Pandora auditions desktop version of music service
A look at the Mac version of Pandora's new desktop software.
(Credit: Pandora)Streaming-music service Pandora announced on Tuesday that it is testing out a beta version of a downloadable desktop application for Windows and Mac.
Until this point, Pandora had offered only Web-based music. A desktop application has been on the start-up's to-do list for some time, the blog post explained, and was also a common request from members.
The application is built using Adobe Integrated Runtime, or AIR, the Web-meets-desktop software that debuted in February and now powers a number of popular light applications like Twitter client Twhirl.
Pandora is ad-supported to handle the licensing fees that inevitably come from dealing with the copyrights on most music, but the company will use image-based ads for Pandora Desktop rather than the audio ads that its Web counterpart uses.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
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