When you hear theoretical physicists talk about an infinite universe, or the concept of a multiverse, they always consider the possibility of worlds which are strikingly similar to ours but which vary in a single or very few details.  Maybe on this Earth you wear your favourite pair of green socks with the orange heels and toes every Thursay, but on some other planet an individual exactly like you wears an identical pair of socks — right down to the rapidly thinning patch on the bottom of the big toe — except this individual wears those socks every Wednesday.  Or whatever.

Sometimes living in England is like living on one of these worlds.  There are so many variations on familiar themes that I’m frequently either surprisingly pleased or sufficiently frustrated.  One obvious difference is in the use of the English language: slang, pronunciation, dialect, word meanings, etc.  People here actually say to-MAH-to, and will look at you funny if you say to-MAY-to.  What an American would call a ‘stove-top’ or ‘range’ is called a ‘hob’ in the UK.  Other huge, obvious differences are the existance of Universal Healthcare, a surprising lack of general knowledge about the American Revolutionary War, and a curious (often delicious) obsession with sausages and pastries.

But what I find most interesting are the subtle distinctions.  For instance, in the UK they use a 2 hole punch instead of a 3 hole punch when putting papers into binders.  This makes hole punches significantly more convenient to carry around.  It also has the annoying property of making any binders that you have brought along with you obsolete.

This is the first in a series of posts that I’ve been sitting on for a while. The goal of each post is to give a peek into the perspective of an American living in the UK.  Occasionally I’ll discuss one of the huge, obvious differences, but I’m more likely to discuss the subtle things that you might not realize could or would ever be done differently.

Today’s post is about Pandora, a favourite among Juicers.  Unfortunately, if you were in the UK  you might be forced to prefer last.fm.  Personally, I think the Pandora interface is much nicer, the presentation is way cleaner, and the song selections seem to be more relevant.  But alas, I don’t really have a say in the matter.  I understand the issue of licensing constraints, but I always believed Pandora to be a big player in the internet radio stadium and was surprised to see them outdone internationally.

Dear Pandora Visitor,

We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints,we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative.

We believe that you are in United Kingdom (your IP address appears to be 128.XXX.YYY.ZZ). If you believe we have made a mistake, we apologize and ask that you please contact us at pandora-support@pandora.com

If you are a paid subscriber, please contact us at pandora-support@pandora.com and we will issue a pro-rated refund to the credit card you used to sign up. If you have been using Pandora, we will keep a record of your existing stations and bookmarked artists and songs, so that when we are able to launch in your country, they will be waiting for you.

We will be notifying listeners as licensing agreements are established in individual countries. If you would like to be notified by email when Pandora is available in your country, please enter your email address below. The pace of global licensing is hard to predict, but we have the ultimate goal of being able to offer our service everywhere.

We share your disappointment and greatly appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely,

Tim Westergren
Founder

P.S. For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions on the topic.

The Frequently Asked Questions are very well written and extremely informative, if you have time to skim through them.  My favourite?

Q: How can I get around this?  Perhaps a proxy server?

We only have the right to stream music to people located in the U.S. We can’t condone the use of any technique that deprives performers and songwriters of just payments or exposes us to the threat of legal action.

Tags: Culture Shocked, DOn't use a proxy server *wink*, last.fm, licensing constraints, Pandora

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 12:25 pm and is filed under Lots of Pulp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.