Slacker 4 GB Portable Radio with 25 Stations (Black) | List Price: $249.99
Discount Price: $189.99
|
Brand: Slacker
Binding: Electronics
Features: - 4 GB Slacker Radio and MP3 player with 25-station capacity
- Built-in Wi-Fi auto-refreshes Slacker Radio stations; music plays whether or not connected
- Plays your existing music collection (MP3, WMA, and AAC)
- 4-inch color LCD displays album art, reviews, artist bios and more
- Removable, rechargeable battery
So Much Better Than Satellite! [Posted on 2008-05-31]
I love my Slacker Radio! It's so much better than satellite radio, where I never find anything to listen to, even though the stations are supposed to be very diverse and programmed for specific genres. With Slacker you can create stations and set all the artists you want to play on that station. And it's free after you buy the player! I have a wide variety of stations on mine, from one for my toddler daughter to a Britrock station. I never have the time to sit around making up playlists for a regular mp3 player, so slacker beats them too, because all you have to do is connect to a wireless network, or if you don't have a wireless network around, plug the player into a computer with an internet connection. It's Awesome!
Enjoyable, if not perfect [Posted on 2008-06-02]
The Slacker Portable Radio is a very usable and enjoyable device. Although I enjoy staying current, I am not usually an "early adopter" of new technology, but the stars were aligned for me on this one and I took the risk. I have not regretted it.
The best thing about the Slacker Portable is the hassle-free way a variety of music is delivered to the player. The whole concept of having music delivered to a portable player "automatically" and in a radio station format without the endless chatter of an actual radio station is appealing. In practice, the Slacker Portable works quite well, with a couple of quirks. I love the large album cover art with artist information and album reviews. Obviously, these things are not useful in the car, but when I am using the player at my desk, they work great. The music selection is good and Slacker gives the user some freedom in programming the stations.
I continue to have some very small problems with the player: music sometimes cuts out briefly at the beginning of tracks & player responds slowly to button pushes, at times. These keep me from rating the device a perfect 5 stars. I remain hopeful that these issues will be addressed, as the previous firmware updates solved some other small problems with my player. Firmware updates could not be easier since they are performed automatically when the player is updated with new music.
The best endorsement I can give is that I would buy another Slacker Portable if I had to do it over.
Not quite 5-star but Slacker is an awesome and unique "personal radio" experience! [Posted on 2008-06-07]
Well, I have had my 8GB 40-station Slacker Portable for almost a month now, and I must agree with "Patent Guy", the Slacker experience is quite amazing! I use my Slacker Portable everyday, especially during my driving commute each day.
I also have Sirius Satellite radio along with the Sirius Stiletto 100 Portable radio, I use both the Slacker and the Stiletto, but they are two different devices and services which complement each other. Also have iPods, but the music selection gets stale on them quickly. Sirius is great obviously for custom content like Howard Stern and Vin Scelsa. The Slacker service is a whole new concept in personalized radio.
I am a Mac guy, so I don't use the Slacker Player for Windows, but the Slacker Portable connected to my Apple Airport Extreme immediately via WiFi at blazing speed with no problem.
Mine came pre-loaded with ten stations of my choice selected from the Slacker Web Player, and I quickly added over twenty more to the Portable. I opted to upgrade my Slacker service to "premium", which allows for much more control of the Slacker experience.
The Slacker Portable unit itself is very sleek, a little cumbersome for my hand, but once you use it for awhile, it's all right. It does fit in a shirt or jacket pocket, I use it in my shirt pocket with ear buds and it works great.
The actual hardware takes some getting used to, and the button placement and design could be better, I keep hitting unintended buttons to perform tasks and it does the opposite of what I want. The large screen is gorgeous and brilliant, and the copious information screens for each song/artist that you can toggle through are great. I wish there was another screen for lyrics for each song, that would be awesome! It has a battery compartment which in theory you can open and replace the battery if needed, not sure if Slacker will offer the option to buy replacement batteries in the future. Other accessories in the works include a home and car dock, not available yet.
I have numerous stations on both the Web Player and the Portable, and the customization level of each station is phenomenal! You can control the amount of "new artists" discovered for each station, and turn off the "DJ" feature (this control is premium service only), This "DJ" feature is annoying to me, as it inserts Slacker promos, DJ comments derived from the radio station's genre, and also paid commercial ads.
That was the main reason I upgraded to the Slacker premium service, to be able to eliminate this "DJ/Promos/Ads" feature is well worth it to me! What's the point of this new "personalized' radio if it contains the same pesky promos, commentary and ads I am trying to avoid from terrestrial radio? Also, the premium service allows you to "Save" almost any song (provided the rights to save that song have been purchased by Slacker). You can "save" songs to the Web Player OR the Portable, sometimes certain songs can be saved to one and not the other, for licensing reasons.
Premium service also allows song requests and unlimited song "skips", which is useful for rapidly bypassing ("banning") songs I don't like to reach songs I can designate as a "favorite" and save. This process applies to each Slacker station. Slacker has tons of pre-configured stations, or you can create your own with just the artists you like, or stations can be shared from other users on the Slacker Forums.
I am amazed at the depth of music and range of great songs I can now access with my customized stations. I am constantly hearing favorite songs I love from all genres that I haven't heard played on any radio platform for years! Of course, I can immediately save these to my Web Player or Portable library to play anytime. The library can be set to "shuffle-play" like a huge playlist.
The killer feature of the Slacker Portable is that the music selection for each station is updated, expanded and refreshed every time you connect via WiFi (auto-connect occurs each time you plug in the AC charger). This is where the "surprise" element comes in, when you play each station again, there is a new roster of songs/artists to discover! Wifi connections also allow the Portable to update its own firmware automatically.
You can also create custom playlists, and "ban" & "favorite" songs or even artists, and if you change your mind and decide you want to hear a previously banned song, you can "un-ban" it via the Software Player.
Overall, for me the Slacker Portable is unique and satisfying experience, I am very pleased with it in general. It has a few quirks to resolve, but these can be addressed with future firmware updates. Slacker tech support is very responsive to user comments and suggestions.
So far, as good as I hoped it would be [Posted on 2008-06-21]
I have been very happy with this product so far. I love music, but found myself not even turning on my car radio. This has renewed my enjoyment of music. I purchased mine with an FM transmitter for my car and also use it when I walk and bike ride. I have experienced the same very minor quirks that others have mentioned (occasional song skips, getting used to the buttons), but they do not alter my enjoyment of this product. The 15 station version has been great, but with the variety of available music, I almost wish I had sprung for one of the higher priced versions. The number of potential stations is almost unlimited.
I am not that technically advanced, but I have not had any problems performing any of its functions. It does not seem to take very long to refresh the stations with new music, although it depends on how many stations you have and how often you refresh. I have only done it a couple of times so far. I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the web version first so you can fine tune your stations and get a feel for it. Slacker reportedly will begin airing a few commercials in the future, but not likely to be anywhere near the amount of current AM/FM radio (this can also be circumvented with a premium account for about $7.50 per month, which also allows unlimited song skips and storing favorite songs). I considered buying a Sirius Stiletto, but was worried about the reception (although I have heard and read many good things about it). I suppose if I wanted more than just music, that would have been a potentially good option, but Slacker gives you much more control over the music (skipping songs, fine tuning the stations, banning certain artists, etc.). I did not want an ipod because I want variety and don't feel like downloading music that I have already heard many times over or that I will soon tire of. However, any of these options are far superior to traditional radio.
I am not that fussy about sound quality, but the Slacker's audio has easily been good enough for me. I also appreciate the screen that gives me background information about the artist. This is a great product for anyone who loves all varieties of music.
Wow--better than iPod and Sirius combined [Posted on 2008-07-19]
I think this is the best gadget out there right now. Reason is I have an iTouch which is great if you want to listen to the same songs over and over. I also love Sirius, but can only get in my car when I am home. Issue is I travel on planes a ton, and want to listen to new music (vs same old songs).
This is a great idea, because you load what 'channels' you like (can even create your own) and it loads fresh songs (via wi-fi or USB) when you are connected automatically. It so cool because they are artists I like and it's alway new music (vs my iTouch which has same old songs). Oh the best part, the songs are free.
I can't believe this is not more popular--I am buying as gifts for family and friends to spread the word. I bought 25 channel version, 15 is the most one will ever need, so moving forward I will just purchase that model as gifts.
Funny, because in my backpack traveling weekly, this has replaced my iPod (still good for movies). So now I have Bose headets and Slacker for hours and hours of fresh music. Can use on one charge for 6 hour round trip flights.
Must have for those that travel or those on the go...get one, you won't regret it!
Click here for more details and discount information...
|
){kind=link}