Pandora Previews Apple Music and Spotify Competitor 'Premium'

Pandora previewed its long-awaited Apple Music and Spotify competitor today at a special event with select publications. The new service is called Pandora Premium, and will launch in early 2017 with a likely price of $9.99 per month, reports Engadget.

The new app offers on-demand access to a large music library and looks a lot like Rdio. In November, Pandora announced that it had acquired "key assets" and employees from Rdio. Like other services, Pandora Premium will also allow users to save music offline and experience ad-free listening, reports The Verge.

Pandora CEO Tim Westergen thinks the company has created the "first truly premium music service." For Pandora, a premium music service means a personal music service, and the company hopes to leverage its trove of listening data and the Music Genome Project to offer each customer a personalized music service.

For instance, Pandora Premium features personalized search, which means each user will get different music results based on their listening history rather than overall popularity. The browse and new release sections of the app will also be personalized based on user taste. Smart playlists will allow users to easily add new songs with a touch of a button, and in some cases Pandora will automatically add songs for you.

The app will also change color based on the album artwork of the song you're currently listening to, and every song you like will be added to a giant playlist made up of every song you've ever liked on Pandora. When a user has reached the end of a playlist or album, Pandora Premium will offer a radio station based on the finished playlist or album to keep the music going.

Overall, Engadget notes that the new service marries Rdio's interface and features with Pandora's extensive music knowledge. Pandora says the service will begin rolling out in the first quarter of 2017, but won't commit to whether the service will cost $9.99 like similar music streaming services.

Pandora Premium gives Pandora three music offerings at different price points: the basic, ad-supported radio streaming service, the $4.99 per month Pandora Plus, an ad-free streaming service, and the on-demand newly announced Pandora Premium.