I've mentioned it before and now it is here: The Pandora music service is available directly via the Squeezenetwork. Maybe I should shortly explain what the latter is. If you own a Squeezebox (new review) then you can play your local music archive by running a little server-application on your computer that the box can connect to.

If, however, your computer is turned off, you can have your box connect to the Squeezenetwork, operated by the manufacturer. Of course, you cannot listen to your own music then, but I used it frequently for internet radio. Via the same mechanism, you can now have access (90 day trial) to Pandora which allows you to create own "radio stations" which will be automatically filled with music that resembles the one you specified.

After the trial time is over, it costs you 36$ per year to keep it. I am not sure yet, if that will be worth it. Keep in mind that you do not buy music here - its a pure streaming service. I guess it will depend on the size of their archive and how often it does not find the music specified. Also remember that you cannot choose specific songs. Once you created a station with one or several bands or songs, Pandora will play similar stuff and the only influence you have is to give a song a thumbs-up or down.

Anyway, I like that my squeezeboxes (I own two, one at home, one at work) that I already use heavily, have gotten some additional value which may even help spread it. I doubt that Pandora will make me stop listen to Radio Paradise but I will give it a try, nevertheless.