Every now and then I come across something on the Web that blows me away. This week I’d like to share something that I can’t help feeling is the most exciting cross between media and technology since Tivo. It’s called Pandora, and I have no doubt that you’ll be as enthralled with it as I am.
With Pandora, you build a deeply personalized online music “station,” and you start with one song or artist. I chose to build my first station based on an artist I already enjoy, Snow Patrol. Pandora selected a song that is typical of Snow Patrol’s style and began to play it. With a simple “thumbs up” click to indicate that I enjoyed the song, Pandora began to work its magic, finding music I would have probably never found on my own.
Pandora is fueled by the Music Genome Project. Since it began in 2000, the Project’s musician-analysts have been, “listening to music, one song at a time, studying and collecting literally hundreds of musical details on every song.”
It is due to this research that I’m rediscovering music I’ve only brushed against before. With Pandora, incredible songs materialize out of nowhere. While brushing my teeth I’ll catch a riff coming from the office that I’ve only heard once before, and I’ll smile in spite of the toothpaste.
Beyond the fond familiarity of being reunited with a song I had forgotten, there are tracks by artists I’ve never heard of, performing songs I might have gone my entire life without hearing. I often find myself running to the computer to find out who’s playing, read about the artist, and make sure Pandora knows that it’s come across another winner. The more Pandora learns about the music I like, the better the music gets.
There’s also the tangible satisfaction of learning why a particular song was love at first sound. When “Are You Nervous?” by Rock Kills Kid played earlier, I knew that based on my “thumbs up and down” clicks, Pandora had chosen the track because, “... it features electric rock instrumentation, new age influences, a subtle use of vocal harmony, a vocal-centric aesthetic and major key tonality.” Pandora was right, and I’ve got a new favorite song.
I’ve used Pandora on laptops and PCs, wireless and wired, over different speeds of broadband. Pandora has never skipped or lagged once for me. What kind of alien technology is this?
I’m addicted. I’m in love with music again, only now it’s on a geeky, personal level that’s difficult to describe. Suddenly I’ve got that all-too-rare feeling you get when you buy a CD and instantly fall in love with every track, instead of just two or three (if you’re lucky).
Brace yourself: Everything I’ve described is completely free, but there’s more than I have room to write about.
If you try it, I’d love to hear from you about your experience.
Links: Pandora’s Web site is where you’d expect — www.pandora.com.

Kevin McDonald: Writer and professional computer/network administrator. He lives in Amarillo with his wife and children, and owns and operates Definition Computers (806-236-9615). E-mail Kevin at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with questions you’d like to see answered in this column.

Windows programs behave like messy children at times.
Microsoft Word has a bad habit of running out the door and forgetting to delete temporary backup files it makes while you type documents.
Adobe Reader unloads a toy box full of goodies into a temporary folder every time you download and install a new version.
Internet Explorer is a pack rat: Every time you take Explorer for a spin on the Internet – even if it’s just for a quick glance at a few news sites – it furiously scribbles down copies of everything it sees and stores it on your hard drive.
What you need is a handyman to dig deep and clean up after messy programs. Wallets are tight, though, so you need one that will do all that hard cleanup work fast, but for free. If your new handyman could fix a few other things around the house and make the place run a little more smoothly, that would be great too.
Luckily, I’ve got just the handyman for the job. It’s called “CCleaner,” and it’s from a company called Piriform. Their Web site boasts, “CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool.
“It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!”
I have used CCleaner for a long time, and I love it. I use it on almost every computer that I work on because it’s fast, it’s easy, it does the job perfectly and it’s free. Simply install the program, run it, click “Analyze” (be prepared to wait for a while if your system is really jammed with junk), then click “Run Cleaner.” Customize it a bit if you wish, but the default settings are usually just right. You can download the program yourself at: http://www.ccleaner.com.
One little note: If you race through the “Next” buttons during the install process, you’ll miss an opportunity to un-check a box that installs the “Yahoo! Toolbar.” I’m not a big fan of browser toolbars, so my recommendation is to un-check this box when you see it.
CCleaner has other nice features, too. You can use it to check the Windows Registry for errors, then fix them. Sometimes this can benefit a system that takes a long time to start up. Important note: If CCleaner prompts you to make a backup of the registry changes it is making, do it. If something goes awry, you’ll soon see how that little backup file is made of gold.
You can also use CCleaner as a quicker way to remove programs that are installed on your computer rather than going to “Add/Remove Programs.”
Now that your PC is spic-and-span, you can get back to the real fun — getting some work (or play) out of your computer.

Kevin McDonald: Writer and professional computer/network administrator. He lives in Amarillo with his wife and children, and owns and operates Definition Computers (806-236-9615). E-mail Kevin at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with questions you’d like to see answered in this column.