We check out the Slacker G2 portable music device, which is less about choice and more about laid-back listening.
The Slacker G2 presents a unique way of gathering and listening to music, one that many users will find appealing. Like Pandora, Slacker allows users to create custom-designed "stations" online, based around some simple preferences and decisions. Unlike Pandora, though, which can stream your stations' content to your iPhone (a serious battery hog), Slacker downloads tracks directly to the Slacker G2 portable device. The device uses Wi-Fi for an internet connection, but because it downloads all the music it needs for up to 40 stations at once, it doesn't need to be within Wi-Fi range until it's time to change the music.
Hands-on the Slacker G2
We got our hands on the new Slacker G2, and we were more impressed with the idea than we were with the device. Don't get us wrong, the G2 unit is a slim, sleek looking device. We liked the soft touch finish and the large, bright screen that dominates the front of the player. It almost calls out for a similar sort of video service, but instead the screen functions mainly to display album artwork, and the pictures and short biography that accompanies each artist.
Navigating the Slacker G2 is deceptively simple because it relies almost entirely on a thumbwheel. Remember, there are no long playlists to worry about scrolling through, the most we found ourselves moving the selection bar was a few slots up and down. Still, the screen is so dominating that we found ourselves wishing for some touch interaction.
Besides the thumbwheel, the Slacker G2 includes two buttons to indicate to the player when you love a song or wish to ban it forever. In this way, the player will subtly tweak your radio stations. Also, if you decide to sign up for the paid subscription service, songs marked as favorites are downloaded to the device permanently so that you can play them to your heart's content. The subscription service also allows users to skip around the playlists as often as they like. If you don't pay the $7 monthly fee, you are allowed 6 skips per radio station per hour. That's twice as many as Pandora allows, but the fee is low enough that the premium option might appear especially compelling.
Another way to find music?
Clearly there is a market for this sort of music distribution system. With the music industry in shambles, customers are clamoring to discover new music. The idea of social networking, or Apple's Genius feature on the new iPods, are new ways of introducing listeners to music based on current tastes. Slacker claims to have music experts helping to bring stations together, so we're curious how the effect is different than the Music Genome Project on Pandora or a more straightforward comparison like Apple's Genius. Overall, though, we definitely think the Slacker G2 is worth a longer look.
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