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Earlier this week, Vudu added Pandora as its first web-based music application, using the RIA (Rich Internet Application) platform the company has been working on over the last year.
Adding this app to the most recent ones, including access of Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube and the Vudu box is finally starting to match up in the web app space to competing media entertainment boxes. Most important, it's a good way for the company to keep current owners from moving away to the ton of other web-focused gadgets that are coming out this year. For example, the creators of Chumby recently announced a streaming expansion that also seeks to place Pandora on the big screen.
According to some reports, Vudu will also soon be announcing a streaming video off PC option, pending codec support. This will enable people who've been hoarding illegally downloaded movies for the years to use the elegant Vudu control that everyone loves.
The Pandora app works pretty much the same as the web version, where you can create new stations and adjust them through obsessive thumbs-up and thumbs-down picks. Through the box, the app also supports the management of multiple accounts, which is presumably quite sleek to move between when using the remote.
But despite the fact that an optimized-for-HDTV display Pandora is a cool thing, Pandora comes looking out better than Vudu here, I think. After all, managing Pandora is a one-song-at-a-time exercise and it can be done on a number of platforms, including the iPhone. The Vudu is just one more box they can add to their tally.
For now, getting a nice sound system to go along with Pandora's music selections is probably more important than being able to see it on a 42-incher. If a substantial UI innovation for the web app comes to the Pandora team due to the experience of using it through this set-top box, then this development will grow in relevance. But I doubt it.
Photo: Wired Magazine
