Slacker G2 Reviews
- Thread starter KTMCDO
- Start date
I was thinking about jumping on that deal as well, but now that I know DAB is done shopping for me, nevermind. I promise to act surprised, DAB!
Hoe Hoe Hoe! I mean HO HO HO! hehehe
Since I now have the G2. I have not found the ban/love buttons to be overly sensitive at all. Also maybe this is a updated firmware, but you have to confirm your ban/love after you hit the button. It takes a firm push to engage the buttons for me. Maybe I have a G2 that was produced out of a different production batch then yours. As far as navigation on the menus. It is working just fine for me. I have not had any issues with that.
My only complaint really is the volume responding a little slow when hitting the button. In fact while I am thinking of it I think I will send slacker a message. Hoping maybe they can improve that in future firmware updates.
Well unfortunately as I recall it doesn't confirm bans it just does it. But you are correct when you favor a song it generally will ask you to confirm and/or save the song. I still find these buttons overly sensitive and I have the latest firmware, so that isn't the issue. Then again it is all in how you use the device too. I use mine on the go sticking it in my pocket and pushing it down in my protective neoprene sleeve, so pulling it out and putting it into those areas is generally when this happens. Using the lock out has made this a non-issue though.
I don't recall having any navagation issues in regards to the menus and the only time I've noted any lag is when doing a refresh (via wifi and continuing to listen) and of course it warns you that you may experience this.
I really have no complaints that need addressing with a firmware update at this point.
DAB. I can assure you that a confirmation screen is displayed when you hit both ban/love buttons. I know because I used both buttons at the gym today. When it hit either button you have to choose from the following .....Yes, Yes always, No. Choices are the same for both buttons. You need to select one of the choices above to complete your ban/love request. Maybe your firmware is different version then mine. I am on firmware 1.7.24-10312008-1154. Like you said locking the device solves your problem. So I guess it does not really matter. I just wanted to be clear on the confirmation display is active for both buttons on my device.
I can understand how the placement of the buttons could be a problem in the manner you use it. I don't put it in my pocket, or slide it into a protective screen case. I'll be using the clip case it came with along with invisible shield and armband at times. For me the device is either in my hand, on my arm using the band, or sitting in my car. I don't like the idea of it going in my pocket, but that is just me.
Okay, I played around with mine some more and discovered that those messages on mine had been disabled. I don't know if I did it by accident or on purpose, but I was able to reactive it by going in the menu and resetting messages. So, now I am getting those messages too. This will certainly help when and if I hit the buttons accidently. Since using the lock out though I've really not had a problem.
I hate arm bands, so sticking it in my pocket works well for me when I am working in the yard or out and about doing other things. I have also used the belt clip holder and that works well too, but I still found myself hitting those buttons. That is likely how the messages got disabled without me even realizing it.
Anyway... all is well! Thanks for the added info as that got me to looking at mine a bit harder!
Okay here is an update: I think I remember when this first came up, I thought Yes Always meant YES always ban this particular song. But what that actually does it assumes when you hit the ban button or love button that it means you always want to ban or love it and so youd don't get the message any longer to decide.
Yes I reset mine and that is what I will do know that I am aware of it! LOL
Time to jump in with my review:
Opened my G2 yesterday: First thing was to update the firmware - all went well. Attached to home stereo and played Xmas station while doing the rest of Xmas morning stuff. Then the fun began...
Connected to my laptop (Vista) via USB, connect ok refresh, then like a dodo authorized the device to my Rhapsody all you can eat sub. I don't know what part of "you can only transfer mp3's" I missed, but I transferred a WMA protected album to the G2. Went to play the album...skip after skip etc. Tried to go back to stations...nada. Finally got to the menu and performed a factory reset..Tried to reconnect to usb, now I have a router conflict (still working on this on). Connected to wifi and refreshed 13 stations (three hours).
This am I added the plus subscription and all appears to be ok, device picked up the plus plan right off the refresh.
Question for the group: I thought I read somewhere that if you hold the ban and scroll wheel for 15 seconds this will also do a factory reset or am I missing something?
I may try to remove the usb driver and try again to use the usb interface or does someone know a different way to get around the router conflict?
Time to decide what to do with both Sirius and XM subs....That's another day
Opened my G2 yesterday: First thing was to update the firmware - all went well. Attached to home stereo and played Xmas station while doing the rest of Xmas morning stuff. Then the fun began...
Connected to my laptop (Vista) via USB, connect ok refresh, then like a dodo authorized the device to my Rhapsody all you can eat sub. I don't know what part of "you can only transfer mp3's" I missed, but I transferred a WMA protected album to the G2. Went to play the album...skip after skip etc. Tried to go back to stations...nada. Finally got to the menu and performed a factory reset..Tried to reconnect to usb, now I have a router conflict (still working on this on). Connected to wifi and refreshed 13 stations (three hours).
This am I added the plus subscription and all appears to be ok, device picked up the plus plan right off the refresh.
Question for the group: I thought I read somewhere that if you hold the ban and scroll wheel for 15 seconds this will also do a factory reset or am I missing something?
I may try to remove the usb driver and try again to use the usb interface or does someone know a different way to get around the router conflict?
Time to decide what to do with both Sirius and XM subs....That's another day
As far as holding down the buttons for 15 secs. This is not a factory reset. This restarts your player. If for some reason you can't get it to turn on. In your portable player settings. You will find a option to do a factory reset. Of course you will loose everything on the player if you do that.
I'm not sure what you mean by your router conflict ? Or the problem you are experiencing.
This will just restart it if it freezes up or you can't get it to shut down. I've never had to do this since I've owned mine for almost 2 months now.
Yes on the Slacker forum I've seen the support guys suggest totally uninstalling the software player if you have it installed and the channel refresher software. Then you will really only need the channel refresher software installed. So, try that and see what happens. Though I am not clear about the router conflict as I've not seen that before either. But then again I've never tried to load WMA's on mine either and did a reset. LOL
Yeah, I canceled my Sirius and one XM sub, but I did keep my one XM because while the music on Slacker is great. I do enjoy some of the talk, sports, news and entertainment programming on XM. But with me canceling one Sirius $12.95 and one XM $6.99 that saved me $19.94 per month, then I subscribed to the Slacker Premium service at $7.50 per month. Came out smelling like a rose!
Just glad I had doubts about the service and didn't subscribe to the yearly under the premium plan as I initially intended to do, just did a 3 month till I decided because once that ends, I'll go with the $3.99 year plan for the Slacker Radio Plus. That rose will smell even better. LOL 
I think I got it! Found this in Slacker's FAQ:
When I connect the Personal Radio Player to the USB port, I get a message about limited or no connectivity.
The most common cause of this problem is a network conflict. Built into Windows XP and Windows Vista is a program called Internet Connection Sharing. The Personal Radio Players use this program to access the Internet and connect to the Slacker servers. When you use this program, it uses a network address of 192.168.0.1 for the connection. If you have another device on your home network, such as a router or modem (Dsl/Cable) that also uses this same address, then it can cause a conflict. At this time, Microsoft does not allow us the ability to change the address for Internet Connection Sharing. Therefore, in order to resolve the conflict, you would need to consult the manual or manufacturers help on changing the IP address of the device causing the conflict with this address.
Took the plunge and logged into my router and changed it to another number other than .1. Rebootted the router and yipee refresh via usb is happening as I type.
Now all I have to remember is my router login is different...
When I connect the Personal Radio Player to the USB port, I get a message about limited or no connectivity.
The most common cause of this problem is a network conflict. Built into Windows XP and Windows Vista is a program called Internet Connection Sharing. The Personal Radio Players use this program to access the Internet and connect to the Slacker servers. When you use this program, it uses a network address of 192.168.0.1 for the connection. If you have another device on your home network, such as a router or modem (Dsl/Cable) that also uses this same address, then it can cause a conflict. At this time, Microsoft does not allow us the ability to change the address for Internet Connection Sharing. Therefore, in order to resolve the conflict, you would need to consult the manual or manufacturers help on changing the IP address of the device causing the conflict with this address.
Took the plunge and logged into my router and changed it to another number other than .1. Rebootted the router and yipee refresh via usb is happening as I type.
Now all I have to remember is my router login is different...
Great I am glad you got it figured out! Nothing worse than fighting with something to get it to work right!
Now once you get it going good, you need to let us know how you like it.
Well here goes my one week review...
I guess I have a temperamental G2. After getting rid of my mistake with loading WMA files by doing a factory reset, and getting the USB issue resolved, I went and put it through it's paces. Monday and Tuesday at work played it all day while plugged in (nightly refresh ok), Wednesday on battery only. Plugged in last night to recharge and refresh and the fun began. Battery charged ok but stuck forever on signing in via wifi. Canceled, tried usb, same issue. Off to Slacker forums and read that a factory reset would solve the signing in issue. Four hours later I have a clean G2. Next "experiment" is to turn off automatic refresh and wait until battery is recharged before refreshing. IMHO, the selection of tunes is just what I'm looking for, so I guess I can live with it's quirks...
I guess I have a temperamental G2. After getting rid of my mistake with loading WMA files by doing a factory reset, and getting the USB issue resolved, I went and put it through it's paces. Monday and Tuesday at work played it all day while plugged in (nightly refresh ok), Wednesday on battery only. Plugged in last night to recharge and refresh and the fun began. Battery charged ok but stuck forever on signing in via wifi. Canceled, tried usb, same issue. Off to Slacker forums and read that a factory reset would solve the signing in issue. Four hours later I have a clean G2. Next "experiment" is to turn off automatic refresh and wait until battery is recharged before refreshing. IMHO, the selection of tunes is just what I'm looking for, so I guess I can live with it's quirks...
Well I just want to be clear. Not all G2's have quirks. I have had mine for about a month and a half. I have not had a single issue. My experience has been flawless. I'm using usb refreshing. As I see it you have to have your home network set up just right for the refresh to work good. As far as issues on the player itself. I don't know. Like I said I have not experienced any of that. It is simply a great device with no quirks in my time with the device. Of course each users experience will vary.
Not one single issue with my G2 here. Slacker seems to care about their customers more than Sirius. I swear I've had more firmware updates in one month with my G2 than my years with my Stiletto.
How did you fix yours because im trying to get mine to work. may you walk me through it. Everything else is right on my computer and i have dsl
It really will vary depending on your brand of router. You may want to see if your brand has a forum. I have a linksys hard wired router. I have no issues with the ICS cause Linkyks creates a private ip once it connects to the internet. So I have no conflicts with ICS connection.
Thanks for the help. Looks like i may get me a laptop in the next several weeks and to see if i can get the slacker to work on there.
OOC good point,
I have a D-Link 624 with wireless which is "married" to FIOS. Since the TV guide and on demand is through the router I was hesitant at first to mess with my router as number one in line, for fear of hosing the tv side, and hearing it from the boss "why no guide". When I took the plunge indeed it did mess up the tv side, but a hard reset of the boxes and router reset the guide etc. and put all back in line.
I know I didn't need the usb route, but as a geek wannabe I couldn't leave it alone...