Why Grooveshark Is A Pandora Killer

Why Grooveshark Is A Pandora Killer

July 10, 2010, 5:31 pm 2 Comments

Everyone knows of Pandora (previously known as the “Music Genome Project”), but there’s an arguably better service out there under the name of Grooveshark.

Launched in 2007, Grooveshark originally suffered from a rather small database of songs, but it is now streaming over 60 million songs a month to over half a million people, and it’s doing it better than Pandora. Its service is also free, but the ads are less intrusive. The interface, while not as simplistic as Pandora’s, has more to it for a reason. Grooveshark allows you to search for songs and play them without any restrictions, share your songs through a Twitter-like following system, create playlists and listen to a custom radio made up of new songs that are similar to what’s currently in your library. With a VIP account ($3 a month or $30 a year), you may even download these songs (see comment from Myke below), and all ads are gone.

GrooveShark Desktop Thumbnail

GrooveShark Desktop

Grooveshark also allows its users to share songs by uploading them to the website using an upload program that scans select folders for MP3s. It maintains an online library for that users that can be listened to by others.

Official applications for Android, BlackBerry, Palm, iPhone and Nokia can also be downloaded by users with VIP accounts. They allow you to listen to the playlists you maintain in your account, as well as the Grooveshark Radio (thus making it similar to Pandora’s application).

Go see it for yourself at Grooveshark.com. You can start listening right away, without an account.

Here’s a quick comparison of what Grooveshark and Pandora have to offer:

Grooveshark Pandora
Stream Music Based on Similarity: Yes Yes
Search And Play A Specific Song: Yes No
Listen Without An Account: Yes No
Skip Unlimited Songs: Yes No
Play Songs At Any Time: Yes No
Replay Songs: Yes No
Upload Songs: Yes No
Download Songs: No No
Available Internationally: Yes No
Create Widgets Using Songs: Yes No
Mobile Apps: Yes Yes
Lyrics: No Yes
Music
, ,

2 Responses to “Why Grooveshark Is A Pandora Killer”

  1. Myke Stubbs Reply July 15, 2010, 8:48 pm at 8:48 pm

    Hey, thanks for the great write-up! I wanted to clear up one thing: purchase of a VIP account does not allow access to song downloads. We provide links to Amazon and/or iTunes to purchase any song we have listed (if said song is available on either site).

    Again, thanks for the great words and keep on geekin’!

  2. admin Reply July 15, 2010, 11:18 pm at 11:18 pm

    Thanks for the correction there Myke! Keep up the great work you guys are doing.