Slacker 8GB Wi-Fi radio – $69.99
Posted on 29 December 2008, at 7:23 am, by Wayne Schulz
Woot! has the 8GB older model Slacker for $69.99 today only. By comparison, Amazon sells this same model for $114.99. The current model, Slacker G2, goes for almost $200 more! While this deal is for the older generation, it still seems a good buy for anyone who doesn’t like to download music and prefers to listen to a variety that someone else has selected. If you’re asking “What the heck is Slacker” and why do I need it if I have an iPhone – you’re not alone. Think of Slacker as Pandora without the need to have a full time Wi-Fi connection. If you’re intrigued, someone on the Woot! forum has a great review that might help make up your mind.
Woot! user mbuchman chimes in with this partial list of Pros and Cons of Slacker (click here for the full review):
Via Woot! Forum Member mbuchman:
I bought the smaller one here at Woot, and I have to say, this thing is pretty cool! Don’t think of this as an MP3 player, because that is not really what it is. Think of it as a portable Pandora.com.
If you are like me, you don’t have time to download new music and update playlists. With me, I always make a playlist, and then get sick of all of the songs on it by the time the next week comes along. But with this, all of that is done for you. Also, I am really bad with who sings what songs, and have been wanting to listen to songs from the 90s, so lately I have been playing the ’90s alternative station. All my favorite songs, back again! Really cool.
Pros:
-You do not have to install ANY software on your PC (if you have WiFi)!
Everything can be managed on the web
-You can use WiFi or USB to update your media player
-The radio stations they made are well done
Cons:
-The firmware is a little buggy (not quite final release quality)
-Not being able to navigate the song can be annoying. All you can do is pause or skip.
-I really like the touch strip, but it is too sensitive for use. They have abandon this technology on the G2 unit, so don’t expect firmware to fix this. You can disable the touch strip
-No Equalizer
Other:
-They claim you get “commercials” every hour. This is true for the web player, but on the portable, all I have heard are short clips maybe 5 seconds long saying “You are listening to Slacker Radio” maybe once an hour
-This player is best used by turning it on and forgetting about it. Options can only be changed online, and you have no selection in what you listen to (other than changing radio stations and skipping songs).
Remember that Woot! is a one deal per day site. After today (12/29/08) this deal will be gone.
Woot! – Slacker 8GB Wi-Fi radio – $69.99
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December 29th, 2008 at 4:10 am
"If you're asking What the heck is Slacker and why do I need it if I have an iPhone – you're not alone."
This is one of those bits of tech rendered passe by the iPhone, G1 etc…