Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri and… Pandora? Yes: the US music-streaming service is launching its very own voice-assistant, initially as part of its mobile app.
Pandora is working with SoundHound’s ‘Houndify’ technology for the feature, with listeners able to interact with it by saying ‘Hey Pandora’ followed by a command. Those commands can include changing stations, skipping and pausing tracks and controlling the volume; asking for music based on moods and activities; basic music requests for specific tracks, artists, podcasts and playlists; and vaguer commands like ‘play something different’ and ‘play something I like’.
While voice-command features are part of some other streaming apps, this is one of the first examples of a music service creating its own voice-assistant – and one that doesn’t require its own hardware. Pandora says that “select” users on iOS and Android will get the feature now, ahead of a wider rollout “soon”.
