Pandora One Review

Note: This is part of a series of reviews that will be focusing on the different music streaming services.

Pandora

  Pandora is the most popular music streaming service in the world. It rose to fame by focusing on it's signature Music Genome Project, which takes the different attributes of songs (bluesy melody, up-tempo guitar, heavy drum, etc.)  and uses the user's 'likes' and 'dislikes' to determine what are the best songs for them. It is used by millions of people to discover and listen to music, supported primarily by ad revenue and it's Pandora One subscription plan.

  There are a bevy of features that come with Pandora One, but should you pay for it? I used Pandora One for a year to find out.

Design and User Interface

  Unlike many services that drag their collective feet on this subject, Pandora has been rather forward on this subject. Since starting in 2000, Pandora has gone through many overhauls that have both drastically and subtly changed the feel of the site. While some changes have been a little less welcome by the community, all of them were soon accepted and taken in.

  When designing a service as popular, constant change is not always the best thing for the website. Pandora has recognized this and has focused on overhauls that arrive every year or year and a half. These changes have become more and more subtle over the years to not isolate any parts of the user base that have been around for 2 years plus, but keeping it fresh for the newcomers. This has worked very successfully for Pandora, and the service will definitely keep you with it's clean style.

Mobile

  The mobile experience is one of the better available, and receive rather frequent updates to it. The main problem with this service is that there is no such thing as an offline way of listening, as it is must stream all songs and have a constant dialogue with the server. While I never had a problem with going over my 2 GB data cap (I hardly ever got close enough to even worry), this could be a far bigger problem to anyone who spends a great deal of time away from WiFi, or has a shared data cap.

Discovery

  Let us be clear on one thing: Out of all the streaming services I have used over the years, Pandora still remains the clear leader in this category. Although the Music Genome Project is getting up there in age, it still maintains its superiority in this category. Every song is dissected by a real person listening to the songs several times, in order to ensure that each one is accurately described.

  This process, however, has it's drawbacks. As each song is done by hand, it takes significantly longer to put new songs into the library, which can delay new albums and slightly more obscure albums significantly. To put it into context, Pandora has about 1 million songs in it's library; meanwhile, services like Apple Music, Spotify, and Rdio have 30+ million songs. To people with tastes that are less mainstream, this can be a detriment. It also showed itself over my year of use. I personally enjoy 30 To Mars quite a bit, so that was a pretty constant station over the year. After a month or two, the selection of songs that played seemed tired. It was rare that something new played, which is detrimental to the service as it is billed as a discovery service first.

Features

  There aren't too many, so lets just address this as a list.

• Ad-Free: This is by far the main reason for subscribing, and is largely a personal one. Do the ads bother you enough to subscribe?
  
  While initially I didn't think that I would really notice the loss of ads, I grew to know the lack of ads so well, that it pained me to ever listen to another person's station that did have ads.
  
•  More Skips: Under normal Pandora service, there is a total of 12 skips that a person can use on the service per 24 hours. With Pandora One, this limit is increased to 30 skips per 24 hours.
  
  While that still may seem to be a small amount, I never needed to go beyond that many skips, as Pandora's discovery is good enough to avoid those problems. If you are picky, however, this limit could drive you to another service.
  
•  Anytime, Anywhere: Normally, Pandora will not play on all devices and will require a subscription to play on certain devices. Under Pandora One, all devices that have Pandora can be used.
  
  Let me be perfectly clear on this: I NEVER encountered a situation where I "needed" to be subscribed to play my music. Under normal usage, I find it incredibly unlikely you will ever use this "feature." I could not even find a device while researching for this article that needed it. So unless you are someone who simply must stream out of your Belgian waffle-maker, I don't think this will ever effect you.
  
•  Premium Quality Audio: This feature enables listeners to listen at 192K bits per second, on WEB ONLY (aka Desktop). Normally, Pandora streams at 64K bits per second.
  
  While this may seem like a huge upgrade, both of these numbers are outrageously low compared to other services. 64K bits is often considered the "Only if you have to" listening range for other services, because at this rate the music is compressed to an extreme point. While the 192K bits can be compared to 320K bits offered by other services, or the Lossless (uncompressed music) sound offered by Tidal. But compared to the 64K bits, the 192K sounds a hell of a lot better.
  
• Webskins: Pandora One offers customizable skins that change the background image present while listening to music (WEB ONLY).
  
  So this is more of an add-on then a feature. I had one. It was cool. And that's about it on this.

There is also a desktop app available to subscribers, but it is not updated frequently and is simply better to listen on the web.

Pricing

  Pandora One is $4.99 a month, or $55 a year.

Final Thoughts

  Over my year of Pandora One, I never once questioned my actual subscription to Pandora. It was a good value, and I used it all the time. Instead, I simply found myself wishing for more. Pandora is a great service, but I always wondered if there was something better, or if there was something I would like more. While Pandora certainly turned me on to a lot of bands, I will not be keeping the subscription. 

  So who should subscribe to Pandora One?

  If you are already a heavy user of the service, I highly recommend that you do subscribe, as you are getting a relatively good deal and will see a large improvement in the service. You may feel like you want more, however.

  If you are a casual user, or some one looking for the best overall deal, go elsewhere. While this service is one of the cheapest around, it is not cost-effective. Other services offer more for the money, and unless you are absolutely set on the discovery of Pandora, you will find something you enjoy and use more.


As always, this is Ethan telling you to Be Moore Man!

Changes to Be Moore Man

The blog

It has been a little more then a year since I started Be Moore Man, and about 10 months since my last post. This delay came from an increased workload during the school year, that made it difficult to find enough time to write anything meaningful or simply worth reading. It also stemmed from an inner questioning of what I wanted to do with this blog, and how I wanted to focus it in the future.

To all of my readers, I want to ensure that when you come to my blog, you will find something: engaging, well-written, and thought out. At the same time, I want to ensure that I will be able to keep up with the blog and begin posting more frequently. So, to address this, I will be balancing out what I write about. I know many people have come to expect me to write about Male Fashion, and that will remain; but I will also be writing about whatever happens to be engaging me at certain times, whatever I am interested in, or my thoughts on a subject.

This switch will lead to more diverse topics that more people can enjoy and read, as well as keep me engaged in writing. To anyone who knows me, they can quickly tell you that I am scatterbrained, but passionate. If I love something, I love it dearly; if I hate something, it shall face my wrath. This passion will then be sent over numerous interests and thoughts of mine that may or may not always make sense. For example, this past Fourth of July, I raved about how Cain's makes the single best pickles you can buy, bar none. While I do not promise that sort of wacky writing, it is an example of who I am, and what can be expected out of this blog.

In the coming weeks, I will be beginning to release content that I have had completed for awhile, but never set public. I will also begin writing articles that exhibit the changes I have spoke of, as well as bring back the origins of this blog in Male Fashion.

I can't wait to share it all with you!

As Always, this is Ethan, telling you to Be Moore Man!

Black, black, black: Matching Part 2

    Black. Men all over the world will wear it entirely for an outfit. But should you? In the above picture, you see some models strut in the latest fashion trends. And I hate it. Now I am going to tell you why, and how to do black right.

    So right off the back, black tends to go well with white, black, warm colours, and the darker shades of cool colours. Some people believe black goes with everything, but that is a little controversial and not everyone agrees on that. Black goes best with neutral colours, however. So why do certain things work with black and other things don't? Well, the answer isn't as simple as it may sound.

   So as covered in a previous blog post, I talked about the three most important things about a garment. Fit, being the most important, is once again called into play with this. That is not the only thing to worry about with this. You see, some of my problems with the top picture come from the fact that the blacks blend into each other to make it look like one piece of clothing. Nothing makes them look unique or in any way fascinating. In order to wear all black, there must be accent pieces. Certain things that make the garment stand out among the others. This is often pinstripe dark, grey lines for black suits, or a finely tuned zipper. These items are often too hard to find, but be sure not to use too many. This can lead to oversaturation and make you look just as bad. This is often why the most expensive leather jackets have one, maybe two zippers, which are placed to look just so.

This leather jacket by Gucci, for instance, retails at $2,700

   Another thing that allows blacks to be worn together is the shade of black that is worn. Now I know there is really only black and many types of grey, but here me out. Black shows up different on different types of fabrics, depending on how it was treated and such. Look at whatever black clothes you may have and this will certainly be apparent to you.

     One of the final things that matters is your skin tone. Those on the who tend to be more pale will have a hard time wearing black, which is one of the reasons I tend to avoid it. Try to keep your skin tone in mind as it will effect many of the colours you wear.

        Have a question you want answered or need help with a style? Ask it in the comments below and I will give you a response, perhaps even a post! If it's personal, feel free to email me at BeMooreMan@gmail.com and I'll help however I can!


   As always this is Ethan Moore, telling you to Be Moore Man!

Review: Proraso Shave Cream

     Hey everyone! Today I will be starting a brand new series of blog posts for reviews. These reviews will cover most anything and everything I may find. Such reviews will include, and are not limited to: clothes, brands, men's products, video games, movies, etc. For my first review, I will be reviewing Proraso Shave Cream!

The Product

     Proraso Shaving Cream is a made-in-Italy shaving cream, from Proraso, which was founded in 1948. The product is still made in Italy, and very little has changed about it since the 40s. This is a very good thing. The design of the product has yet to change, with even the marketing being much the same.

Performance

     I can firmly say this is one of, if not the, best shaving creams I have ever had the fortune to use. Simply squeeze out a pea-size amount and massage on your face until it forms a small, clean lather. Once on, it gives a wonderful cooling sensation and allows your razor to glide over your face (I was using a Gilette Fusion ProGlide). Following the shave, your skin actually feels smooth. That 1940's ad right above isn't just good marketing, you actually will feel the way he does.

Final Score

     9/10. Truly a superb product.

Where to buy

      Do not expect to find this at your local pharmacy, this stuff is still only sold in stores in Italy. Lucky for you, however, they happen to have the internet in Italy. The best price I found was at Amazon, but you can also find it at Birchbox. This product will run you about $10, but trust me when I say that it is one of the best products that I can recommend.



   Have a question you want answered or need help with a style? Ask it in the comments below and I will give you a response, perhaps even a post! If it's personal, feel free to email me at BeMooreMan@gmail.com and I'll help however I can!


   As always this is Ethan Moore, telling you to Be Moore Man!

How To Match Colours, Part 1: Blue is Best

      Matching together outfits can be one of the hardest things to do for fashion beginners. Often times the task can seem overwhelming. You may know that certain items are some of your best, but you don't know if they go together. Once you begin to involve the seasons, it can become even more difficult. Due to these problems,  I will be writing a series on how to match colours appropriately. For this first one, I will be focusing on the importance of blue in a wardrobe.

    You may be asking yourself, "Why blue?" Well that answer itself is rather long-winded, so to keep things short, blue complements most colours you wear. In fact, blue is one of the few colours that you can wear entirely and still look good. This is partly because there are many shades of blue, all of which are rather appealing (except the Crayola acrylic paint "BLUE"). To make it simple to understand, think of your favourite pair of jeans. You can wear them with most anything and still look good. That is basically what is happening in this situation.

    Now it's time to get a bit more technical about your blues. If you are unsure about how to get started, aim for navy. It is a colour that I have never seen fail on a man, and almost always ups their style game. Do not be afraid of light blues, however. Summer and spring make light blues pop and come out stronger then a navy would. On top of this, don't be afraid of matching blues with different colours. Blue complements most colours you will find, meaning that you can wear them with just about everything. Matching does not mean you should wear the same colour all over, it means you make clothes complement each other through their colours.

   Have a question you want answered or need help with a style? Ask it in the comments below and I will give you a response, perhaps even a post! If it's personal, feel free to email me at BeMooreMan@gmail.com and I'll help however I can!


   As always this is Ethan Moore, telling you to Be Moore Man!

Throw the Band Tees on the Ground!

    Hey guys, first off I'd like to apologize for the lack of posts, my life has been crazy busy the past week. Now back to business!

   Band Tees. I'm sure you own a few. Hell, some of you probably own hundreds. And that's a problem. A big one. Now I have nothing against your favourite pop-punk-jazz-electro-doowap bands. I do have a bone to pick with their shirts though. In fact, I have this to pick with most graphic tees.

   Let's settle what a graphic tee is. A t-shirt that has a sort of graphic design on it, correct? Well, most of the "graphic" tees you own aren't what many would consider anything like it. Most of them use the cheapest cotton possible, and yes their is a difference (see here). Now material matters alot for these tees because it determines how well the graphic stays on the tee, and no one likes to wear a shirt that feels like cardboard.

   Now you may be thinking why your shirts are so bad. Perhaps your town has a Walmart or a T-Shirt printing company. Both of these primarily carry a brand known as Gildan, They provide most of the blank T-shirts that are used for your graphic tees, with band tees being the biggest culprit. So what are you to do?

   There are a few options:

• Threadless has up and coming artists that are voted on by the masses to be printed as T-Shirts. You will find many copies of their shirts (no royalties paid) in Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, Pac-Sun, and most every other clothes store because they have the best of the best.
• Nordstrom can be your go to guide. If it's their, it's probably fly as hell.
• TJ Maxx and Marshalls have some great, but also alot of crap. Research on Nordstrom (link above) to learn whats good.
• Here is a good guide done by Esquire, as well.
• If you can't tell, bring a stylish buddy. They are their to help. If it's online, feel free to even send me some shirts. I'll be glad to help!

   Have a question you want answered or need help with a style? Ask it in the comments below and I will give you a response, perhaps even a post! If it's personal, feel free to email me at ethanhmoore@yahoo.com and I'll help however I can!


   As always this is Ethan Moore, telling you to Be Moore Man!

Why you should invest in some raw denim right now

   Jeans. We all wear them. They are the quintessential item for anyone, no matter how stylish you are or aren't. Most men have numerous pairs and some only have jeans. So if we worship these holy loins of the gods, why do we constantly encase ourselves in terrible versions of them?

   Unless you know what to look for, it is highly likely you are buying jeans that are treated before they every come to you. This is not what you want raw, untreated denim. This means that jeans are so dyed in denim that they almost look black, and can be stiff. As you wear them, they literally form to your body and fade to your use. Those "sick fades" become exclusive to you. The jeans become who you are. And all you did was wear them. To explain more, let me take you back about 50 years ago.

    Back then, you had to buy raw denim jeans. There was no other option. Raw denim was not a fad, it was life. You wore you jeans as you wanted them. Wanted a lighter shade? Better toss them in the washer 4 times. Your father was fly as hell in his unwashed denim (seriously, ask anyone who wore jeans before 1970s).

   Now your probably saying, "But Ethan! The maintenance!" What maintenance? Raw denim should not even be washed. To keep it clean, you just hang them up in the breeze for an hour. Due to their heavy saturation of denim, they don't hold scents incredibly well, meaning you get to wear them over and over again with no consequences. Plus, dark wash jeans just look better.


   Ready for your first pair yet? I recommend these to start as they are the one pair every man should own: Levi's 501 Shrink-to-Fit and the accompanying guide to help you start. Listen to these guys. They are very good at what they do.

Once you have graduated, I highly recommend going into Naked & Famous jeans. Buy one pair and you'll be hooked.

   Have a question you want answered or need help with a style? Ask it in the comments below and I will give you a response, perhaps even a post!

   As always this is Ethan Moore, telling you to Be Moore Man!