Update To Slacker Software Player

[MikeJW]

I was happy to see this, as I'm one of the minority who still prefers the software player to the web version. Thanks Slacker for stepping up and fixing this issue. You have shown great loyalty to your customers and I'm happy with my premium subscription. Here's what was posted:

"Hi everyone,

We have just pushed out a small update to our web services that should fix the script error you all were seeing. We do apologize for the trouble that this has caused.

Development on the actual Software Player has stopped at this time. If you wish to use the software player, please consider it "Use as your own risk". At any time it might stop working, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get people to fix it in the future as quickly as we were able to this time.

This is because we are constantly evolving as a company, and many projects we have going on require changes to our Website/Webservices/Servers, etc. Therefore, there will be a time that a change comes that we may not be able to resolve through other means.

If you currently use a G1 or G2 player and use USB refresh, then I would recommend that you uninstall the Slacker Software Player and download and install the Slacker USB Station Refresher program. This has all the drivers needed to do USB refreshing. If you currently use the Software Player to transfer MP3 files to your Portable, you may do this with Windows Media Player instead (or use drag and drop). If you currently use the Software Player to listen to your saved radio tracks, you can do this with the Website as well. When you log in as a premium radio subscriber account, you will have the "Library" tab and all of your songs listed there. All in all, everything you could functionally do with the Software Player should be able to be done with the Web Player or Windows Media player.

Again, this was a hard decision to make (Stopping the Software Player), but with how quickly we sometimes have to act on things, the Software Player was always lagging behind. And there were things we couldn't do with the Web Player without major changes to the Software Player. We hope over time you will come to see what I mean.

I appreciate all of your comments and feedback, and I'm glad that we were able to restore the Software Player back to where it was last week. But, I do need to make sure to point out that I can't promise it won't break again in the future.

Best regards,
Rome E
Slacker Support"

 

[TX WJ]

That is good news, I love the software player.

 

[DAB]

If you currently use a G1 or G2 player and use USB refresh, then I would recommend that you uninstall the Slacker Software Player and download and install the Slacker USB Station Refresher program. This has all the drivers needed to do USB refreshing. If you currently use the Software Player to transfer MP3 files to your Portable, you may do this with Windows Media Player instead (or use drag and drop). If you currently use the Software Player to listen to your saved radio tracks, you can do this with the Website as well. When you log in as a premium radio subscriber account, you will have the "Library" tab and all of your songs listed there. All in all, everything you could functionally do with the Software Player should be able to be done with the Web Player or Windows Media player.

I think this statement is key and the fact is you really should be moving away from using this, because while they may have patched it this time, they aren't going to keep doing that. I also know several new users that loaded it and this caused them problems in trying to use USB to refresh their channels. It was only after deleting and then installing the USB Station Refresher that they were able to get it to work.

Initially I installed the Software Player, but once I realized it was really no different in most ways from the Web Player, I just uninstalled it. I really see no reason to have both and in my opinion Slacker would do themselves a favor by just pulling the software all together. Especially since they are simply no longer committed to keeping it updated.

 

[out of control]

Dump the software player Mike. Your bound to have problems with it down the road. Just start getting used to the web player.
I sent Slacker a email days ago suggesting to remove the install link. Or to at least post more information on the web site to explain the status of this software. G1 owners are getting directions to use it in the packaging, and it is going to cause problems with all these woot people. It is all kind of confusing, and sloppy for new users. Sloppiness is what drops customers. Sort of like sat radio as a example. Lets keep things tidy, and organized slacker.
I think the only reason they patched the software was so the recovery procedure was still available for the G1. With goals of moving the recovery procedure out of the SP to somewhere else.
Slacker is really busy keeping up with stuff right now. I really think the customer base has really grown this holiday season. All and all I'd say they are doing a pretty good job. They do need to clear up the SP communication with customers though. I'm positive January will be a busy month for them....

 

[DAB]

OOC, I could not agree more!

It is certainly clear that the last two weeks have really caught the development team and support totally off guard. Now I do believe for the most part they have stepped up and handled it.

They have sold over 5000 of these G1 that have already arrived and the rest will probably start arriving late next week to buyers. They have a perfect opportunity to clean this up before hand to resolve the confusion.

 

[out of control]

I assume the patch on the SP is a temp fix. Slacker is working on a new process to do a G1 recovery. Probably something similar to the G2 recovery. You'll have to call customer service for the process. Once they establish that they will remove the SP download link, and it won't be available after that. As I understand it they want log codes off our players before we do recoveries so they can improve, and see the portables issues. Before recoveries are done. Obviously they are trying to get rid of the last of the warehouse G1's via woot. So they want to keep up on things. I'm sure we will be seeing more unfold in the weeks ahead related to G1's support. Not really firmware updates, but basic operational improvements to support the G1 second wave users. If they did not want to deal with this stuff. They would not have bothered selling G1's via woot.

The woot was part of a bigger picture to market Slacker during the holiday season. Company wants to grow. Market is slow. Offer great deals on first generation players that folks can't turn down. To get new customers, and make more room in the warehouse for new products. While continuing to improve the overall slacker experience. To top it off have a forum where the company can have direct interaction with the users. The marketing right now is brilliant. The docks will come, but right now they are preoccupied with higher priorities.......

 

[MikeJW]

Thanks guys. Yes I know eventually I will need to dump the software player. Right now I don't use USB to update my G2, so I haven't needed to install the USB refresher yet. I just enjoy having the software player in mini-mode. I've used the web player too, and it's fine. I'll go back to it if the software player stops working.