It's not out yet, but Orbitcast got a sneak peek at the upcoming Slacker app for the Apple iPhone.
It's pretty similar to the Slacker on the BlackBerry app, with the exception that the iPhone version doesn't include caching - it's streaming only. But other than that, it title pretty much says it all. It's Slacker, and it's coming to the iPhone.
Slacker says the app has been submitted to Apple for approval, and that the app is in the final stages of approval. So it's literally any day now.
Considering that Pandora - currently, the most popular iPhone app - has over 2 million users, that means that there are a lot of potential listeners for the upcoming Slacker app.
Considering that Pandora - currently, the most popular iPhone app - has over 2 million users, that means that there are a lot of potential listeners for the upcoming Slacker app.
It was supposed to be out today, but no dice. I can't wait.
Ryan... could you clarify one thing? You say it's 'streaming' but not caching... but I assume you still mean it does like the web player and pull one song at a time, not keep an actual stream open? Not that it matters much, I guess... was just wondering...
are all these apps free??
and all the music is free??
will be adding slacker
Yup. Makes Satelite radio seem like a ripoff doesn't it?
just hit Blackberry too, finally.
@TVGenius: I'm not 100% sure about the mechanics, all I was told is that it's streaming and doesn't have the caching feature like the Blackberry client does.
I'm fairly certain that caching will be exclusive to the Blackberry and won't appear on any other versions like the iPhone or the Google Phone version whenever that hits. Maybe they made a deal. I'm waiting on the iPhone app, which will have over 100 stations available and your own custom stations, I'll be receiving my first iPhone next week, finally!!
The app is 100 percent free. The service is free if you want the occasional commercial included in the music. They're not all that intrusive to be honest. There is a radio plus plan for $3.99 a month, about $48 a year, cheaper than XM and includes 100 channels of nothing but music. And you can create your own custom stations.
The App is not out yet, but I'm waiting on it. I'm thinking Monday or Tuesday.
No caching? So you have to use up your expensive minutes to listen to slacker on your iphone? Sounds expensive to me, not like free radio. I have the slacker g2, and it has taken me two months to fine tune the song and artist selections so that I hear the music that I want to hear. Slacker is also very weak when it comes to:
1) Classical music (nothing but no name orchestras and budget label recordings). No opera.
2) Any music create before 1940. Request early jazz and pop music all you want, you'll get very little of it. Bing Crosby before WW II? Forget it.
3) The Beatles. You can forget about ever hearing anything from Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road. You'll get a few songs that were number one and little else.
4) Deep playlists. Request a band and you'll hear the same "a" sides and hits forever. Few album cuts.
5) Sets that make sense rather than songs that follow one another without any regard for beat, style, or mood. At least Xm knows how to program.
Slacker is ok but still has a long way to go. I use it but am not about to give up my xm.
If you haven't figured it out yet, Slacker is where the good music from the OLD XM went.
I bought a G1 Slacker for $50 and it's all I use for music anymore.
The app is out now, just downloaded it and signed up, very good sound quality. So far so good.
I've read a few comments here and other places about the music selection on stations. Not sure if everyone is aware of the edit station options on Slacker, but I have found that if I mess around with the tabs, especially fine tune, that that music shifts to more of what I like, especially on broad genre stations or custom stations using the discovery option (the first one).
And just for kicks I tried making a Sgt Pepper station and got a lot of good Beatles (and Sgt Pepper) stuff, check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/a78kqy