Happy PI DAY... Millions of music fans have chosen SPOTIFY or APPLE or TIDAL for any number of reasons—maybe they like Spotify's smart discovery technology, or Apple's human curation, or Tidal's relationship with major pop artists—but rarely do I hear anyone say they use a particular service because they genuinely love it. As often as not, they use it because it's there. The exception: RDIO, which broke a lot of hearts when its new owner, PANDORA, shut it down 15 months ago, because it had spent years actually winning those hearts by paying close attention to the basics: design, usability, etc. ENDGADGET reports that "the spirit (or is it ghost?) of Rdio is very much alive... for better and worse" in PANDORA PREMIUM, which launches in the US on Wednesday as a combined radio and on-demand streamer. The design is clean and album-art-friendly, reports NATHAN INGRAHAM, but both the UI and the catalog have some catching up do to. He says the service makes good use of your Pandora listening history, including all your thumbs-ups, but lags in some basic discovery and playback tools. You can't, for example reorder your queue while it's playing. THE VERGE's MICAH SINGLETON says the service seems aimed at beginning streaming users in ways that may turn off advanced users. There are no curated playlists but there are tools to help you quickly add songs to your own playlists. Can the easy-play functionality convert a new wave of streaming users? Is the built-in Pandora radio audience a potential difference maker? Are DANIEL EK and JIMMY IOVINE sweating? Stay tuned... Props to Pandora's TIM WESTERGREN for saying exclusives are "not a focus for us" and not "a winning strategy for anybody"... NPR MUSIC takes a closer look at why exactly ITALIAN rock band SOVIET SOVIET was blocked from entering the US and suggests the band may deserve some of the blame. The added details will color how you look at some additional SXSW artists that have announced they can't get into the country, though there's an important twist to these: Two of the members of MASSIVE SCAR ERA are EGYPTIAN, and brothers YUSSEF, AHMED and KAREEM DAYES, who perform as UNITED VIBRATIONS, are blaming "discrimination based on religion and race," according to their label... INFOWARS is apparently at war with PORTUGAL. THE MAN (that's *not* an Infowars link, btw)... ALEXA is prepared to name your band... RIP TOMMY LIPUMA, JOHN LEVER and DON WARDEN.