Slacker Portable Player: A DJ in Your Pocket

Create your own radio stations on the free Slacker service, then sync them up to this Wi-Fi-enabled portable player. Ready for more tunes? Refresh it over the air. Nice.

PC Magazine has the scoop on the just-announced Slacker Portable Player, which should hit stores December 13. The flash-memory device will arrive in three versions: a $200 2GB model that stores up to 15 "stations," a $250 4GB version that's good for 25 stations, and a $300 8GB Slacker that can handle 40 stations. Each player comes with a roomy, four-inch screen with a touch-sensitive scroll bar on the side of the display, plus Wi-Fi for over-the-air syncing (although you can sync over USB as well).

OK, so what's so special about the Slacker Player? Well, first let's consider the Slacker service itself: for a grand total of nothing a month, you can listen to dozens of pre-built stations comprising thousands of artists (the big four music labels are signed up, as well as various indie labels), or you can create your own stations, cherry-picking your favorite artists and tweaking the song selection (for example, you can stick with popular artists, or allow Slacker to find "fringe" or "unfamiliar" tracks based on your preferences). There are a few catches, of course: you can only skip six songs an hour, and there are advertisements; a $7.50 premium subscription does away with the ads and the skip limit, and you can also save your favorite songs in the bargain.

Now, with the Slacker Portable Player, you'll be able to sync your stations (via Wi-Fi or USB) to the device and go. The Slacker Portable Player doesn't do videos, a shame considering the four-inch display, although there's plenty of room for high-res album art and plenty of album, artist, and song info. The six-song skip limit is also an annoying limitation for those using the free Slacker service, as are the "limited" number of ads that would presumably be transfered to the device. That said, the Slacker service coupled with the new player makes for a compelling combo, especially for adventurous listeners on the lookout for new music. I'll have more details once I get one of these bad boys in for testing.

Related:
Slacker Portable Player (Finally) on the Way [PC Magazine]