AT&T Adds Pandora Music Service To Some Cell Phones

AT&T on Thursday announced that a popular Internet service called Pandora is now available on some of the carrier's cell phone models.

Using the service, AT&T subscribers can find music and create personalized radio stations on their cell phones.

Here's how it works: A person types in a song or artist in a search field and Pandora serves up a personalized radio station wirelessly to the person's cell phone with songs that fit their preferences. Pandora uses an analysis system called the Music Genome Project to select the songs. The system is made up of highly trained musicians that analyze music one song at a time based on melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics, and vocals, according to AT&T.

"Pandora's unique approach to radio, combined with AT&T's already robust mobile music platform, supports consumer demand for more wireless music offerings," said Mark Collins, VP of Consumer Data at AT&T's wireless unit, in a statement.

AT&T has integrated Pandora on cell phones to also work with the online version of the service. As a result, subscribers will receive customized radio stations delivered both on their cell phones and on the Pandora Web site via a single universal account. Subscribers can store up to 100 stations in their account.

The service is available on eight AT&T cell phones models, including the Samsung SYNC, a717, and a737; the Motorola V3xx and Razr 2; the LG Trax and LG CU400 and CU405 models. The cell phones come with a music icon for easy access to Pandora.

Pandora costs $9 a month, although AT&T is offering it as a free trial for the first five days starting this week. However, there is a catch. A&T recommends getting the Media Max monthly plan for $20 with the Pandora service. It includes unlimited mobile Web-browsing and access to streaming video, AT&T's Cellular Video service, and basic content.

AT&T recently made another big push into the mobile music marlet by rolling out a music service from Napster that allows subscribers to download more than five million full-track songs on their cell phones. Napster Mobile will become available this month. AT&T subscribers will have a choice of downloading five tracks a month for $7.49 with the Napster Mobile Five-Track Pack plan or purchasing songs for $2 each without the plan.