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The Slacker is a new portable music player that was originally slated to be released in the summer of 2007 but has been delayed until the end of January. The Slacker is a portable internet radio player that the company claims will rival the iPod. While many players have made this claim (see Microsoft Zune), the Slacker takes a new approach by trying to change the game. Instead of downloading, a song is streamed directly to this player from a choice of around 100 customizable Internet radio stations. The listener decides, on a song-by-song basis, whether or not they "Love It" or to "Ban It". These choices help determine what future songs will be streamed to you.

Pros & Cons

Pros:
10 people have already voted. Do you agree?

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4" full screen display featuring album art /reviews, artist photos/bios and visualizations
+5agreedisagree

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Support for MP3, WMA and video as well as "saved" radio tracks
+3agreedisagree

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Automatically save and refresh personalized stations via Wi-Fi, Satellite or USB
+2agreedisagree

Cons:
Do you agree?

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Displays ads, unless you pay a monthly fee.
+9agreedisagree

Competing products

Slacker Portable Player is ranked 4th.  See the top picks in MP3 Players

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More information

The fundamental concept driving this player is simplicity. With the Slacker, there isn't any software requirements for synching or a connection to a computer at all for that matter. Content is delivered over the Slacker's WiFi connection designed to pick up on nearby wireless networks or connect via satellite with an optional kit. It features a large 4" color LCD screen for displaying album art, artist information and visualizations as you listen. Control of the player is done by pressing buttons mounted on the side of the player, as it does not have a touch screen.

Note: It is speculated that (1) the player is able to sync with your computer in much the same way as the iPod does with iTunes (supported by a visible USB input), and (2) The Slacker can play cached streams without the presence of a WiFi signal.

Subscription options

There are two subscription choices available to the listener:

1) free: stream all the music you like for free while being subjected to an ever-changing banner ad on the LCD screen

2) $7.50 / month: same as free, but the banner ad disappears, and you are able to keep any number of songs for as long as you like on the built-in memory.

There is also a freely available web-based player on their website that draws upon the same Internet radio stations, but doesn't require any other hardware or software.

Model choices

Models come in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. Your price also depends on the number of stations you want - either 15, 25 or 40 station options are available and range in price between $199 and $299.

Features

  • Dimensions: 2.76" x 0.67" x 4.2"
  • Screen size: 4" diagonal (16 x 9 aspect ratio)
  • Screen resolution: 480 x 272
  • Weight: 4.6 oz
  • Battery Life: up to 10 hours
  • Battery charge time: 3 hours

Note: Transferring music from your Mac is not currently supported (it works on the PC)

Recent Reviews

CNN video review

Company Info

Slacker, Inc. (website) is a San Diego, CA based company specializing in delivering customizable personal radio to listeners at home, in their car, and on the road. Their range of products include the Slacker Portable Player, Slacker JukeBox (a downloadable version of their Web player), and Slacker Satellite Car Kit.

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10 comments about Slacker Portable Player

1.  avatar Erik  May 10, 2007 3:43pm

I commend them for making this attempt, but I remain skeptical by this kind of player. How good the stations are (and their matching algorithms) will likely determine the value of the Slacker. I love Internet radio (I'm listening to it right now), but I'm not sure if I want a portable Internet radio player that uses a proprietary service. And I'm not sure if people are ready to give up on the idea of "owning" their music.
2.  avatar Amanie  May 10, 2007 4:12pm

Steve Jobs has said many times that he doesn't think consumers are interested in a subscription model and I tend to agree with him. On top of that, this is so dependent on WiFi access, and that can be pretty spotty.
3.  avatar spud  May 17, 2007 1:52pm

To me it seems like there's a lot of confusion about what the Slacker player will and will not be able to do. What's described above is much different than the product descriptions I've seen other places. I've read on multiple sites that there will be 120gb of space on the largest version. I've read that it will play movies and you can add your own MP3s, not just the music you download from their stations. Plus, you'll be able to have a sattelite conection in your car to keep the radio stations playing when you're not getting a Wi-Fi signal. According to photos, the device will have a mini USB that can be connected to a computer as well as a SD card slot, so it's not just dependent on Wi-Fi. Plus, there will be some software. The Slacker website describes a Jukebox program to organize your music. Plus, i've also read that the music isn't streaming via Wi-Fi. Instead, the Wi-Fi signal loads a cache of music onto the player so that it can still play even when it's not connected to a signal. Then, when it does connect to a wi-fi signal, it refreshes the cache of music. I'm really excited about this player if it's the product described on other websites - an iPod-like, video player, that also plays great radio stations. If it turns out to be the product described above I will be totally bummed.
4.  avatar Erik  May 17, 2007 2:09pm

Can you point out the other sites that you found this conflicting information? I wrote the original description here largely from what it says on the manufacturer website, a May'07 Business 2.0 article about the player, a TechCrunch article, and so on.
5.  avatar Omar  May 17, 2007 2:28pm

The way I understand it working is that the hard drive acts as one big cache mechanism that will always be filled. Now HOW you fill it with depends on a few factors. Since there's a USB port I have no doubt that you'll be able to transfer your own music to the device and listen to your own music whenever you want. With the free service you can listen to your own music, or the streaming radio station with ads. However, once you're no longer connected online the music station doesn't work and you're limited to your own songs that you've manually transferred over. If you're a paying subscriber then you can store songs from the station so that when you're no longer Wi-Fi connected you can play those songs without having to manually transfer them from your computer. This is all based on speculation, but it makes sense to me.
6.  avatar spud  May 17, 2007 2:33pm

The Slacker website, www.slacker.com, must have been updated. Its "news" page mentions mp3s, video capability, satellite, etc. It's "products" page shows the jukebox and satellite equipment. I have seen various reports on the storage. Some say 120gb and some say12gb like you mention. On the Slacker Web player page there are about 15 links to stories about it.
7.  avatar GT-D  Jun 06, 2007 11:32am

Well the design certainly is sleek looking. If its easy to use as a normal portable mp3/video player it should do great with that nice big screen. If its more centered around wireless internet radio theres a lot of problems to overcome. As mentioned above, accessing via WiFi seems very problematic - pretty much rules out everyone who doesn't live in a major city as a customer. Then theres the likelihood, even in a city, that it won't be able to find free open wireless networks, or even if it does, will be able to dynamically switch between them as you walk around. The caching of streams is supposedly supposed to avoid this - but thats some pretty serious caching to be done making me skeptical. Maybe the satellite network will be more robust then the description seems to be indicating though. Theres also the issue of making best use of the algo for choosing songs. Do you really want to pull your player out of your pocket/bag/backpack every song to tag whether you like it or not? sounds like a hassle to me. But this could be resolved by adding it to a remote on the wire/headset with like it/dont like it buttons. Finally, month by month paid service for this sort of thing is a hard sell as observed by others. I do think that such services are becoming more accepted by the general public though.
8.  avatar ripped407  Sep 02, 2007 3:07pm

Im under the assumption that you will be able to create your OWN stations via the internet based website, and transfer those stations to your portable device.. I.e. the availability to create a station with only the artists YOU want to hear.. I have already begun creating my own stations and loving and banning certain songs i wish to hear or dump. I cant Wait. Im sold. Sirius and XM will only outsell due to Sports and Talk programming, for the average MUSIC enthusiast.. Slacker is the obvious Choice. Three Cheers for the innovators of the next generation of Portable Audio Excellence!
9.  avatar j0a0s7  Oct 31, 2007 3:32pm

I am also very excited and agree with ripped 407.
10.  avatar ekucera00  Dec 03, 2007 11:26pm

the current internet radio offerings are great. They have an excellent selection and variety. Everything is simple to use. 10 more days till the Slacker Portable releases. I think this will be a difficult sell with so many players on the market and trying to make there own proprietary player might be risky, but i have already pre-ordered my 2GB version w/ 2 days fedex shipping. I Hope to post up a review on www.slackersocial.com along with an unboxing.
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    Key Features:

    Capacity 2 GB
    Manufacturer Slacker
    Player Features Color Screen, Wi-Fi, Subscription
    Price $199.00
    Product Line Gift Idea
    Release Date Dec. 1, 2007

    Sponsors

    Product page stats

    3382 views and 66 edits (see all)
    Created: 05/10/2007 - 15:31
    Modified: 02/06/2008 - 19:52