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The Pandora Data Conundrum.
Music is an important part of our life. We rely so much on music, without even realizing it. It offers us an escape. It makes us experience something different. It can make you sad, it can make you happy. It can make you feel nostalgic and remind you of a memory from a long time ago. Everyone listens to music; everyone loves listening to it. Just like other things in the world, music has also been affected directly by the digital age. The Internet has helped elevate music and has taken it to a whole new level for people. Earlier, with the advent of the Internet, music piracy was an immense problem. However, over time, the development of various streaming services allowed artists to gain the popularity they deserved. Similarly, it opened a large number of avenues for people to hear music, they had never heard before. I have gotten hooked to a whole brand of Icelandic folk music which helps me fall asleep. Similarly, President Obama listed a song by an Indian singer Prateek Kuhad as one of his favorites from last year. This shows how far music has come. We all use various streaming services, some people are hooked to Apple Music, others like Spotify, Saavn is also a favorite and Pandora is also used by a lot of people. We will talk about Pandora and look into why it is the talk of the streets, these days. So the question now is what is Pandora & How Much Data Does Pandora Use ?
What is Pandora?
Pandora is an American music streaming service. It has more than 71.4 million active users and it continues to grow in popularity among people. More than 6 million people have subscribed to Pandora and constantly use it in their everyday lifestyle. Pandora is not only great streaming service with a lovely interface, but it also has a well-tailored automated music recommendation. It was one of the earliest services which help you create random playlists which are specifically based on the specific tastes of the user. Pandora has a really tidy app, too, which is available on iOS and Android, both. This gives you the option to listen to music on the go, which is obviously very important! The question is, what does that mean for your data plan, as it is important to know how much data does it use and how much you would need for a smooth music experience? Don’t worry, we have you covered and we will break it down for you.
How much data does Pandora use?
Pandora, like its other music streaming rivals, gives the option to stream music at various different sound qualities with a different bit rate. This can actually measure the amount of data that is processed. The free version of Pandora which is available to everyone in the US region allows two variations. It allows you to choose the standard quality and a higher quality. The standard quality streams music at around 64kbps which is equal to 480 KBS per minute. In terms of MBs, that is around 23 MBs per hour. 23MBs for using music for a whole hour is pretty decent for standard quality. If you have a bit of a higher quality taste, the service allows you to stream at 128 kbps. That actually translates to about 58 MBs per hour. Which is more than double of what you get in standard quality option? That is a very feasible option.
Pandora Premium and Plus:
However, if you have the Pandora Premium and Plus Package and you have subscribed, then you get a range of options, as well. You get two more sound qualities, one which offers an even higher audio quality for people who really want to enjoy their music, even if it comes at the expense of more data usage. That range is the highest you can use in the Pandora streaming service. It operates at about 192kbps. That means listening to music for an hour would mean that you use about 86 MBs per hour. You do get the best quality at some expense, after all. The Pandora Premium and Plus Package also has an option for the data savers. There is an option which allows you to stream music at a lower sound quality that is as low as 32 kbps. This means that if you listen to music, continuously, for a whole hour, it would use up less than 15 MBs per hour.
How can you save data?
We look at various ways in which you can deal with the whole data and music conundrum. The ideal way of saving data and also not cutting on listening to music is by choosing a better data plan. Unlimited data is probably the way to go, but not everyone can afford that. However, if you can afford it and you are not bothered by the hassle of changing data settings, this is perfect deal for you.
For others, there are a couple of other options, too. You can also use as much Wi-Fi, as possible especially for music, and use up data only when you do not have access to Wi-Fi. Either that, or the other option is by adjusting the quality settings to low, which would mean that you only use up around 15 MBs per hour. That is suitable if you can upgrade to Pandora Premium.
Offline Playback:
There is another way, too. If you don’t actually search up new music while you are out, then you can download the music that you like, once and then keep playing it as Pandora offers offline playback to its subscribers. That means you can download music on to the storage capacity of your phone using either WiFi or your mobile data and listen to it without having to use data or Wi-Fi, every time. However, you cannot listen to new music as the option of searching for new music would require internet and you also lose the chance to use the brilliant feature of automated music recommendations that Pandora offers.