primarily because of DRC.
So my question is, what's the big whoop? Seems a lot like Pandora, which I've used for a couple of years.
So my question is, what's the big whoop? Seems a lot like Pandora, which I've used for a couple of years.
Just played with Slacker for the first time...
- Thread starter shabadoo25
- Start date
I used to use Pandora as well but now I'm a "Slacker" exclusively. I prefer Slacker over Pandora for the simple reason that it allows me to customize or tweak my custom stations finer versus Pandora, plain and simple. They're both very good. I use Slacker Pro.
The big whoop is just what mrpacs said, total customization! I can create channels with the EXACT artist I want, not what some gnome thinks I want to hear. Don't get me wrong I enjoy Pandora too. The one area that Pandora shines for me is in New Age music vs Slacker. However in most other areas, I find the music catalog on Pandora other than current stuff to be rather meager. I have created about 14 or so channels on Slacker and I rarely find music that isn't available. When I created my decades channels I was also able to block songs or even artist I never want to hear. You can't do that on Pandora, you can tell it not to play for a month, not the same thing. I can even create channels with specific songs and have ONLY those songs play, giving me full access to Slacker library so that I never have to buy any music. Go to setting and set to max play favorites, all your songs played back to back! I also find that on Pandora you often hear repeats and a crap load of side B type songs it can take weeks to thumb down all the crap you don't want to hear, where as on Slacker I never have to worry about that because I may those when I setup the channel.
I can also set my channels rather to be more hits based or a bit more deeper, I can go with currents or oldies or somewhere in between. No means whatsoever to do that on Pandora.
The other thing is that on Slacker if you have a device that supports it, you can cache channels to the device for playback when you have no internet or 3G in the case of cell service. No can do with Pandora!
I can also set my channels rather to be more hits based or a bit more deeper, I can go with currents or oldies or somewhere in between. No means whatsoever to do that on Pandora.
The other thing is that on Slacker if you have a device that supports it, you can cache channels to the device for playback when you have no internet or 3G in the case of cell service. No can do with Pandora!
Dab, my question for you is that with all your customization, haven't you just really created a playlist--the same thing you could do on an IPOD or other MP3 player?
Ok, say you have created a decades channel, say the 80's. You then pick your favorite artists, ban the ones you never want to hear and then pick the songs you like. How is this really any different that hitting shuffle on a PMP that you've loaded with songs.
this is why I never use slacker or pandora--If I"m going through all of the trouble, I might as well just download them and load em in.
Basically that is what I've done, but with an iPod or other MP3 player I would have to buy all that music and it would end up costing me a hell of a lot more than $48 a year that I pay to Slacker. This yearly plan allows me to make full use of their library and any new music that they add, which I may then add to my stations and all commercial free.
I am at a place where I am just not into buying music. Heck I even canceled Rhapsody's all you can eat because most of the time the older music I wanted wasn't even available. Also $15 a month is no better than sat radio with a hell of a lot less entertainment.
I maybe an odd ball, but I totally love working on my stations and I take time about once a month to add music to them. Most of my stations have a hell of a lot more music than Sirius offers on their stations. I can go a week and never hear the same song over. Also I find that on most MP3 players hitting shuffling doesn't do as good a job of making sure you don't hear music over as Slacker seems to especially when using the G2 player.
To have the same amount of music that a subscriber has in regards to Slacker library, you'd have to make a huge investment and then keep adding too it.
EXACTLY! I stream all my music through my iphone whether I'm in my car, at the gym or even at home. I have an iphone dock for my yamaha home theater receiver and it's great.
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I use Slacker some at work to supplement my Sirius. I still use the free service, and have some custom stations. My question is, if you subscribe, do you have more control over the artists that show up on your stations? I'd love to be able to pick (multiple) individual artists/songs to build a station around. On the free version, it looks like you pretty much have to start with one adjust from there.
You can fav/ban as many artists as you like on the paid service. That's where the personalizing gets a lot easier.
Slacker is actually available on more platforms than Sirius right now, just most of them allow for streaming. iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Android. But the only ones that allow for caching of stations are the two I mentioned above. Pretty much the same for Pandora except that they allow no caching at all on any platform.
G1 and G2 are both still being sold. End of life means when you can't buy them anymore? Technically the SL2 is at the end of its life too considering they aren't be made anymore or at least at the end of their run. Long as you can buy them and subscribers have them they will continue to be supported. So it isn't like it will suddenly become obsolete.
All im saying is for slacker to keep expanding it needs more options for caching players/or apps for after the remaining stock of G players are sold out. plus the G players had their technical issues. Cache on ipod/phone, android, zune and WMobile ect is key to set them apart from the other music services out there and to compete more with itunes and other purchased music based players.
I think caching is important, but not totally necessary for them to continue to grow. Look at Pandora they have gone from almost bankrupt to bounce back pretty nicely all with just streaming.
I do think Slacker will eventually bring caching to the iPhone as Apple has finally eased off on allowing apps to store directly on the iPhone or iPod Touch memory. I also think as time goes on they will do this on other phones too. Right now they foolishly have an exclusive agreement with Blackberry and so I don't expect the iPhone or other phones to get caching until such time as that agreement expires.
I think you are probably right because in most cases I can use it just fine on the 3G network, so why do I care if it streaming or cached?
So, to sum up from my original post, this service appeals primarily to people who want a very customized music experience without having to purchase music themselves.
I know for myself, any musical act from whom I want to hear the 4th song on the 2nd side of one of their albums, I'd already own that album. This is probably why the appeal of this kind of thing is lost on me. That and the impersonal nature of it.
I know for myself, any musical act from whom I want to hear the 4th song on the 2nd side of one of their albums, I'd already own that album. This is probably why the appeal of this kind of thing is lost on me. That and the impersonal nature of it.
