Pandora launched an Adobe AIR powered desktop version of their web application yesterday. As with the web version, this version only works for visitors from the United States (as you can see in the message below). The new application is nearly the same as their web based version - with the main advantage being you can click on a desktop icon to launch the app, rather than having to start your browser. Right clicking on the desktop icon will also give you a menu of options, allowing you to pause the music or switch stations easily.

TechCrunch doesn't give it a glowing review, saying

Unfortunately, the AIR version of Pandora doesn’t do much to actually improve the user experience. See that screenshot above? You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a screenshot of the regular Pandora homepage. It’s actually a screenshot of the AIR application itself. ...

If Pandora is going to make this work, it’ll need to find a way around the advertising conundrum. But even if it does, it won’t be the only one. I imagine that lots of web services will have to wrestle with how to provide maximum functionality through AIR without sacrificing too much ad revenue. The problem is only exacerbated with a service like Pandora that’s so simple to operate.

I totally agree. The problem here is Pandora's revenue model, which is advertising based. That constraint doesn't allow them to provide the functionality that users want - namely to minimize the player in the corner of the screen, like you can do with iTunes. They either need to think of other ways to advertise in the application (text ads in the menu you get from the dock icon?), or come up with a paid subscription model. Personally, I think the latter is the way to go, but there have been very few companies that make it work. The user experience has to be so good that people are willing to pay extra for it - so far that's been a tough sell for rich Internet applications.

Ryan Stewart has some more information as well, as does Download Squad.

This article on TechCrunch really caught my eye. Apparently, the team from Worth 1000 have a new project called Aviary.

Aviary will provide both a marketplace for creative professionals to showcase and sell their artwork as well as a set of 14 online tools to create and edit the artwork. The online tools (all named after birds) range from image editing, vector illustration, swatch generation and even audio & video editing. According to their website at creationonthefly.com, the tools will integrated with each other - allowing users to create an asset in one tool and bring it into another.

While there is no shortage of online image editors on the web today, this is certainly the first project (that I'm aware of) that will bring such a full suite of functionality to content creation. Indeed, it's hard not to compare the project to Adobe's Master Collection. Will creative professionals be inclined to switch from desktop tools to their online counterparts? Will they have to switch to take advantage of the marketplace? According to the TechCrunch article, the tools are all created using Flex - which means that there's also the potential that Aviary could create desktop versions of the tools using Adobe AIR. This is definitely a project I'll be following. Stay tuned!