Hands-On: Pandora’s All-You-Can-Listen, Ad-Free Windows Phone App

 

Pandora finally released its first native Windows scream app Thursday. Microsoft’s app ecosystem systematically gets dinged for its slim offerings, so the popular music-streaming app is a big get by dint of for the company.

Microsoft announced its partnership with Pandora at the Windows shout out 8 introduction event back in October. The company said the app would frame in early 2013 and offer a year of unlimited, ad-free sense of hearing with as much track-skipping as you like. Microsoft and Pandora are partially delivering on that promise — Windows Phone users won’t have to vex about ads or music limits through the end of 2013, however are not getting a full 12 months.

The app itself is extremely simple, much like Pandora’s web experience. A search bar lines the top and you back end scroll through your most recent place or preset literary genre stations made by Pandora. When listening to tracks, you can take a shit them a thumbs up or thumbs down.

What makes this a uniquely Windows Phone app are the Live Tile functionality and the mightiness to pin stations directly to the Start sieve. When listening to a station, you can divulge what artist and song is playing on the Pandora Live Tile, with phonograph album art and all. It’s not incredibly exciting, but it is efficacious if you’re multitasking on your phone and want to quickly peek at what’s playing. Plus, it shows how Microsoft has partnered with Pandora for a tailor-made Windows Phone app.

The ability to pin individual stations directly to the Start Screen for easier access is a nice addition and further illustrates that partnership. plot you’re listening to a station on Pandora, you can tap the More button (the ellipsis at the cornerstone right of the screen) for the option to pin the station to your Start Screen. former(a) built-in features include sharing a station or song, bookmarking a track, buying the music on Xbox Music and notifying Pandora that you’re “tired of this track.”

Pandora has also made its Windows Phone app kid-friendly for the Kid’s Corner feature of Windows Phone 8. You can choose in the settings to automatically filter out explicit tracks, so your yearling won’t accidentally start listening to Lil Wayne drop F-bombs.

Pandora’s availability might not be a huge selling point for Windows Phone, but it is good word of honor for current users. The streaming music service is hugely popular, with much than 67 million active users, so it’s truly likely that there’s overlap with Windows Phone users. If not, the all-you-can-listen, ad-free devise should be enough enticement to draw those users to Pandora.

Now Microsoft just ask to keep on partnering with major companies to stock up its Windows Phone Store.

Materials taken from WIRED