Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The original Slacker Music Player was originally announced back in November 2007, and it experienced several delays before it actually hit the market. After which it was not always given the best reviews and there seemed to be many issues that were holding back its potential success. I say potential success because the Slacker Radio service is great and a pleasure to use; it is a great way to listen to a wide variety of music without having to sit and sort and create playlists.

With an already good music service, the introduction of the new hardware seems like it can only help in giving Slacker some success. The newly released player is the Slacker G2 Portable Radio Player and perhaps the biggest change is in the size. The G2 is much smaller, measuring in at 3.4 x 2.0 x 0.5-inches and weighing just 2.6-ounces. Feature wise it offers a 2.4-inch display with a 320 x 240 pixel resolution, built-in Wi-Fi and comes in either a 4GB or 8GB storage option. As far as the external controls, the G2 has the volume control located on the top, with a scroll wheel, home button and lock button on the right hand side. Additionally, the G2 also has a USB port on the lower left side and an industry standard accessory connector on the bottom.

Taking a look at some of the early reviews, they seem to have quite a bit in common. Most commented on the size, but aside from the obvious the reviews also focused on the ease of creating and adding music to the player. Others mentioned the display and the full screen album art that also offers artist bios as a plus. Another hot topic was the ability to update your player over Wi-Fi at hotspots, which is particularly nice because Slacker has partnered with Devicescape which means you will be able to connect at Wayport (McDonalds) and AT&T locations. A few also complained of some quirks and connectivity issues when syncing.

The G2 seems to have received a pretty positive response with a few complaints due to the battery life, which seems short at “up to 15 hours” and slightly unresponsive controls. Another issue that received some complaint was the lack of photo and video support and poor placement (on the top of the device) of the volume controls. Personally, I would be more than happy with those last two complaints as I would purchase this already knowing that it is just a music player. Of course, some may assume otherwise because it seems that just about every portable device offers video and photo support lately. As for the volume control’s location, the top of the device sounds good to me, with a nice pocketable size that control placement almost seems ideal.

Now lets get on and check out some of the verdicts from the early reviews…

PC Mag: Rating 3.5-out-of-5 (Good)

“If you’re a dedicated Slacker listener, the G2 is an excellent way to take your songs with you. If the company can iron out a few ease-of-use issues, this player could be part of a digital music model that gives Apple a run for its money.”

CNET: Rating 3.5-out-of-5 (Very Good)

“The Slacker G2 is the ultimate lazy person’s MP3 player. Paired with the excellent—and free—Slacker music service, it makes new music discovery and enjoyment a nearly effortless process, but control freaks and audiophiles need not apply.”

Laptop

“Inevitably, comparisons will be drawn between the Slacker Portable G2 and the current king of the digital music player space, Apple’s iPod, but one must carefully consider what the Slacker is designed to do before passing judgement. It is, exclusively, a music player”

“Although BlackBerry owners may want to wait for the Slacker application to roll out in October, those looking for a standalone audio player will find that the Slacker Portable G2 aids in music discovery while remedying many of the flaws found in the groundbreaking original device.”

Gadling

“The Microsoft Zune is probably the only player worthy of being compared to the Slacker G2; it also offers Wi-Fi (though no wireless syncing outside the house until the upcoming firmware update). The differences between the Slacker G2 and the Zune are the price of the monthly service ($14.99 for Zune Pass), and that Slacker offers a far more integrated service (web, desktop, portable player).”

“All in all, I can only say that this is my new portable music player. I haven’t touched my iPod since I got my hands on the Slacker G2, and in the time I have been using the device, I have come across 100’s of great new songs I had not heard before, and about as many songs I had forgotten about, and never managed to add to my collection.

If you like music, and would love to find new artists, I can highly recommend visiting Slacker and playing around with their web player, before you know it, you’ll be dying to take that music on the road with you, on your own Slacker G2 player.”

Product [Slacker]