That is some BULLSHIT. Megavideo went down a similar hole, where you have listening limits, advertisements, and subscription demands.
I remember the old days: unlimited free Pandora that didn't inject random licensed commercial music into playlists. For example, just recently I was listening to a well trained Clutch playlist (i.e. about as pure rock as you can get), and what comes on next? Tokyo Hotel. Seriously? Then more proper rock, Atomic Bitchwax. Then the Jonas Brothers (WTF?!). It was like some horrible Outer Limits joke.
So basically Pandora these days is limited listening, plenty of advertisements, and licensed marketing for major record labels. Then they want you to buy a subscription to "enjoy" more of that? Bah!
*end bitterness*