We've seen computer-generated mockups floating around the internets for a while now of what Slacker's Dock would look like, but we never had a the chance to see one up-close and personal. That is, until last week... and it's completely different.
What you see here in these (highly uninspired) photos is Slacker's Dock. Noticeably absent from the mockups is the buttons along the bottom and along the side. In chatting with the Slacker guys, they found that the buttons simply made the dock too big for use on the dashboard. So Slacker decided to dedicate a majority of its functionality to the remote.
I'm not convinced this was an entirely great decision, but I'm withholding judgement for now.
Part of my problem is that with all the plug-and-play radios I've tested, I always find myself just using the controls on the radio itself, and rarely using the remote. The remotes usually just get stashed away into the center console, never to be seen again.
Slacker did do a couple ingenious things with this dock though.
First, the remote tucks neatly behind the Slacker Portable into the dock. So if I feel the need to reach for my radio, I can grab the remote and start using it. This also keeps me from hiding the remote from myself.
Second, the dock serves as both a Home Dock and a Car Dock. There's no need to buy two. The back features the standard four-screw connection that fits many suction-cup/vent-clip mounts, or it will stand by itself nicely on your desk. For most people though, the dock will probably just stay in the car.
You can still use the controls on the top of the Slacker Portable, so most of the necessary functionality is still there. But personally, I think I would've liked to see a row of buttons for preset channels. Still, I'm withholding final judgment until I can actually drive around with the device.
You think the dock is bad, have you seen the antenna? It's huge!
do you have any pictures of the antenna
I've come to the conclusion that the problem with satellite radio is the dock that the PnPs and live portables require for in-vehicle reception.
People have no problem plugging their iPods etc. into the cigarette lighter with either an FM mod or aux-in connection. I figure that the reason for that is two-fold:
* simple installation: it's truly plug and play from day one
* non-permanent: take the iPod out of the car (and remove the cigarette lighter adapter) and there's no trace
The primary reason for the car docks, imo, is the cable to the antenna on the roof; the cable pull is also the most involved and intimidating part of the install, in most cases.
So if satrad is going to get retail back, the core issue is eliminating the antenna cable.
Ideal would be to improve reception to the point that you can put and Inno or Stiletto in the center console and still get signal. I'm not sure that that's technically feasible, though.
However, both companies have wireless antennas for home use, through the home repeaters. Now we just need to have two things developed:
* integrate an antenna and repeater into a single battery-powered package
* a mini-dock (that doesn't need a fixed install, maybe about the size of one of those iPod FM transmitters) that integrates a home/auto personal repeater antenna. Such a dock wouldn't require any sort of installation and would itself be rather portable
The antenna/repeater probably wouldn't be much bulkier than some of the antennae that OEMs are using. Battery life is the one question mark, but we're not talking about huge power draw here (especially since the repeater probably only has to have enough strength to broadcast 10 feet or so). Perhaps a solar cell could be offered on high end models that would recharge the batteries when the sun is out.
With this system, moving satrad from one car to another is easy: detach the [magnetically fixed] antenna, take the radio and mini-dock with you, slap the antenna on the roof, dock the radio in the mini-dock, plug the mini-dock into the cigarette lighter. No trace left in the old vehicle.
Slacker seems like a great streaming internet audio site..... and the portable player looks like it could be real interesting. However, what are the details (if any) about how Slacker would provide a satellite service?
First, I thought the FCC had authorized just two satellite services when the frequencies were allocated back in 2000.... so where is the spectrum for another satrad service coming from?
Second, the BIG advantage of Slacker is that one can customize their own 'stations', and ban artist you don't want to hear and fine tune the sound of the station. At least, that's what their internet service provides. I don't see how Slacker can stream millions of individual stations via satellite, so I would guess they'll only stream some standard stations.... or is there something else they're going to do?
Does anyone know any more details about the little slacer portables? Their 'big' size is a 4gb model, which they indicate handles 4000 songs. Now, my 4gb Sansdisk player doesn't hold anywhere near that much music. Do they have some special compression system? If you have your own customized station... how many songs will it download for that station?
kgb:
Slacker is going to be leasing satellite bandwidth from other companies. I believe they have said that the agreements for this are already in place.
The Slacker satellite service isn't going to stream stations live. What it will do is transmit thousands of songs every day. When your player sees a song that fits into one of the radio stations on the player it will save the song. The stations that are stored on the player will be updated by the satellite transmissions.
The encoding is going to be AAC V2 Pro. Slacker has said that each song will be about 1MB. If you search the net you should be able to find some sample files encoded in this format. Very few players will play this format correctly right now. I think that VLC media player can play the format correctly.
I think that Slacker has said the default is one hundred songs per station but I think it is supposed to fill the stations you listen to more often with more songs.
There are a few Slacker fan sites out there that you might want to check out. www.slackerforum.com and www.slackersocial.com are both good sources of information about the player and the service.