I’ve opened Pandora’s Box, and I’ve unleashed a wild animal. What’s in it? I think a description taken straight from the box can explain it better than I can.

Pandora is a music discovery service designed to help you find and enjoy music that you’ll love. It’s powered by the Music Genome Project, the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken. Just tell us one of your favorite songs or artists and we’ll launch a streaming station to explore that part of the music universe.

So, what have I unleashed? Well, I’ve just dug up an old amplifier to hook up to my computer. I haven’t found speakers to wire into the amp yet, but I know where to get them. It looks like my room is going to be filled with the sound of music again. This time though, it won’t be the same old (but great) tracks over and over, but lots of new stuff - based of course, on the same tracks that used to play over and over. On top of this, everything will be playing back louder than ever. I won’t be straining to hear the output of my laptop’s tinny speakers anymore.

What? That’s it? Nope. That’s just the first of many things. I used to have an MP3 collection that spanned several drives. Once I sold off the drives, I obviously lost that. It now looks like I’m going to have to buy new drives again.

What else will I have to buy? Let me see… an external burner (that is, if I don’t replace my laptop), several blank CDs or DVDs, better audio connectors, racks and stands for my equipment, and who-knows-what-else.

I’m in trouble.

Damn that Pandora’s Box.