How often do you refresh your portable player ? How do you use your portable ?

Oct 29, 2008
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I have a 25 channel G2. I average about 15 stations on it at a time. This gets me through the week. I only listen on the player about 20 hours a week. So I refresh once a week every weekend. I could probably refresh less often, but the weekends is a easy thing to remember. Repeats are not a problem, or anything out of the norm. I pretty much recharge battery once a day. Unless I did not use it that day. I use it "on the go" on my arm, and in my car. I don't use it at home/office. This is my favorite portable device of this kind I have owned. Very unique.

How often are you refreshing ? What is your usage pattern ?
 
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DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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I listen for about 16 hours a day and in the course of that time I may shift channels 3 or 4 times. I usually refresh my channels every 2 to 3 days and I mainly do this to keep the refresh time down to a minimum. Now there are times like this weekend where I have refreshed several times. The reason being that I have tweaked about 6 of my custom channels with new artist... lots and lots of new artist. This is going to give me some very deep channels and so even refreshing a little more often will result in a lot less repeats.

I find most that have issues with repeats will have them because they have created channels with a small number of artist. I know they say all you need is 15 artist, but you are asking for repeats if that is all you add to a channel. I now have a couple of channels with up to 250 artist in them. Being off for the holidays and being the night owl that I am has been a perfect time to do this.

Right now I only have 15 channels on my Slacker and I purposely limit it to this because I would prefer the channel that I do have to include much bigger playlist. If each channel can normally hold 100 channel, then this gives me right enough space for up to a 1000 songs to be added across my most listened to channels.

The other thing that I and many others have found is that when you do refresh it reshuffles and of course not every song on your device in a given station is replaced, so this will open you up to a limited number of repeats, which appears to be normal, so if you don't listen very much the less you refresh the better off you will be.

I could probably go much longer on my refreshes if I wanted too.
 

xyzzy

New Member
Dec 16, 2008
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I listen somewhere between 4-9 hours per day. My portable is strictly for car use (synch it while the car is sitting in the garage), so it's only used while I'm out & about and I don't need to synch it that often. While at home I listen to Slacker via my Logitech Squeezebox connected to a whole house audio setup.
 
Oct 29, 2008
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If need be I tweak my stations prior to doing the refresh. So I'll do that once a week, or as needed.
As long as I leave the house with a full battery I'm good to go for that day. I then charge it when I get home for the next use. Battery life is not the greatest, but charging once a day is no problem with me. The longest I have ever used it at once without turning it off is about 4 hours. Which I do often twice a week. This depletes about half my battery.
 

KHill

New Member
Oct 15, 2008
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Akron, Ohio
I listen about 12 hours a day on my 25 station G2 which I only keep 15 stations on. I refresh about every 2 days since I'm a station hopper. Plus, I'm always tweaking my stations, so I like to have the latest changes.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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I also use my car charger for the G2 a good bit since the battery generally doesn't hold up a full day for me as much as I listen. From the time my feet hit the floor to the point of going to bed and then there are times when I am listening while laying in bed to go to sleep. So my 16 hours isn't going to be a solid 16 hours, but on average this baby is playing tunes for about that much time a day. Some days a little less when I do the sat radio or iPod thing.
 

drowe

New Member
Oct 14, 2008
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I listen all day at work. I'm too much of a slacker to change stations, so I just loaded up all the artists I like onto one mega rock station and leave it there. I'm hoping that will eventually fill up with a day's worth of songs so it doesn't repeat. I do have the comedy and classic rock stations loaded, but don't listen to them very often. I refresh every day when I bring it in at night.
 

sphere79

Member
Dec 1, 2008
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I have a G1 and though I probably don't need to it refreshes nightly when I dock for charging.

The thing is, before the latest firmware the G1 wouldn't load new songs until I listened to a station for hours. I'd play the station for an hour or two, and then the refresh would say "picking new songs" (but never get to the screen with the progress bar) and after 15 seconds say it was done. Now, post firmware update I can literally play 5 songs on the portable and refresh and it will fetch new songs on that station.

It also seems to me that when refreshing, my G1 tells Slacker what it's played and if I go to my RCA200 or the web player it's avoiding playing those songs. I'm not sure if this is a recent update in function though, because previously I used only the portable most of the time. Now with the RCA200 device, I'm using the web service more (the RCA200 log-ins and functions the same as using the browser) and it's something I've noticed. So if I've been out driving I'll update the portable at home and then use the 200. It's possible my stations just have big playlists and that there really is no communication between the G1 and the web service as well. I should note that all devices are on the same account.

Not sure what others experiences have been concerning this....
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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It's possible my stations just have big playlists and that there really is no communication between the G1 and the web service as well. I should note that all devices are on the same account.

Not sure what others experiences have been concerning this....

Yeah that would be my guess, because I have heard a song on a given station and then fired up the web player and heard that same song on the same station within 2 or 3 songs.

There was also a discussion about repeats on the Slacker forum where some such as myself reported that after refreshing stations it was our opinion that not every song that had been played are removed and replaced with new songs. While some songs probably are removed and others added there is a percentage of them that are not and since the stations music is then reshuffled you could possibly hear some repeats sooner than anticipated. Patient Guy over on the Slacker forum says that it doesn't reshuffle, but several others in that same thread clearly disagree as do I. My experience shows it clearly shuffles the songs when refreshed. I really don't consider this an issue and feel it is normal. I will say that that I rarely hear repeats even after the refresh/shuffle on stations where I have a huge artist library. Plus also a library that has been refreshed dozens of time because it has grown beyond the standard 100 song playlist.
 

sphere79

Member
Dec 1, 2008
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Yeah that would be my guess, because I have heard a song on a given station and then fired up the web player and heard that same song on the same station within 2 or 3 songs.

Yes but but I'm talking about playing the portable, refreshing, and then using the web player. I'm just thinking that the refresh is sending the play data back to Slacker and they adjust accordingly - it seems that way to me but it may not be.

I know this happens when going from the RCA200 to the web player - they work together. If I shut down the 200 and then log onto the web player the "next" artist on the 200 is what's playing on the web, because it's the same account and functions the same on Slacker's end. The portable doesn't "log in" when playing obviously but I'm wondering about the refresh. I should just experiment with a small artist station and see how it goes.
 

RoadRunner

Member
Oct 13, 2008
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I listen all day at work. I'm too much of a slacker to change stations, so I just loaded up all the artists I like onto one mega rock station and leave it there. I'm hoping that will eventually fill up with a day's worth of songs so it doesn't repeat. I do have the comedy and classic rock stations loaded, but don't listen to them very often. I refresh every day when I bring it in at night.
This is mostly me. I have a few different stations I listen to, but I listen at my desk during the day, and recharge/reload every night.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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Yes but but I'm talking about playing the portable, refreshing, and then using the web player. I'm just thinking that the refresh is sending the play data back to Slacker and they adjust accordingly - it seems that way to me but it may not be.

Yes, I know what you meant and that is what I am referring too. I've done exactly that and within a song or two heard a song that had recently played on my portable. I personally don't think between the portable and the web player the communication is such that it would prevent it from repeating songs. The RCA200 maybe different, but I don't have one to make a comparison. However, I have done this many times with my Portable and found no rhyme or reason to the playlist after a refresh going either way between the web and portable.
 

sphere79

Member
Dec 1, 2008
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However, I have done this many times with my Portable and found no rhyme or reason to the playlist after a refresh going either way between the web and portable.
Yea, you're right it was just the super-deep playlists on some of my stations leading me to believe that's how it was functioning. It works that way on the RCA200 because it functions the same as the web browser. It's just like using one PC to access Slacker.com, logging out then logging back in on another.

I have noticed that my G1 updates completely differently than it did before the last firmware. It's entirely more enjoyable/usable now - tonight I had one of my custom stations on while driving and Slacker was picking awesome tune after awesome tune. I love how when your favorite artists have new albums out you'll hear them on Slacker pretty quickly. Slacker rules!
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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It works that way on the RCA200 because it functions the same as the web browser. It's just like using one PC to access Slacker.com, logging out then logging back in on another.

I have noticed that my G1 updates completely differently than it did before the last firmware. It's entirely more enjoyable/usable now - tonight I had one of my custom stations on while driving and Slacker was picking awesome tune after awesome tune. I love how when your favorite artists have new albums out you'll hear them on Slacker pretty quickly. Slacker rules!

That RCA200 sounds pretty cool, how long have you had it? I assume you have to setup a separate account for it, vs the G1? I know nothing about that RCA200. Does it refresh like other radios or does it just play like the web player?

Yeah this last update really was long overdue and has surely taken the G1 to a new level. I've seen some happy campers on the Slacker Forum, which were feeling pretty left out for awhile after the G2 came out. I know I've said it a million times, but I love that big screen on the G1. In my opinion other than size the G1 is almost on par with the G2 now.
 

sphere79

Member
Dec 1, 2008
51
1
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That RCA200 sounds pretty cool, how long have you had it? I assume you have to setup a separate account for it, vs the G1? I know nothing about that RCA200. Does it refresh like other radios or does it just play like the web player?

For $99 the RCA "RIR200" (I've been saying that wrong) is quite nice, actually - I got it for Christmas. It visually isn't too pretty (looks like it's a retro '80's design) and it's meant to be used as an alarm clock so there's no remote - that's the biggest downfall. It's an "alarm clock" with WiFi, Slacker support (yes, you can wake up with Slacker), and WMA, MP3 and Real (people still use that?) playback - over 12,000 internet streams. All configurable via a webpage where you can add your own streams. Entering your zip, it has 3-day weather forecast with emergency alerts and finds all local radio station's streams automatically. It also can record internet streams (no scheduled recording though) to it's 512MB of memory and plays MP3's from the USB port (which unfortunately is in back). Oh yea and don't forget the (humorously poorly working) AM/FM tuner!

I don't need a separate account because it doesn't have a device ID like a portable would - it logs in and appears on Slacker's end exactly like a PC accessing their servers. It functions the same as using Slacker via a Squeezebox device. It has ban and heart buttons on the front and unlike the portable I can "unheart" a track. If I was on the computer and listened to the Comedy channel and then Alternative Hits those will show up as recently played on the RIR200. Both logged in at the same time will cause problems though - at first I'll lose unlimited skip (even though it's a Plus account) and eventually it will stop working. There is no way to access any saved songs at all, it just streams Slacker stations. I'm using it with a Denon amp via the headphone / line-out, but the built-in speakers are pretty good for the size; there's even two cute little speaker ports in the back!

In my opinion other than size the G1 is almost on par with the G2 now.

The only difference is the song volume issue; which is present on the web player, the RCA RIR200 and the Slacker G1. The G2 can normalize at a hardware level. There have been noticeable improvements on Slacker's part and IMO this problem can and should be handled 100% on Slacker's end. Because of the way Slacker is (i.e. like listening to a CD vs compressed FM radio), we're always going to have texture and equalization differences from album to album. But there's no reason why they can't set an average peak volume for every file without that FM-style compression. So songs will still have their louder and quieter moments, but every song's average volume would be about the same. This could be implemented by Slacker without recoding as well, it's a matter of shifting a few bits and nothing more. It's something that really needs to be done to help push the service forward. Having to jump on the volume quickly because a song comes on from a "loud" album is annoying and not necessary with XM/Sirius/AM/FM (well maybe commercials).
 

mjones73

New Member
Jan 8, 2009
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North East, MD
I received an 8 GB G2 for Christmas, I charge it nightly and have it set to auto update via Wifi, I use it in the car, on the train and at my desk all day at work.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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Well my stations had gotten big enough that I was able starting to go to longer periods of refreshing, but then it wouldn't sign in to do the refresh and I had to do a factory reset, so I am back at square doing daily refreshes to rebuild my stations content back up.
 

TX WJ

Intelligent Donkey
Oct 15, 2008
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Well I have refreshed 5-6 times since I got home Wednesday and it was here.

I have a long week in the car next week and I will let you know what I think.

I have 30 stations loaded on my 8 gb G1 and I am not sure how deep they are.

I have to drive from Charleston SC to Atlanta GA on Monday am, the from Atlanta GA to Myrtle Beach SC on Tuesday afternoon, then on Wednesday afternoon I will drive to Roanoke Rapids, NC and then on Thursday I will drive to Columbia, SC and then finally home again Friday evening.

That's 55 and a half hours drive time, and 1385 miles.

We will see how Slacker does.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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Well I do not think you will be disappointed with Slacker. I'll be curious to see what you think once you get back!