PandaBar

PandaBar is alive and kicking. Version 1.3.1 supports Mavericks. It can be purchased directly at http://www.pandabarapp.com

This review is for PandaBar 1.2.5 (NOT 1.2.4), from the MAS. I saw PandaBar was back at the MAS, screamed with pure joy and bought the thing right away. Unlike other manubar Pandora apps, it supports Snow Leopard. THANK YOU, developer. The interface is amazing - elegant and minimal: the cute tiny Panda sits in my menubar, wearing cute tiny headphones that turn green when the radio's playing ;) When I click the panda, pops a small window with volume, pause/play, skip, thumbs up/down, cover pic, song/artist name... And lower right, I can click Stations (the window then changes to a compact Stations window; I click Player, lower left, to get back to the Player window). There's also a tiny preferences cogwheel, where you can enable/disable Growl notifications, choose to auto-play on start, or select a high-quality audio stream for Pandora One subscribers (I use free Pandora for now). I didn't encounter any problems playing Pandora, it played smoothly for me despite my slow Internet connection. In three words: VERY, VERY COOL.

It's broke with a new Pandora page. The developer still hasn't updated the application and looks like it will not ever update it. The developer even removed it from the Mac App Store.

Two dollars very well spent. This little applet is stable, unobtrusive and native. It makes Pandora seem almost like part of the OS. I love it. PS I'd like to see the developer add the ability to make new channels.