The only reason streaming web music hasn’t completely killed all other forms of music distribution is the fact that it’s not available when you’re traveling across wireless networks – say, in a car. Well hold on to your hats and start canceling your satellite radio subscriptions, Pandora is taking to the road.
According to a recent Paid Content article, Pandora announced a partnership with Pioneer at the Consumer Electronics Show. Pioneer will begin selling a device in March that detects users’ Pandora settings via their iPhones.
Says Pandora CTO Tom Conrad, “Pandora still runs on your iPhone and controls access to the service, but all control and display elements [will be] shifted to the dash. This allows you to tune into your stations, play songs, give thumbs up/down, as well as get information (including album art) about the currently playing song, all with your iPhone safely tucked away in the glove compartment.”
While the $1200 dollar price tag for the connection device is high, the fact that the service is free will theoretically save consumers from paying monthly radio subscription fees.
As well, if Pioneer manages to partner with other music providers like Microsoft with Zune Marketplace, Spotify or MOG, then web subscriptions will simply be cross-platform music accounts. While Paid Content suggests that we’re looking at the end for satellite radio companies like Sirius XM, we think the greater effect of web-enabled cars might be the end of professionally curated music. Does web music spell death for disc jockeys? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Photo Credit: Michael Ruiz
