Dubbed the "Music Genome Project", Pandora.com is an online radio service that offers up suggestions based on what song (or artist) Girlawhirl picked first  -- called the "Seed." Then by telling Pandora.com whether or not she likes the next suggestion  -- literally giving each song a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down"  -- the program adds more songs to her list, and it all grows from there.

Dissecting songs using nearly 400 factors  -- like melody, harmony, rhythm, vocals and lyrics  -- the musician-analysts at Pandora.com are constantly updating the "Project" with new music. Girlawhirl was amazed by the process. She first picked a brand new artist with a hot song on the charts, and a few songs later Pandora.com delivered Girlawhirl a track from her all time favorite artist. Girlawhirl also found it interesting to see an analysis of why Pandora.com chooses the songs it does. She felt as if she was getting insight into her own musical tastes. She now knows she enjoys "basic rock structure with acoustic rhythm piano and rhythmic vocals."

Plus, Girlawhirl's not limited to one musical experience at a time. She can start the process on several "stations" and choose to listen to one at a time, or have Pandora.com shuffle them together for her. If a particular song repeats too often for her liking, Girlawhirl can tell Pandora to shelve it for a month, and she can move a song from one radio station to another. She can even click right through to purchase the song at iTunes or amazon.com.

But what Girlawhirl loves most is that she can share her new finds with friends. Once she's decided the "radio station" she's created is on the right track she can forward it to friends  -- and they get to see the full details: what "seed songs" she used as a basis, and what she approved and discarded from her list.

With Pandora.com Girlawhirl has endless hours of new musical discoveries on the horizon to share and enjoy.