Moved to spotify. I can listen to an available playlist or to every album from an artist one at a time or make my own playlist and store it for offline use. Seems more natural and wide open.
I had (and still do in the vehicle) XM radio, which basically solves your use case. Radio with no adverts. Some stations do have hosts, but it's not a talk show.
Being able to play offline + any song/album + similar artist play mode makes Spotify hands down the better service.
I think Pandora used to have something special with their Music Genome Project recommendation system but I don't think they really rely on it as much anymore as it now seems based off of the likes and other activity other online radio recommendation systems use.
I wish some one would do a open data version of the Music Genome Project that you could hook up to a personal playlist.
Give it enough time and you wind up just hearing the same music. Sometimes I'd start a station with a very different style/genre and it'd still happen where they'd both cross as well. Too much repetition.
2. Uses funding to operate at a loss and undercut and outperform existing players
3. Growth slows because there are only a couple billion internet users out there. Raises prices or decreases value to try to find a profit.
4. See step 1
It's hard to see this as an efficient method for finding the best product in a free market.