What's the difference between using QuickMix and using a multi-seeded station?

Yay, great question!

QuickMix mixes musicians and musical styles together in a more random way than a regular station does. A regular station plays music in sets of 15 minutes, whereas QuickMix plays one song from each station selected, randomly.

Since QuickMix plays only one song based on a particular musical influence at a time, the mood changes more often. So listening to a QuickMix station mixing several artist stations will sound more varied (song-to-song) than a multi-seeded station.

Also, if you thumbs down a song while listening to QuickMix, it will be banned from the station that generated that song, but the song could still come up from one of your other stations.
On a multi-seed station, if you thumbs down a song, it will not come up again on that station; you're done.

As an example, one way I use QuickMix as opposed to multi-seed stations:

I've got a ragtime, a Cuban, and a jazz station. I want each station to be "pure." So I tune each station separately, giving a thumbs down to anything that doesn't fit in the genre I've decided upon.
At times though, I want to listen to all three styles at once. Then I QuickMix them together. Now I have the choice of hearing only Cuban music (for example), or Cuban music mixed with any other station I have.

So I guess I create separate stations and then QuickMix them together so I have more options overall.

I do, however, love multi-seed stations. I have a pop station that's been seeded with every pop musician I like. I want the variety, but don't care if the styles are mushed together a bit.

There's more info on QuickMix here: http://blog.pandora.com/faq/#478

I hope that helps!

~ Lucia, from Pandora

@pandora_radio on twitter