Read/Write Web looks at the top 5 music streaming services (last.fm, Pandora, Yahoo Music, iTunes Music Service, Rhapsody) and critiques then on personalization - ie if you want to hear music like a particular band, how close are the songs the streaming services pick. Here’s what they say:

So for me, it’s no contest - last.fm wins, mostly because I can actually access it! But also it does deliver slightly better results than Pandora. I used to use Pandora a lot, back when it was available to me; and found then that last.fm was slightly more diverse and less likely to repeat songs. So last.fm has consistently been the leader in music streaming of the web 2.0 variety (i.e. with recommendations and personalization).

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