Since my blog is just popular enough for sploggers to post comments on it, I decided to set up captcha images to thwart them using the scode plugin. I had set up everything, but scode kept saying that the code I entered didn't match the one in the image. I asked for help on the blojsom mailing list, but they were stumped also. Eventually, I looked through the scode source code, and I discovered that it was using the java session, and tomcat was setting the session's cookie's path to /blojsom, which became a problem since I am using apache to rewrite the url.


Of course, after spending a lot of time researching the issue, I am able to search for the right keywords to find someone who has had the exact same problem as I did. Apparently, emptySessionPath=”true” tomcat configuration should fix this, but it only works with version 5.5.4, and I encountered some issues upgrading, so I had to modify the source code for the scode plugin as described in the above link.

I really doubt it in the long run, but Pandora.com is the first music site that is more exciting to use than iTunes, which is technically not a website. Pandora takes a song or artist name and then plays music from that artist and from artists with similar music. You can later add more artists to refine their picks. After listening to several songs that it chooses for you, it asks you to register, which is useful so that you can save multiple “stations” based on different sets of artists.

You have the option of subscribing for $3-$4/month to eliminate ads. They tell you up front that they are just starting to bring on advertisers, and I would assume that they will have to have radio ads and not just banner ads, since it’s easy to never look at their website since it does a good job picking out music for you.

To give you an example, I told Pandera to music based on PJ Harvey, Radiohead, and Portishead. Pandora played music by artists including Björk, Massive Attack, Morcheeba. They also played the following songs by artists I had never heard of:

• When I Shine by The Herbaliser
• Grey Dazz by Tali
• Deceptively Yours by The Peter Malick

I’m really amazed at how much I enjoy Pandora, but I worry that it is going to be like the radio station in town that didn’t play any ads for their first few weeks on the air. It was awsome while it lasted, not just because it was free, but it also had a great mix. The reality of revenue streams set in and brought in ads and heavy rotation of a smaller set of songs. I guess it could be worse, every music medium could be replacing their content with reality shows.

The software developers out there may be interested in this article on how Pandora.com uses OpenLaszlo to develop their Flash interface. This is not really part of their flash interface, but I was really stoked when I found out that my Firefox browser tab’s name changed to the currently playing song.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Pandora just started playing Ashlee Simpson. I guess this must be a harbinger of the pop music apocolypse. Well, eat, drink, and listen to good music, for tomorrow your iPod’s battery will die.