But see, the millions just don't matter to me because I wouldn't care about most of it.
You stated that you have around a 500 song playlist in Slacker. As I stated, my main playlist on my iPod is over 1,200 songs deep and it changes nearly daily. Now I don't have millions of songs in my library but I do have nearly 100,000 from all of my CD's, iTunes and Amazon buys and blog finds and it isn't made up of stuff that
Well of course some folks only like what they like and don't ever venture outside the box. I and others like me love to venture outside the box and so just having certain songs in our own library means nothing to us. Owning that music is useless to me what do I need it for? Why would I want to make that kind of investment and continue to do so in the future? I understand that is what works for you, but to me that is a total waste of good money and space on my hard drive. It is an impressive library none the less, I wish I had what you spent on it!
Yes, I have 24 stations currently that I created with over 500 plus songs in most, some very specific genres, some sort of a shuffle, some dedicated to a specific thing like love or one hit wonders etc. 70s Jukebox, 80s Explosion, 90s Eruption, 2K Throwdown, Decades of One Hit Wonders, 70s Love, American Bandstand, Billboard Hot 500 Hits AudioSerenity Spa, Beautiful Escape, Country Blend, Country Christian, Easy Listening, Mellow Rock, Shuffle the Decades, Southern Gospel, Spirit Message, Sweet Zydeco, Lite Office, Christmas Mix, Peaceful Christmas, New Age Piano.
No way with your 1200 or even 100,000 song potential library that you could create what I have with no investment whatsoever except $3.99 per month. I understand that you have no interest in creating such, but my point isn't to say this is what everyone wants. Like someone else said some will be drawn to this model and see the value and others will find sat radio is all the need and yet others will do what you do. Choice is a great thing! I just think mine is smarter and more economical! hehehe
In what I have created I don't hear bands/groups/individuals or even songs I don't like. Since I hand pick all the songs and all the artist the stations ONLY play what I like and to me the spontaneity of not know what is going to play makes it more like radio. Rarely am I in a predictable mood that I want to hear a certain thing and a certain time. Yes the iPod could give you that if you want to make that investment, which I do not.
When I want to be turned on to new music or hear other music outside of what I've created then I have that too. I can also just change a single setting even on my customize channels Slacker will throw in some pretty cool matches to what is in my library already. I just don't think people realize what Slacker really brings to the table. They get the service and listen to the pre-programmed stations and come away feeling a bit empty because they are use to DJ's and a bit of interactivity. I understand that too, but for me the customization and access to that library is much more important than those things. To each his own as I said choice is a great thing! On my stations that play currents when I hear something new I like, I can immediately add it to the rotation and even on stations where I hear music that I may not have I can do the same on any of my stations. Just last week for example, I added about 24 new songs to my AudioSerenity Spa station which is very, very specific to a certain type meditation music.