Pandora is hands down the best Internet radio service on the net. The Music Genome Project was developed by Pandora to “capture the essence of music at the fundamental level” using over 400 attributes to describe songs and a complex mathematical algorithm to organize them. Using this categorization, Pandora is able to develop playlists that you will actually like based on the characteristics of the songs you previously listened to. But this great service is under threat of shutting down.

The Washington Post sums up the company’s looming troubles best in their article Giant of Internet Radio Nears Its ‘Last Stand’.

“Last year, an obscure federal panel ordered a doubling of the per-song performance royalty that Web radio stations pay to performers and record companies. Traditional radio, by contrast, pays no such fee. Satellite radio pays a fee but at a less onerous rate, at least by some measures. As for Pandora, its royalty fees this year will amount to 70 percent of its projected revenue of $25 million, Westergren said, a level that could doom it and other Web radio outfits.”

I use Pandora 8 hours a day while at work. Without it, my day would certainly be a lot less interesting as I code to the sound of the A/C hum and the random murmurs of conversation outside my door. So if you love Pandora as much as I do, show your support by putting this widget on your pages and blog about it!

I <3 Pandora!