I’ve wanted to try Pandora for a long time but just never got around to it. Fortunately, my nephew was over for a visit this weekend and I gave me a guided of Pandora (streaming radio from the Music Genome Project). Once I saw all that Pandora could do, I finally signed up, logged in, but was stopped cold on my way to new musical discovery when Pandora refused to work with Firefox 3. The Pandora site looked great, I just couldn’t hear anything. Mildly discouraged I said to myself, “If Pandora worked for my nephew in Internet Explorer, then I was going to make it work with Firefox 3!”

What is Pandora?

You might be wondering, why all the fuss to get a web site’s audio to work. Aren’t audio enabled web sites annoying? Normally I’d say yes, but for Pandora audio is the key.

Pandora is a Flash enabled web service that allows music lovers to discover new music by listening to, and rating, music they already know and like. Simply create an account, log in, enter the name of an artist you already like and Pandora builds a play list based on music from that artist. Mixed into the play list is music from other artists similar to the one you entered. Rate the songs you hear with a simple thumbs up or thumbs down and Pandora starts to learn more about your musical tastes and suggests more music in line with what you like. Pandora has more capabilities then what I outlined but discovering new music is what it’s all about.

Adobe Flash is the root of the problem

My Pandora problem was no audio when I logged into my account. I could see everything on the site and use the site as designed I just couldn’t hear any music. Fortunately my problem wasn’t unique and Pandora’s online help offered a solution.

Since much of the site is done with Adobe Flash, the Firefox Flash plug-in is the root of the problem. Pandora suggested uninstalling and reinstalling the plug-in. Well, if you haven’t noticed, there isn’t an easy way in uninstall a plug-in. Firefox extensions are easy to uninstall but a plug-in is slightly different. Therefore uninstalling and reinstalling isn’t entirely accurate.

Note: Before trying to fix an assumed Adobe Flash problem, confirm the problem is with the Firefox Flash plug-in. Start Internet Explorer, head over to Pandora, log into your account and see if you can get the audio to work using this browser. If you still have problems with Pandora using Internet Explorer, you might have a different problem entirely.

Quick fix step-by-step

Fixing the Flash problem involves disabling, re-enabling, and possibly reinstalling the Flash plug-in. Since all steps aren’t always required, let’s start with the easiest solution: disabling and re-enabling the Flash player.

Disable Adobe Flash player

1. From the Firefox menu bar select Tools -> Add-ons.
2. Select the Plug-ins icon and scroll down to the Shockwave Flash plug-in.
3. Click the Disable button for this plug-in.
4. Exit Firefox and then restart Firefox and navigate to the Pandora site. Since much of this site relies on Flash, you should see a fairly empty site.

Re-enable the Adobe Flash player

1. From the Firefox menu bar, select Tools -> Add-ons.
2. Select the Plug-ins icon and scroll down to the Shockwave Flash plug-in.
3. Click the Enable button for this plug-in and then close the Add-ons dialog box.
4. Reload the Pandora page by selecting View -> Reload from the menu bar. Don’t just hit the refresh button on the tool bar because that doesn’t always “reload” the entire contains of the page.
5. Once reloaded, Pandora should present a complete site with functioning audio.
6. If the audio still isn’t working, go back and disable the plug-in as previously described and then restart Firefox and try to re-enable it one more time.

Re-install the Adobe Flash player

Audio still not working? Okay, time to reinstall the plug-in:

1. Head over to Adobe and download the latest Flash player.
2. Exit Firefox and double click on the downloaded plug-in to start the installation.
3. Once Flash has been re-installed, start Firefox.
4. Ensure the Shockwave Flash plug-in is enabled. From the menu-bar select Tools -> Add-ons.
5. Select the Plug-ins icon and scroll down to the Shockwave Flash plug-in. If you see a Disable button (don’t click it) next to this plug-in, then you know it is enabled.
6. Open the Pandora site and see if this has corrected the problem. If not, try the disable and re-enable steps one more time.

At this point, I’m confident Pandora’s audio should be fully functional. If not, it’s time to call out the big guns and contact Pandora customer service and see if they can offer any other solutions.

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Filed under: How-To & Tech Tips