Pandora's $1 Pricing Plan Would Be A 'Great Idea To Get Credit Card Numbers'

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to launch a low-cost option for listeners who want to eliminate ads for 24 hours. If true, consumers will be able to pay $0.99 for one full day of commercial-free music. "It's a great idea to get credit card numbers if people are willing to do that," Needham analyst Laura Martin told Benzinga. It may not be easy to attract paying customers, however. Most Pandora users endure ads to avoid the

that accompanies Pandora One. Subscribers are able to avoid ads for an entire month. The benefit of the $0.99 fee is that it would be a one-time, commitment-free transaction. The pay-as-you-go option would not require a contract and would not force customers to cancel to avoid unwanted fees. That said, $0.99 is a lot for one day. Martin said that she would be surprised if consumers signed up for this option (which amounts to $30 per month for anyone who uses it everyday) instead of Pandora One (which would cost roughly $0.15 per day).

Albert Fried & Company Director of Research Rich Tullo said that the $1 plan is simply Pandora's way of "tweaking" the model to attract new paying customers. "To me, Pandora offering free radio for a dollar is just a natural course of business, just like HBO offering a free month or so -- or a free weekend," said Tullo. "It's just fine-tuning the sub model and trying to experiment with pricing and see what works and doesn't work." Tullo said it would be more interesting if another company decided to sponsor the ad-free model for a full day of listening. This would allow all users to enjoy ad-free music. "That's more what I'm looking for," said Tullo.

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and Chrysler were among the companies on Tullo's list of speculated sponsors. "If they get somebody to sponsor a day, then that's a big deal -- a game-changer," said Tullo. "[Someone could] sponsor a station. That's a big deal. A station everybody listens to -- not a created station." As an example, Tullo suggested that

could sponsor Led Zeppelin for a day. "That's like native advertising," said Tullo. Disclosure: