Let me start by saying that Pandora rules!
Even though I'm part of a music podcast, I'm not known for being current on music; the irony is not lost on me. I've been actively trying to change this. But, listening to music as I do makes this difficult. The over-the-air stations in my area are either a) ClearChannel and therefore run by the labels so we get over saturated with only a few bands, or b) local stations which have a wide range of stuff, but they kinda go all over the bloody spectrum, even to things that I don't like. And, they all have comercials, which I hate.
Enter Pandora. I've programmed it for a few bands/albums/songs that I really like and it picks songs that it thinks I might like based on what I've told it. The big advantage over a radio station is that I can provide immediate feedback if I don't like something, and it will use that information to pick or not pick future songs. I've only been listening for about 4 hours and it's already played fewer and fewer songs I don't like, and practically _NONE_ of it is stuff I've heard before.
Seriously. This rules. And, it's free if you don't mind some comercials. I hate them, so I happily sunk the $36/year to get the service sans comercials.
I suspect that over time, I'll be buying CDs from some of these artists and I'll finally be able to keep up with Jordy and Owen on "stuff we haven't played before." Read: No more Tool'sjissm. :-)
-Mark