Slacker G1 (reviews and info)

[CraigW]

Got mine yesterday, though have only played with it a little bit. Managed to get it to update via USB (after disabling my firewall), but couldn't get it to connect to my wifi. Station setup was pretty easy via the website and the software player. It did take a looooong time to update the first time, though I have a slow dsl connection. So far so good though, definitely seems like a good buy for the $$.

Only issue is the power button seems to be a little finicky on mine. It sometimes will stick in the down position, and I'm never really sure if it has turned off. When I power it back on, should I always see the startup screen? It seems like sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

So far I'm pretty happy with it, and I think it will be great for what I wanted it for, music in my office. I have a Stiletto, but don't use it in my daily driver, so I was always forgetting it, etc, and we use it at home all the time, so this seems like the perfect solution. Not to mention I can't stream anything at work, and can't get a sat signal so was limited to recordings and radio replays.

 

[DAB]

Thanks for the info on your G1. I tested my Linksys Wireless router with the G1, it connected with no problems. I also tried the USB-refresh to make sure it was working. All these portable Wifi music devices seem real finicky when it comes to connecting via Wifi. If your router or WAP has any unusual settings they sometimes will not connect.

I didn't notice any power button issues on the one I tested. I did note that it would say shutting down when you pushed it just once quickly. Then if you pushed it and held it down for 10 seconds it would do a cold restart.

Sounds like the device is going to work out well for you!

By the way I moved this in a new thead since your is the first to discuss any info or feedback on the Slacker G1.

 

[CraigW]

Yep, that's the same behavior I'm seeing with the power button. As for the wifi, I didn't mess with it much other than to add the MAC to my filter, and try to connect. If I get a chance this weekend, I plan to try turning off the security and see if I can connect, and then go from there. So far I've really liked the music selections even without much tweaking.

The only thing I have found that I don't like so far is the "slider bar" on the side, seems pretty uncontrollable with it turned on, so I've just been using the scroll wheel.

 

[out of control]

Well I was just curious. When I first looked at the G1 back in the day. I thought to myself this thing is a size of a brick for a portable player. So I never considered it. Even at 50.00 dollars I felt the same way. I also did not like the touch screen aspect. Just wondering how others feel that have it. I can't possibly be the only one that feels that way. Did some of you buy it simply because of the woot price tag ? Then just disregarded the down sides to the device.......Currently I am very happy with the size of the current model, and glad I waited it out for that generation.

 

[DAB]

The only thing I have found that I don't like so far is the "slider bar" on the side, seems pretty uncontrollable with it turned on, so I've just been using the scroll wheel.

Yes the touch strip was a good idea, but the implimentation wasn't. They come by default turned off and I can see why. I would think most turn them off or never turn them on and just use the scroll wheel.

Well I was just curious. When I first looked at the G1 back in the day. I thought to myself this thing is a size of a brick for a portable player. So I never considered it.

I think the size of the unit while it is bigger is totally exaggerated. I would hardly call it a brick especially me having a background with the original PNP sat radios. LOL But it is clearly larger than the G2, but you get larger text, bigger display for easier reading of song info and the artist/ song bio info. It is very tiny on the G2. In terms of the menu they are pretty much the same, the reminders and pop us screens of course are bigger and seem to stand out more the G1.

I did buy because of the price, I purchased 2 of them for gifts, but for me the size wasn't that big of a deal. I don't agree that smaller is better as so many seem too. I still have a big Streamer Sat Tuner and to this day I love that big display that can be read across the room. No other radios ever offered that ability.

 

[TVGenius]

My mom and I each grabbed a G1 from Woot (the first time, not the woot-off) and got them this week. Hers was a pain for me to get going, as her DSL modem had the same IP as the G1 uses for sharing the net connection (she doesn't have a router, just the DSL modem connected directly to her Vista box, so no wifi either). Had to do some rejiggering to find an address for the modem that the PC liked too. Then had a couple little issued with the USB update program too... but it was busy refreshing as I left, and my dad's already in love with it, having listened to a couple of the preloaded channels on a out of town trip yesterday.

Mine set up easier, other than the fact I have a slow and finnicky ISP, and it occasionally cuts out while updating. Since the first one's so big, getting my channels in initially, it's just now, on the 3rd round of updating, getting to the end of the 15th channel. But I've been listening to what got on there, and am very happy with it.

I was happy to hear the sound quality, and with the better selection and lack of DJ's talking over songs, reminded me a lot of XM when I first got it seven years ago. That said, my subscription's days are numbered.

I'm sure the G2s are better, and the satrad merger is the best news Slacker could have hoped for, as they're sure to be one of the major benefactors from that disaster. Other than the whole fiasco over how the ICS is used for cabled updates, I don't have any real beefs. What might be interesting would be a home dock with an ethernet connection that could connect to a router and also charge the unit, skipping the USB/ICS mess and working without wifi at the same time.

 

[MM]

I haven't spent much time playing with mine yet. But, I did try to set it up.

I tried to set it up on my Mac, no good. Then I downloaded the player for Vista, it worked fine after that.

I also had issues getting it to connect to my wifi. I am broadcasting my SSID as well.

I do like the size of the unit. I plan on trying to upload some songs to see how that goes.

(Yes, the first channel I saved was Old Skool Rap.)

I hope to get some time today to mess around with it more.

 

[MM]

I am having issues refreshing the unit. I have 7 stations saved. It just won't refresh.

What am I missing?

I am beginning to be frustrated.

Maybe it's because I am using virtual Windows?

I thought this would be easier. Ugh.

Do I need to have a Premium account? I just signed up for a basic account.

 

[out of control]

I am having issues refreshing the unit. I have 7 stations saved. It just won't refresh.

What am I missing?

I am beginning to be frustrated.

Maybe it's because I am using virtual Windows?

I thought this would be easier. Ugh.

Do I need to have a Premium account? I just signed up for a basic account.

You might want to post here.......
http://www.digitalradiocentral.com/slacker/2152-refreshing-slackerg1-g2portable-players.html
to keep things tidy, but I suppose it does not matter.....what method are you refreshing ?
Is this the initial station load up you are referring to ?
I have read the G1 does better refreshing like two channels or something at first. Try loading less stations.
Are you getting any messages ? What happens when you try to refresh ?
No you do not need the premium to refresh.

 

[MM]

I will look at that thread.

I guess I didn't charge it enough. I tried to refresh while connected to Vista and it did not refresh.

I then tried it on wifi and it started to work.

I am still charging it now.

Thanks for the help.

 

[out of control]

Yeah. I charged up my unit fully first once I took it out of the box. So the battery was good to go for the initial set up. Sounds like you got it on wifi.....cool.

 

[DAB]

Yeah this is one issue that I've seen noted in the Slacker Forum is that folks try to refresh without the device being fully charged. You must have at least over 50% of battery power, though they recommend a full charge. It seems that if anytime during the refresh if the battery drops below 50% it will stop refreshing. These are things I've read, I can't confirm them.

 

[CraigW]

I too have been having some issues refreshing. The only way I can get it to connect to my wifi is if I disable WEP. If I have it enabled, I enter the key, and it sits for a minute or so and then just goes back to the wifi network selection page. Not sure what's up with that. One question, if it does eventually connect to wifi, will it remember the encryption key, or do I have to re-enter it every time? If it's the latter, that will be annoying!

Also, I find in Vista I have to disable my firewall to get it to refresh via USB. With XP I don't. So for now, I'm stuck refreshing via USB on one particular computer.

Oh, the other thing I noticed, is at work all streaming is blocked, but I had hoped to be able to listen while charging via USB. Well, whenever it's connected via USB it tries to refresh, and won't play unless it does! Bottom line is I have to use the AC adapter to charge it at work.

Despite these things, I'm still happy, and it's meeting my needs/wants for tunes at work.

 

[sphere79]

Craig,
A problem with allot of WiFi chipsets is that they only support using Key #1 - not sure if that's the case with the G1 but it's worth a shot.

One question, if it does eventually connect to wifi, will it remember the encryption key, or do I have to re-enter it every time? If it's the latter, that will be annoying!

It's supposed to remember it, and it usually does. I used to have problems with it "forgetting" the key almost weekly but I think it had to do with the G1 attempting to log on to a network I was frequently near at the time. Now, about once a month I'll have to manually enter the key for some unforeseen reason. Usually at the most frustrating time of course (as I'm docking it right before bed) so I have to grab my Nokia n810 and dig the key up.

 

[out of control]

I have not read very much from all the woot buyers. Seemed like at the time a lot of you got on board. Did you all buy these as gifts, and not using them ? Curious how the 1 is working out for you :blah::blah::blah:, etc.

 

[ct_mike]

Presents here.

I have not read very much from all the woot buyers. Seemed like at the time a lot of you got on board. Did you all buy these as gifts, and not using them ? Curious how the 1 is working out for you :blah::blah::blah:, etc.

Out of Control - I will have to come back and put a real review in two weeks from now. I have 2 of the G1's coming in the next couple of days, but they are presents and I don't "know" that they are coming from Santa. Unfortunately I did not get in on the Woot deals, but Buy.com had a good deal on the 4GB model. Hope the G1's are as good as the web player, which from reading here it sounds like they will be.

ct_mike

 

[RoadRunner]

I'm enjoying my G1 very much. I have not been able to make USB updates work(and don't care enough to work anymore on it), but the WiFi updates work great for me at home. I listen all day at work and plug it in before I go bed. Next day I have a fresh set of tunes, customized for me. I haven't noticed any missing artists which was my primary concern before I bought the player, but that might be a function of my taste in music (leaning toward stuff at least 20 years old).
I have about 10 channels currently loaded. It high right now as I have a couple of Christmas channels that I'll dump in the next month.

I do hear repeats if I spend I long time on one station, but that's pretty rare for me. Sadly, I don't get to sit at my desk all day listening! (Stupid meetings!!)

 

[jeddeth]

I got mine (woot off), today. It's been super easy to configure and connect to wifi, but refreshing these stations for the first time is becoming a hassle. I have it plugged in to the a/c outlet, so I don't think it's crashing from lack of battery. I've been restarting it after it seems stuck for a while and that seems to be kicking the refresh process back into the swing of things.

I created a custom channel on the website that incorporates my top 15 favorite bands - so I'm excited to see how that turns out.


I was just reading some engadget reviews of the G1 that mention a firmware update that installs a wifi discovery application that is supposed to make it easy for the device to find public wifi sources for it to update from. Does anyone know if this is already on the G1's coming from woot, or if the devices needs to be updated? If it needs to be updated, how do you do that?

 

[out of control]

The G1 can be a little funny on the initial load up if you are doing a lot of channels. Many have suggested doing only a few stations on the first refresh. Sounds like you are still doing the first refresh as we speak. The firmware should automatically update at the end of the refresh process, and will display it on the screen briefly. The new firmware will be engaged after you have shut down the device for the first time following that update.

 

[jeddeth]

haha, yeah I was doing 15 stations. I'll slim that down.

Thanks for the info!