveniences that Spotify does not, but the improved catalog and versatility more than make up for it. It's good enough that I ponied up for the premium.

I had forgotten about was Sirius XM. They bought Pandora a month or two ago.

There's you problem. I cut Sirius/XM loose. I got tired of how limited their channels were becoming, both in variety and in playlist, and I would rather drive a rusty railroad spike into my knee than deal with their "customers serve us" department again.

 

[MrLara]

@Phog Allen , i didn't know about the xm satellite buying pandora. We have XM on our vehicle because when my wife went to cancel they gave her a 7 month deal at $4 a month. When that's over we are cancelling, unless we get the same deal.

@Haggises, didn't know that either about prime. I'm gonna check it out.

@TexLaw. My uncle and his family have spotify. They swear by it and i really do like the multiple device thing, i have a small woodworking shop set up in the garage and i can't use pandora if my wife is using pandora in the house. Very frustrating that i have to use youtube with ads for music while i enjoy my hobby

 

[Haggises]

@Phog Allen , i didn't know about the xm satellite buying pandora. We have XM on our vehicle because when my wife went to cancel they gave her a 7 month deal at $4 a month. When that's over we are cancelling, unless we get the same deal.

They always do the deal. Always. Keep saying CANCEL until they get low enough for you to accept. I quit it because I wasn't listening to more than one channel and then they ventured into a political thing that I wasn't happy about, so kaput.

 

[Phog Allen]

Tex, indeed. Your play on customer service is apt. When I first looked into them they had these 50 dollar pre-paid cards you could buy anywhere. I thought I might do that to try it. Being a bit dubious of most subscription services anyway, I decided to contact them to sort a few things out before I bought the card.

Am I glad I did. The rep insisted over and over she would need a credit card to set things up. I kept asking why since I would be pre-paying. No real answer so I ended the call and started in with the internet search; satellite radio billing problems. Trust me, you don't have enough time in your week to read all the complaints.

Mr. Lara, if you decide to cancel, make sure you go over their TOS to make sure you are doing it correctly. I don't know about things currently but when I looked into it you needed to follow an exact procedure to make sure you did it right.

 

[Toothpick]

Had it playing the other day and it played an ad during the middle of a song. Imagine that! You are enjoying a good tune and then an ad interrupts during the song! What the heck! It was my brothers phone so not my problem. I use Apple Music.

 

[Phog Allen]

Forgot about Prime. I am a member so know I can get some service without the extra subscription. Will look into it. Installed Spotify today and I am checking out the free version before making up my mind on thst one.

 

[Phog Allen]

Alright, I fixed the problem. By that I mean I deleted the app from my mobile. I simply could not fix the constant 'unknown' player-in-the-notification area errors. Frankly, the entire experience with Pandora the last few months has not been great. We also have it on our FireTv and it was nice for running in the background. Select a channel and listen. However, about six months ago they 'updated' the app and now it shuts down a bit sooner than it used to. The 'are you still listening to Pandora' question. It also does not allow you to shut the app down. All you can do is pause the player and then hit the home screen button. It's just clunky. And the navigation rquires a number of clicks to get from menu to menu.

Look, the service is free and I won't go completely negative on it. They did raise the price of the premium service from 3 dollars per month to something like 5 or 6 per month and I simply did not feel it was worth it for the thin play lists and quirky app issues. I have moved over to Spotify free version and will be giving it a go. It is much different to Pandoras curated 'radio station' format and it is going to be a learning curve for me. I still have Pandora on the FireTv for now. For some reason Spotify is listed as an available app but is not able to download. Likley Amazon leveraging against their Prime offerings.

Speaking of that, Amazon is pretty easy to use. Click the mic button on the remote, say; Alexa, play Golden Years by David Bowie, and it comes right up. If it is not available in your basic Prime level access then it will say something like here's a sample and you beed Prime Music to listen to the full track. Look for a post asking for Spotify tips.