How can I inspect the data sent from the Pandora web player?

Question

Out of curiousity I'd like to be able to inspect the data sent by Pandora's web client to the Pandora servers, I am particularly interested in how it communicates user actions like 'skip this song', 'thumbs up/down' and 'I'm tired of this song'.

Normally I'd use the Chrome developer console to inspect the components of the app, but since its flash based thats not an option.

What are my options? I'd like to stay away from flash decompilers.

Answer 1

PianoBar is a console-based replacement of Pandora's flash player.

The details of the Pandora protocol won't quite fit in a concise post here, however looking at the PianoBar source code on GitHub provides quite a bit of insight.

Answer 2

One of your best bets may be to use something like Wireshark to inspect the packets and from there unravel the protocol if you can.