As those who have read my ramblings here know, I’m always looking for the perfect holiday mix. This year, it’s been easier thanks to two services I’ve been playing with: Zune Marketplace and Pandora.
Tip#1: Find Great Holiday Music on Zune
Zune Marketplace serves up a broad range of musical suggestions, but if you click on the “more” option under Genres, you’ll find the latest programming for the holidays. Select, “Seasonal” and you’ll find some great playlists – Christmas Classics and Holiday Cocktails are two of my favorite playlists.
Don’t have Zune? It’s a great time to take advantage of the two weeks free offer or you can sample the catalog for ideas on Zune.net.
Tip #2: Serve up Pandora’s Holiday Stations
A tip of the hat to the Pandora team for sharing some tips for creating Holiday stations on Pandora! Just start by entering the name of a holiday song you like. To create a station based on an artist who performs holiday music, enter their name, followed by the word ‘holiday’ (for example, ‘Ray Charles Holiday’).
- Classical Christmas Listen Now
- Rockin’ Holidays Listen Now
- Swingin’ Christmas Listen Now
- Jazz Holidays Listen Now
- Country Christmas Listen Now
Having spent the majority of this weekend boxing up our house for our move, I can attest that these work great on Pandora on Sonos as well. (Note: Pandora also now powers MSN Radio here.)
And don’t forget last year’s Holiday Trivia Picture pack – great to put as a slideshow on your TV or Digital Picture frame during holiday parties. Happy holidays all!