Spotify Vs. Pandora: Is that even a fair question?

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Chris Pirillo asks on Tumblr:

"Spotify Vs. Pandora"

My thoughts:

It depends on what you're looking for in a streaming service. Comparing Pandora to Spotify is comparing apples and oranges. One is a personalized radio service, and the other is Spotify. A more proper comparison would be Rdio vs. Spotify or Google Play Music All Access vs. Spotify, or Beats Music vs. Spotify. 

With that in mind, important points to consider are: Spotify streams in higher quality and treats artists better than Pandora.

If you're looking to just tell Pandora what music you like, and hit thumbs up or down as it curates a radio stream for you, without ever having to actually pick a song, then Pandora is perfect for you. At least, if you don't mind sacrificing audio quality, and you don't have an ethical issue with Pandora.

If you want curated radio streams at higher audio quality, then Spotify is your better bet. Or if you like being able to make your own playlists, controlling exactly what songs appear, then Spotify is a better bet. If you don't mind paying a little bit per month to stream nearly any song you want from anywhere at your choosing, then Spotify is a better option than Pandora.

Keep in mind, though, Google, Rdio, and Beats also offer great streaming services similar to Spotify. Find one that works for you.