Category: Geeks r Us
being blind how do u use Pandora Radio my cuz hellp me set it up!!! but that is it!!!! thanks
As far as I can tell, no one has been able to get Pandora and a screen reader to play nicely together. However, there is a client that has been created which does make it accessible. the client is called Hope. I'm not sure if you've heard of or use the client called Qwitter, which makes Twitter accessible, but the Hope client was created by the same guy who made Qwitter. Hope allows you to use Pandora without ever interacting with their site. It costs 10 dollars, but as far as I'm concerned, for what it does, ten bucks isn't much. I know it was worth it for me, and the music I get. I know you already have an account because someone helped you set it up, but for others here, if you don't already have a Pandora account, the Hope client will help you sign up for one without ever having to visit the Pandora website, either.
If you want to get it, the site you go to is:
http://www.q-continuum.net
If you have anymore questions about it, let me know.
It's worth the 10 bucks, for sure. For one thing, you don't have to go to the site, so you don't see all the ads. For another, it somehow seems to get around all the skip and time limits.
Christopher Toth writes fine code: for contractual reasons I am not part of the open source community but that doesn't mean I haven't looked.
I think any package you get of his will be a stable release. Even the UI-less twitter client ddoes not, as I wronfully suspected, misbehave as a Windows application. I have never heard of a Windows program without a GUI before, and although it's technically possible, had not really imagined it. Truly innovative.
Underneath he's doing everything right. I realize that's geek talk, but to you the user that's the difference between a house bunjyed together on a wicker foundation and one on granite with proper construction. His techniques produce the latter, and although he uses the cross-platform language Python for Qwitter at least, it is Windows-aware and plays nicer with other apps than do some programs I know of written in some commercially available toolkits / languages.
Anyway all that to say anything you get of his is bound to be robust in my opinion, just looking at the source to his open-source project and having run Qwitter for awhile.
On another note, if you have an iOS device, the Pandora for iPhone app which is free works well; I primarily use it when working out. It is iOS 4.x-compatible meaning if you lock your screen or switch apps it's still alive.
Agree completely with the previous poster. I am a senior citizen who enjoys oldies. I got a pandora account before I knew about hope and got nothing out of trying to use it, just did hit and miss things. But with Christopher's Hope program, I have completely been able to use the Pandora site.
I actually bought the premium membership to Pandora, so I could download the desktop application. I heard that it was accessible. it would be, but the login screen is not, so I was pretty frustrated. However, if a sighted person gets you logged in, all the buttons are available from the system tray icon, such as the thumbs up and down buttons, and even the, tired of this, button.
The cool thing with the Hope program is that the icons aren't in your System Tray. They're just in their own window, and there's even a button where you can go buy the current song, either from Amazon or ITunes. It also has a box that gives Pandor'as explanation for why it's playing the song it is. There's the thumbs up, down, and skip buttons, play and pause, etc. And you can see the artist and which album it's on.
Yes, and there's even shortcut keys for each button. The only thing I wish that it had that it doesn't have already, is the 'I'm tired of this song', button. As far as either having an open window or having it in the tray, that's a simple matter of prefference really. The window can get in the way if you're doing some major multi tasking, but accessing the system tray for those buttons is a pain as well, so take your pick. The main reason I wanted to use the Pandora ap is because of the higher streaming quality rate. I'm not so sure that Hope doesn't let us tap in to the higher rate though. my hearing just isn't good enough anymore to be able to tell for sure.
I guess I'd have to have a comparison between the rates, Anthony, but the way Hope plays it has always sounded good. You could write to Christopher Toth and make that suggestion about it having the, "I'm Tired of this Song," button.
I love Hope! I just recently got it, and it was very much worth the $10 I spent. Too bad Mr. toth couldn't make such a program for Last.fm. Then, I would be extremely happy.
I agree with everyone here. I paid the $10 for Hope and it works wonders. Never dealt with Pandora's site before, but I'm glad I purchased the client. easily one of the best $10 I've spent in a long time.
Let's not forget mac users. I use an app called Piano Pub and although you must have an account set up everything else is completely accessible. The buttons need to be labeled but this is easy using Voiceover. The iPhone App as pointed out is completely acccessible and an account can be created through that. Also, setting hotspots when using the Piano Pub app are a great way to find out what's playing.
Glad this topic is around. I bought Hope yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.
That is, until the music abruptly stopped, and I was kicked out of my account. Repeated attempts to log in and even reregister failed. I haven't been able to use it since, and neither have the four other people I know personally who bought the software.
I don't know if it's a Hope issue or if something's going on with Pandora's server, but I was not very happy after dropping 10 bucks and having something screw up mere hours after the purchase.
Anyone have an idea of what's going on? Are we the only ones having issues?
No, Pandora changed something to do with authentication yesterday. The developer is working to put out a fix as soon as possible last I heard. Talk about bad timing, eh?
Yes, terrible timing. I had the client for about a week before this happened. It's definitely a Pandora issue. I believe the term is something like that they've blocked the use of third-party clients, and so Hope can't work with it right now. I know Christopher Toth is working to try and find a way around it, and says he will come out with a new version ASAP, if he can find a work-around.
Timing sucks indeed, but at least now I know what's going on and that we're not crazy. lol Thanks you guys.
I loved hope. I used it all the time. Am actually a bit sad and missing it.
Christopher Toth just sent out an email that he thinks he has a work-around, and says he may have the new version out this weekend.
I hope so. Because while on one hand, I don't mind supporting small devs, on the other, I dislike paying for something only for it not to work.
I hear you, James. But in this case, I think he deserves some slack, because it not working was not his fault, and he's coming out with a fix remarkably soon, given the circumstances.
I have not used hope yet but I do hope the problem gets fixed soon. I am currently using pandora on my iPhone 4 and absolutely love it. It is very accessible and even with the ads doesn't have a lot of clutter.
Dawn, I completely agree. I wonder why pandora made this change, as I haven't been able to find much information on it.
Pandora made the change for upgrade reasons, so that it works better with Android and other devices. 10 bucks is a small price even if you just enjoyed it for a week. I used it months, so got my 10 and more. As posted he's working on it. I waste 10 on many things that only last a few hours or not even that sometimes. An application that did, and might again make something like Pandora work is worth it. Smile.