pandora website user profile system

Question

How does Pandora save user profiles/accounts after a user registers? How does it remember the user - even after the user has cleared cookies and cache.

I found if you register with one browser and visit Pandora.com with another browser you are recognized as the registered user.

How did they do it?

chrome, ff3, ie8 took part in the testing.

Answer 1

Pandora stores some information in the Flash local storage, including your username and login credentials. When you clear cookies in your browser, it does not clear Flash local storage which is why Pandora still remembers you.

Also, since Flash local storage is shared between all browsers on that computer, the settings will be available to Flash within any browser.

If at any time you want to clear your Flash local storage, you can right click on the Flash app (i.e. the Pandora music player) and select "Settings..." then in the "Local Storage" tab slide it down to 0 then "OK". Keep in mind that the next time you start Pandora, you'll have to allow it to store some data again otherwise it won't be able to load.