Free Slacker music app coming to BlackBerry phones

If you haven't tried Slacker yet—the free, Web-based service that lets you create and stream customized music channels—well, you should, and now comes word that a mobile version of Slacker is set to arrive on BlackBerry phones next month.

RIM and Slacker have just announced that the free application, which should work on any BlackBerry running OS 4.3 or later, will arrive sometime in October.

First, some background: Slacker, which has been quietly cranking out free tunes for more than a year now, lets you listen to and create your own customized "channels" of music (all four of the big music labels are represented, as well as a handful of indie labels). You can rate songs (which alters the mix of tunes you get) and skip up to six songs an hour; for unlimited skips (and to do away with the ads, about one an hour), you can pony up $7.50/month for the premium service.

For the mobile version of Slacker, you'll be able to sync tunes from your various customized music "channels" to your BlackBerry, either over Wi-Fi or sideloaded over USB (your tunes are stored on your handset's microSD memory card).

Once that's done, you'll be able to play your music (even when you're not in Wi-Fi range, and in the background if you like), rate tunes, and read artist bios; when your back at your desktop or in range of a hotspot, you can sync up to refresh your Slacker channels and sync your music ratings.

As with the Web version of Slacker, you'll be restricted to six skips an hour—kind of a pain, but not bad considering all that free music (again, the six-song-skip limit is lifted if you upgrade to Slacker Premium). The good news: No ads, or at least not until next year or so.

 

I've been bugging the guys at Slacker to come out with a mobile application for some time now (there's already a Slacker stand-alone portable player on the market), and I have to say, I'm psyched to learn that the time has finally come.

Unfortunately (for non-BlackBerry users, at least), the Slacker player is a RIM exclusive for now—no word on when (or if) a version will arrive for other phones, including the iPhone.

So, what do you think: Is just six skips an hour a fair trade for all the free tunes you can stand? Or would you rather just side-load the music you already own?