Pandora One subscription goes up by a buck for new customers

While it certainly isn’t the only name in internet radio, Pandora was certainly one of the first. This alone has given the service a large number of users, many of whom are more than happy to pay a monthly fee to listen to music ad-free. If you’ve been on the fence about subscribing, you might want to get on that. Soon.

The current Pandora One fee is $3.99 a month, the same price it has been since Pandora launched ad-free streaming in 2009. In a blog post yesterday, the company announced that in May, the price will go up, but not by much. The new price? $4.99 a month. In addition, the company is ending the annual subscription option.

An extra dollar per month isn’t that big of an increase, but hey, it’s an extra $12 a year you could be spending on something else. There is a catch, however. Anybody who is a subscriber before the price increases will be locked into the old rate.

Yes, that means that even if you don’t subcribe to Pandora One, you can go sign up right now, and you’ll get the special “loyalty price” for as long as you remain a subscriber.

Any takers?