Slacker Radiois an interesting hybrid music Robert William Service . On the one hand , the free variation — like Pandora — lets you heed to pre - made stations or create stations of your own found on artist , albums , or tracks you choose . When you create such a station , it ’s populated with tracks that are supposed to be symmetrical with the original selection . If you purchase a Slacker Premium Radio subscription for $ 10 per calendar month — as with such subscription avail as Mog , Rdio , Rhapsody , andSpotify — you additionally have the power to wager songs , album , and single - artist stations on demand as well as cache albums and playlist on your portable devices ( including iOS devices ) . As such it can be quite conciliatory , though it has some rough edges .

Music for nothing (or next to it)

If you ’re familiar with Pandora , you infer the idea behind the spare variant of Slacker Radio . While listen to euphony , you must put up with the episodic sound recording ad ( or video ad if you listen via the website ) . In my test I heard advertising after every 4th or fifth track . The ads are n’t abominably long , but they certainly cut off the musical temper . With each post , you ’re allowed up to six skips an hour ( meaning you press the Next release to move to the next track in the waiting line ) . However , if you shift to a unlike station , you ’ll have an extra six skip per time of day . Pandora offers a somewhat alike schema , but restrict you to 12 entire skips across all stations per day . Slacker does n’t have a daily omission bound .

You have the power to tweak your place a act when listen to the free reading . you could , for representative , choose broadly speaking how often you want to hear raceway you ’ve pit as favorites , whether you hear “ greatest hits ” or more vague tracks , and prefer one-time or more late tracks associated with the source artist , album , or track .

Slacker ’s control condition for fine-tune stations

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Slacker’s controls for tweaking stations

If you ’re willing to cough up $ 4 a month for the Slacker Radio Plus programme , you could dole out with many of the annoyances of the free version . This remove all audio ads as well as banner and television ads on the Slacker site . The plan also cater you with unlimited skips . Additionally , you may hoard mobile stations for those times when you ’re not plug into to the net . take this option and you may download the contentedness of a station to your iOS gimmick or other gimmick supported by Slacker ( an Android machine , for case ) . you may hive up up to 25 stations . These downloads are of a lower bit rate than the 128 - kbps MP3 tracks the service flow . Slacker Radio Plus to boot gives you access to ABC News and ESPN Radio mental object and provides over call lyric where available ( not all labels earmark lyric distribution ) .

What $10-a-month buys you

Slacker Premium Radio is the plan to pick if you want to choose specific music — a caterpillar track , album , or a place that plays euphony from just a single artist . In this regard , it ’s like the premium subscription music services I mentioned earlier . This includes all the perks of the Plus architectural plan , and you could stash intact albums and playlists you ’ve chosen , as well as create playlists . The hoard content is unfortunately still offered at a low bit rate — a configuration of AAC encoded at 64 kbps . you may lay away subject matter on only one twist at a time — if you select to cache mental object on an extra gimmick , any capacity on the first twist will be erase .

Selection and programming

Slacker offers more than 10 million tracks for station cyclosis . However , the number you could take on on demand is smaller . I compare some of its on - demand selections with the same track on Rhapsody — the service I ’ve bump that offers the most concluded music catalog . In some cases , I base Slacker wanting . I searched forNick Lowe , for example , and while his entire selection of album appeared in the consequence , well-nigh all of their track were unavailable for on - demand streaming . The service told me that they could be include as part of a across-the-board place , and asked if I would like to create such a station . Rhapsody , on the other paw , had these tracks . I then perusedJonathan Coulton’salbums . shirker list hisSmoking Monkeyalbum but propose no tracks for on - demand listening . Rhapsody had them in playable form . When searching for Ludwig van Beethoven on Slacker , no record album come along whatsoever ( though you’re able to well out blue-ribbon “ songs ” ) . Rhapsody had dozens of albums of Beethoven ’s work . I very much enjoy the workplace ofBleu , a pop songwriter / performer . Slacker lists his work , but no available tracks . Once again , Rhapsody came through with the unadulterated catalogue .

This is all about the licensing deals Slacker has strike with the label . In some cases , a recording label will allow you to pour an creative person ’s work as part of a station but wo n’t permit you to download it . For example , if you create a Beatles station , you ’ll take heed Beatles track even though you ca n’t cache those caterpillar tread .

Of course , there are plenteousness of albums that Slacker does have . If you need the work of mainstream pop , rock , country , soul , hip - record hop , and jazz artists , you ’ll find it . It ’s when you dip into more obscure artists or the classics that you come up empty .

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Like many Web-based music players, Slacker’s is ungainly

speak of the classics , Slacker touts its utilisation of professional DJs for selecting songs that populate its station . And it should , as some of its programming is quite good — peculiarly popular hits of the past several decades . But it ’s not honorable across the musical spectrum .

Its classical programming , for object lesson , is awful . I understand that “ art ” music is n’t a dearie among Slacker ’s audience , but what the military service currently offer is sticky . Not only are there only three classic post that for the most part provide the over - act hitting of the Baroque and Hellenic periods , but even when you create a station around a composer who epitomizes a fat subgenre — J.S. Bach and the Baroque period , for instance — Slacker can get it frightfully wrong . Not only did I listen mushy bang from a secure 150 years after Bach ’s death immix in with my Bach station , but also selections fromJesus Christ SuperstarandThe Music Man . Pandora does a far good job with classical music .

Filtering stations

I care the idea that you may fine-tune what you hear on Slacker by not only hear to the workplace of just a single artist ( available in the premium program ) but also configuring configurations so that you pick up more vague rails . This feature of speech take a morsel more work , however . I tested it by asking Slacker to act “ interference fringe ” recordings byJames Brown . It played “ Make It foetid , ” “ Prisoner of Love , ” “ deep in thought Someone , ” “ Mother Popcorn Pt . 2 , ” “ Talkin ’ Loud and Sayin ’ Nothing Pts . 1 – 2 , ” and “ Please , Please , Please . ” I ’m intimate with the Godfather of Soul ’s catalogue and believe only two of these racecourse mete on obscurity—“Lost Someone ” and “ Talkin ’ Loud and Sayin ’ Nothing . ” The others have all appeared on greatest hits aggregation making them anything but outskirt . This is a causa where better chase by someone intimate with the creative person ’s catalog would pay off .

Web versus mobile

The not - wholly - dirty - secret of music subscription table service is that navigate them via a Web browser app is clumsy . Slacker is no exception . Under the free plan , the Slacker site is painful to expect at — it ’s not unusual to bump a couple of video advertising and heavy image blocks . Even when you ’ve pay off to turn advertizement off , the flavour of the site is anything but sleek .

In regard to the player interface , it ’s crowded . data track are present in a too - small area as album covers in a Cover Flow - like purview . drama controls take issue depending on the kind of content you ’re play . When swarm a post you find Back , Play / Pause , Next ( Skip ) , Favorite , Ban , and intensity button . When using the premium plan to take on on - need music , the controls include Back , Play / Pause , Next , Shuffle , and Volume .

Like many Web - based medicine players , Slacker ’s is ungainly

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Slacker’s iPad interface is nicely designed

Under the free plan , you ca n’t see the name of the next runway in the queue ( with a paid programme you’re able to ) , however you’re able to view a list of what ’s already played . This is a great characteristic for those clip when you ’re not next to your computer , a song has play , and you want to sleep together the name of the creative person and pass over so you’re able to research further .

The player also includes a search airfield for finding artists , tracks , and stations . And you to boot have approach to artist biography , record album reviews , and lyric ( partial with the liberal program and full with a bear design ) . The data found in the biography and reviews sections can be quite just .

The Slacker iPad app is everything the Web interface isn’t — it ’s one of the nicest iOS musician I ’ve used . All the component found on the Web Sir Frederick Handley Page are here , but unionise in a more accessible way . The iPad app also has a Cover Flow display of tracks as album comprehend , but you could swipe those cover to move from track to chase after . When view the rest home screen you’re able to easily access existing stations by category as well as make a new post or play list with a tap . Tap a Station account clit to view tracks that have play . The Artist Bio and Album Reviews button take you to the appropriate content and work with both the free and pay architectural plan . Tap Lyrics with a free news report and you see the first poesy followed by a button that read Upgrade Your Account For Full Song Lyrics . With a paid plan , you see the utter lyrics when available . Use the Search field to seek out creative person , songs , albums , and stations .

Slacker ’s iPad interface is nicely design

On the Play concealment , solicit on a downward - pointing Triangulum and you see these entries : act Album ( works with agiotage news report only ) , Add To Playlist ( another premium feature of speech ) , Rate as Favorite , Ban Song , Ban Artist , Buy , View Album Page , and View Artist Page . When you wiretap the Buy release , the iTunes app launches and you ’re taken to a Thomas Nelson Page that feature the track , quick to purchase .

The iPhone / iPod touch version of the universal Slacker app miss the room to cram all these feature of speech into a single screen , but they ’re nicely align among multiple screen that are easy to navigate . One difference : The iPad version allows you to rain buckets Slacker over AirPlay , while the iPhone / iPod touch version does n’t .

Sound quality

It ’s easy to get caught up in audio specification — this inspection and repair has a higher bit pace than that one and is therefore better — but it really comes down to the quality of the encoding and your equipment and ear . Next to other cyclosis help , Slacker ’s 128 - kbps MP3 flake pace — whether from the free or pay architectural plan — is not impressive . Pay for Pandora ’s $ 36 - a - year Pandora One design and you get a 192 - kbps flow . ( Its destitute flow is of a lower scrap rate . ) Mog and Rdio provide higher bit rate , and Rhapsody encodes in AAC — which is design to vocalise better at abject bit rates like 128 kbps . Almost all services offer down in the mouth number rate for data file downloaded to a peregrine twist , but some provide the choice to download high bit rate file . I ’ve heard rumblings of Slacker increasing morsel rates in the not - too - distant future , but this is what they offer at the present moment .

Using my ears and some decent speakers rather than relying on specs , I found Slacker ’s stream perfectly satisfactory for non - critical hearing — pullulate hive up Indian file from my iPad over AirPlay less so . Most of these stash files lacked definition and some of the classical rail sounded poorly encoded — featuring lots of flanging on the top end . And , as with other streaming service I ’ve used , you hear gaps between tracks that , on a CD , flow into each other .

Summing up

you’re able to look at Slacker from two perspectives — as a innocent or crushed - price service of process that competes with Pandora or as a insurance premium religious service that goes up against Rhapsody , Spotify , Mog , and Rdio . As a Pandora alternative it has some decent advantages , let in the lack of a day-by-day omission cap , the ability to somewhat fine - melodic line what you listen , the extensive life and album revaluation , and the ability to glance over back through your hearing history . But some of its computer programming is n’t up to par with Pandora’s — the classic content in particular . user who ’ve tired of Pandora ’s message should give Slacker a spin .

Turning to give plans , the Slacker Radio Plus plan has some honorable things going for it . As with Pandora One , you ditch the advert and can skip an unlimited number of time . The ability to cache station is great as are the lyrics . But it would be decent if that plan also came with a higher moment rate stream , as does Pandora ’s paid - for architectural plan .

As for Slacker Premium Radio , oeuvre remain to be done . If Slacker want to compete with service like Rhapsody , Spotify , Mog , and Rdio , it needs a bulked - up music catalog . There are just too many missing track . That $ 10 - a - month programme is even more difficult to apologise when you consider that other subscription medicine avail also allow you to produce and pullulate single - creative person and track - based stations . Before pay for Slacker ’s premium plan , explore these other services . Each offers specify free run .