Online music site Pandora has reached a milestone of 200 million registered users, suggesting customers now prefer to rent music rather than buy.

After launching the site across Australia and New Zealand last year, the internet radio service first registered a user in the the summer of 2005 before announcing 100 million registered users by July 2011.

Yet the worldwide take-up of the America-based service increased even further, with the customer count doubling over the past two years.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be a part of this major milestone," says Jane Huxley, managing director, Pandora ANZ.

"I have loved watching Pandora thrive and grow in the Australian and New Zealand Markets, the local listeners are responding equally well in listening to their favourite artists and discovering new music.”

Pandora Founder Tim Westergren also weighed in, saying: “We started this company to help people discover and enjoy music they love, and to help artists reach and grow their audiences.

"Only in our wildest dreams did we imagine what it would become.

"It is now clear that radio is changing, and that’s great news for music fans and for the tens of thousands of working artists who now have a home on the air.”

Key figures include:

* Pandora streams 200 million songs before 10 a.m. every day

* Listeners have personalised their stations with more than 25 billion thumbs

* Last month, Pandora played more than 100,000 unique artists and more than one million unique songs

* More than 140 million listeners have tuned in to Pandora on a mobile device

With customers now adopting music services such as Pandora and Spotify, is the shift signaling a desire to rent music rather than buy?

To read our exclusive interview with Pandora's ANZ managing director Jane Huxley for her thoughts on the future of digital music, check out the May issue of NetGuide here - on sale May 1.

Want to ask Jane a question? Email NetGuide and we'll do the rest.

Do you prefer to rent or buy music? Tell us your thoughts below