One of the main reasons I use Slacker on my BlackBerry is for the caching while I am in the subway. My buddy Jessica over at CNET got some inside info on the upcoming 3.0 revision of Slacker that make the caching features a whole lot more useful but there is a catch…
In version 3.0 you will be able to sync cached stations over he air or through your WiFi connection. That means I will no longer have to connect my BlackBerry to my PC! The downside is that when this new version 3.0 comes out you will need to subscribe to Slackers $4/month premium subscription to get caching. They will be offering a free trial but the premium version also features unlimited skips, requests, and removes the annoying ads…
Anybody else looking forward to the upgrade? I also hope that Slacker improves their song recommendations since they currently outclassed by Pandora.
Cadillac Cowboy ( View Profile) Newcomer - Posts: 75
Posted: January 11, 2010 at 8:39 AM EST from my BlackBerry 9000
When are they going to start offering this sort of stuff to Australians?
And companies like Research in Motion (RIM) wonder why we’re living in “the dark ages” down under…
Mitch Not Registered
Posted: January 11, 2010 at 8:48 AM EST
They will never due to copyright issues, blame the industry
FOSSroxTHX Not Registered
Posted: January 11, 2010 at 9:19 AM EST
I hope they improve the service itself. 1stly, the app tends to crash the sound capabilities of 2 different 8330s with differing OS versions. Once crashed, the devices are incapable of playing any sound unless rebooted. 2ndly, the suggestion mechanism tends to stray very far from basis the longer it plays.
kameleon ( View Profile) Beginner - Posts: 126
Posted: January 11, 2010 at 9:26 AM EST
I don’t like that they will charge for caching. That is the one feature I use slacker for over Pandora on my blackberry. I am not always where I can stream live so the cached stations come in handy. Looks like they will lose quite a few users.
Cadillac Cowboy ( View Profile) Newcomer - Posts: 75
Posted: January 13, 2010 at 9:04 AM EST from my BlackBerry 9000
“Copyright issues” is such a poor excuse, especially considering North America is infamous for protecting intellectual property (at least in comparison to Australia)!
Anyway, there’s at least a dozen similar applications on countless devices (iheartradio on the BlackBerry, last.fm on Microsoft’s XBox 360, VidZone on Sony’s PlayStation 3, bandit.fm on computers…) that ARE available to Australians, usually for free (as is the case of the above three examples)(if it wasn’t so late at night, I probably would’ve listed another 10 or so examples)…