There was a time when my radio was always on. Home, pocket, car. Radio was my personalized elevator music. Today, the only radio I listen to is in the car. Internet radio is everywhere else, and one of the top services is Pandora; so perfect for iPhone users that Pandora founder Tim Westergren said it is totally responsible for internet radio growth. From Benny Evangelista in the Chicago Sun-Times:

The iPhone single-handedly kicked off that phenomenon. It changed the way consumers think about what Internet radio is. You’re no longer limited to thinking it’s just a computer radio.

Think of Pandora as radio without commercials; free for the first 40 hours a month, 99-cents after that, $3 a month for a full subscription without ads. Interestingly, ads displayed on Pandora while music plays brings in most of Pandora’s revenue, so capitalism is alive and well, even as radio morphs from the airwaves to the internet.

There was a time when radio was limited to the few dozen local stations within reception range. Today, using the internet, I can listen to any of thousands of radio stations from every part of the world. Times change and this is a good change.