Contributor III
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521 Messages
Pandora upgrade(Contour) costs $5/month.
Has anyone with the Contour Record 6 DVR paid for this "Pandora One" upgrade? The site says that paying allows you to skip more channels. The limit with a free account is 6 skips per hour (Pandora explains that skips cost them money since they have to pay the royalty .... even if you only listen to 2 seconds of the song). They say you get more skips with the premium package (total skips per day.... the limit remains 6 skips per channel per hour) but they don't explain how many you get in total. They hint that there is still a limit.
Does the service do a good job of narrowing the songs to the ones you want?
Any other comments you have about the paid service. The basic service is included with the Record 6 DVR. Basic has ads but not too many.
Accepted Solution
AllenP
Valued Contributor
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1.7K Messages
11 years ago
yak, the free service is free to everyone regardless if you are listening on a computer, tablet, smartphone, car radio, Contour DVR ... you get the idea. A free Pandora subscription isn't something Cox is providing along with the DVR.
The Pandora One (paid) subscription still limits you to 6 skips an hour. You would have to use your 6 skips each hour for 4 hours a day before you exhaust the daily limit with a free account. I haven't (and won't) pay for a Pandora One account. The free service is fine for me. I have noticed, depending on channel, you can get a lot or repeats. I have a Jimmy Buffett channel that starts repeating after an hour or so of listening.
My suggestion, play with the free account for a while and find out how many songs you really want to skip. Play with how you create the channel, maybe that will help narrow it's selection of music. If you are much above the 6/hour limit, maybe Pandora is not for you. There are other free internet radio services such as Spotify and iHeartRadio, only the Contour DVR doesn't have built-in apps for them.
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yak
Contributor III
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521 Messages
11 years ago
Thanks, Allen. I am learning about Pandora from visiting their FAQ. I thought that Cox must be paying something to Pandora in order to offer it on the DVR. I now see that it is free online.... just as you explained.
I was going to pay for Sirius-XM satellite radio. Then figured that i would use Cox Music Choice instead.... altho i didn't want to leave my tv on all day ( i enjoy having music in the background). I stumbled across Pandora in the Interactive Settings recently. I have had my Record 6 for 1 year without realizing it had Pandora.
I sent Pandora an email asking how many songs they assign to each of my "stations" ( like your Jimmy Buffett). And if i Thumbs Down 50 songs, do they replace the 50 songs or just let me whittle down my station to the songs i enjoy the most?
They have a One Free Week special but you have to give your credit card to enroll.
I don't want to leave my computer on all day just to listen to music. I don't use a smartphone to listen to music, either. Just the tv.
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MichaelJ
Moderator
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1.8K Messages
11 years ago
To get started, go to http://www.pandora.com/cox on your computer or mobile device and enter the code: 1234ABCD. Once entered, please press the A button to enjoy Pandora on your TV.
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AllenP
Valued Contributor
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1.7K Messages
11 years ago
Michael, is that code, 1234ABCD, a generic code that works for everyone???? I was presented with a much different code when I set up Pandora on my Contour DVR. Procedure I followed was (see p75 of the manual at: http://media.cox.com/support/print_media/tv/interface/general/Trio_Users_Manual.pdf ):
1. fired up Pandora from the Contour menu.
2. it gave me an eight character alphanumeric code on the tv screen
3. went to www.pandora.com/cox on my computer and entered the code
4. signed on to my existing Pandora account on the computer (or you can create a new account).
That was it, asked me to press the A button on the remote and Pandora launched.
BTW, I assume yak successfully setup Pandora and is using it.
yak, do you have your DVR connected directly to your TV or do you have an AVR (Audio/Video Receiver) in the middle? If you are directly connected to the TV, don't you still have to keep the TV on to play through it's speakers? If you have an AVR, does it also have the Pandora app built-in? Many of them do, my Pioneer does and I just turn it on and have Pandora playing in my family room and/or deck.
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MichaelJ
Moderator
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1.8K Messages
11 years ago
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yak
Contributor III
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521 Messages
11 years ago
Allen, i do have my DVR connected directly to the tv; not to a receiver. Yes, i do have to leave the tv on to play Pandora thru the speakers.
I got a nice email response from Pandora to my questions. They don't want users to click on the Thumbs Down or Fast Forward buttons too often. That is why they set limits on "skips". My intention was to use the "skip" feature to help Pandora deliver on the songs i want to hear. But they don't want me to do that. They actually want me not to use the skip unless the song is so horrible that i can't stand to hear it.
If you skip too many songs in a day, they turn off the skip feature entirely. I'm glad they told me because i was Thumbing Down every song i disliked..... i never want to hear it again.
I also asked if i could use the skip to narrow down my "stations" (that is what Pandora calls your selections) to only my very favorite songs. I can't do that. Pandora will keep sending more songs to that station in its quest to find me new things to like. That is not what i originally wanted but now i know.
I still feel silly that Pandora was on my Contour box for over one year and i never noticed it. This is like an Easter Egg hunt.... what else has Cox got hidden for me!
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