Pandora Introduces New Radio Subscription for $5 a Month

Pandora Media is upgrading its ad-free subscription radio service — but not upping its price.

The company announced the launch of Pandora Plus on Thursday. The new subscription will offer listeners features that are not available with Pandora’s existing ad-free subscription, Pandora One, but will cost the same price of $4.99 per month.

Pandora Plus will replace Pandora One and will offer features such as:

• The ability to skip more songs.
• The ability to replay more songs.
• An offline listening mode so you can listen when you are unable to connect to the internet or use cellular data.

Chris Phillips, chief product officer at Pandora, explains how offline listening works:

“For example, our new predictive offline mode automatically detects when you lose signal and switches to one of your top stations that Pandora knows you love. No effort required. It just keeps playing.”

Pandora also announced upgraded features for its free ad-supported subscription radio service on Thursday. Those features include:

• The ability to skip more songs.
• The ability to replay songs by opting into a video ad.

Tim Westergren, founder and CEO at Pandora, says in the announcement:

“We’re methodically and passionately developing the world’s most personal music experience. And that includes flexibility in how you listen and what you pay for it.”

Pandora Plus and the new features for the free ad-supported subscription will roll out to listeners in the coming months on Apple iOS and Android smartphones. Existing Pandora One users will “seamlessly transition” to Pandora Plus during the same period, according to the announcement.

Westergren also said Pandora will add a third subscription service he described as a “fully interactive on-demand option” later this year. The New York Times reported earlier this week that this new subscription is expected to cost $10 per month.

To learn more about free music streaming services, including Pandora’s, check out “5 Music Streaming Services That Are Still Free.”

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