So I suppose that you don't want to try the same programmer's Vmail[1] - a Vi-interface for Gmail? (Oh, or even better Twim[2] - a Vi-interface for Twitter!)

More seriously, I thought of it as (1) a cool hack and (2) akin to Zawinski's law[3] about the way that software expands to consume more tasks. More serious Vim hackers might object that it amounts to the Emacs-ification of Vim. (Given the number of plugins to add calendars, todo lists and Org-mode to Vim, I think that battle may be lost.)

[1] http://danielchoi.com/software/vmail.html

[2] https://github.com/danchoi/twim

[3] http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/Z/Zawinskis-Law.html

I've been using mutt with gmail. It drops into vim when it's time to compose a message. I've never heard of vmail. It sounds interesting, but I would personally recommend mutt over vmail. mutt is quite vimish.

http://wiki.mutt.org/?UserStory/GMailOverIMAP

The first thing I see on that page is:

set imap_pass = 'yourpassword'

I get scared and run away...

You don't have to store your password in plain text just because it gives you the opportunity to do so - I use mutt without a stored password for IMAP. It means that I have to enter my password between one and three times per day, but that's a minor inconvenience to me.

While I tend to agree in general, I've actually found pianobar much less distracting than the Pandora web interface.

F5 (my hotkey for Terminal.app), n, Alt+Tab can happen without me really thinking about it, whereas the web interface requires firing up the browser, locating the "Next" button and clicking it.

So I guess I can see this being an improvement if all you're looking to do is skip to the next song. If, as you say, you browse through your albums, etc, then I imagine this would be just as distracting.

I agree with you that the claim that this is some sort of "productivity enhancement" is a bit weak, but as an actual feature, it is pretty impressive. The productivity side of it is immaterial, IMO.