Official Slacker Forums

[popeye]

Real Nice-Payed top dollar for for this G2. It was not cheap!!!

There was a response from Slacker:
g2-to-be-discontinued-t5423.html

What Guaranty do we have that you will still hire and pay someone to to the "refreshing" going forward???? This will be a very expensive USB storage device if not.
I personally do not trust Slacker to continue giving us this option. Been reading posts and there were promises made that never were fulfilled.
In this economic situation it comes down to "cutting expenses and maximizing profits". For this reason the trust level is real low.
What written guaranty can you give us that you will provide us with what we paid for for YEARS to come?

This doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy:"helping people with the products as long as you need us" Pretty vague! Is this according to your standards or prerequisites? Sounds non committal. Unbelievable the customer these days always pays the price-NOT RIGHT!

Leave me or us a guarantee that we can take you can take to court and actually win in a class action case?
Read the article about advertising monthly subscriptions and pay up front-that was not right either.
Not feeling to good here!

Just looked at your site-Now $129 with free dock-Wow I paid full list. Did I get ripped off!!!!
NOT RIGHT

[ljb6599]

I have a G1 that was discontinued quite a while ago and Slacker is still providing service to this device.I am sure the same service will continue with the G2.The car company Saturn has gone out of business recently.Should all customers of these cars demand their money back.There is a certain amount of risk in everything we do in life.We have no control over companies whom change their policies or go out of business.Customers whom have a G1 and G2 should continue to enjoy music from these devices for many years to come(3-5years) until the batteries no longer function.

[popeye]

I have a G1 that was discontinued quite a while ago and Slacker is still providing service to this device.I am sure the same service will continue with the G2.The car company Saturn has gone out of business recently.Should all customers of these cars demand their money back.There is a certain amount of risk in everything we do in life.We have no control over companies whom change their policies or go out of business.Customers whom have a G1 and G2 should continue to enjoy music from these devices for many years to come(3-5years) until the batteries no longer function.

They are not going out of business. I am glad you are you are sure.I am not, what I am asking for a is a guaranty that I can feel warm and fuzzy about. The trust level with some of the the posts and promises and the articles about monthly subscriptions where it is actually a year upfront does not do it for me.

So I do not know how much you paid for your G1, but if you paid full retail and after 7 months from now you are unable to refresh your songs and all you have now is a storage device of 4gigs of songs-to me that is an expensive storage device. You want to hear the same songs over and over for 3-5 years enjoy it then-that is not what I paid for.That is not right and is a rip off.

[ljb6599]

Radio Player Slacker Raises $10 Million In Fourth Round
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Slacker, which develops portable radio players users can program according to their musical tastes, has raised $9.6 million of a $10.2 million round, according to a regulatory filing released yesterday. Funds were first raised on April 30, 2009, and the company has since raised the $9.6 million from nine investors. The filing did not specifiy whether these were new or existing investors—the latter include Centennial Ventures, Rho Ventures, Austin Ventures, Mission Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds. We contacted the company for further details, but the CEO wouldn’t comment.

Slacker launched in early 2007 with about $13.5 million in venture funding, then raised another $40 million in a second round in mid-2007. According to regulatory filings the company raised another $5 million toward the end of 2008. If the company reaches its $10.2 million goal, it would bring total funds raised to date to $68.7 million.

Slacker made a splash in early 2007 when it launched at the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas. (I was there and remember a futuristic lounge and what seemed like an army of attractive women handing out Slacker merchandise and promotional material.) Recently it has expanded by launching iPhone and BlackBerry applications. It also has discovery qualities to it, like rival Pandora, where users can type in artist names and have similar music played to them.

Related Stories
Digital Music Service Slacker Gets $5 Million Bridge Round
Rory Maher
May 14, 2009 10:56 AM ET

Posted In: Money, M&A & Venture Ca

[ljb6599]

Music Startup Slacker CEO Dennis Mudd Out; $70 Million and Counting
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Rafat Ali
paidContent.org
Friday, August 21, 2009; 1:28 PM
Slacker, the heavily funded online music startup founded by former MusicMatch CEO Dennis Mudd, has disposed off of, well, Mudd, reports VentureWire. This comes as the music startup scene remains murky. The company, launched in 2006, has raised a whopping $70 million in funding, mainly to build a portable wireless music player (which explains the high amount), but has of late been focusing on its mobile player for iPhone and other smartphones. It is often compared to Pandora, which is purely and online/mobile play. Its investors include Centennial Ventures, Rho Ventures, Austin Ventures, Mission Ventures and Sevin Rosen Funds.

Mudd will remain on the board and actively involved, the story quotes an unnamed investor. ?[President] Jim Cady has been, in many ways, operating the company," the story says. Mudd was also the CEO of MusicMatch, which he sold to Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) for $165 million in 2004 and then left (guess what happened to MusicMatch within Yahoo).

[ljb6599]

Slacker phases out hardware business, focuses on other devices
By DONALD MELANSON,
Published 2009-10-23 09:13:28
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It's not exactly a huge surprise considering we haven't even heard so much as a whisper about a new Slacker device as of late, but it looks like company president Jim Cady has now finally confirmed that Slacker will indeed be phasing out its hardware business altogether. At the moment, that business consists entirely of the Slacker G2 personal radio, which will still be available "though at least the first half of next year," and offers a number advantages over the Slacker app for other devices. Those apps (and Slacker's online music service) will be the company's sole focus from here on out, however, so we'll no doubt see some expanded functionality sooner or later -- especially considering that Slacker has apparently raised a "few more million" dollars in funding on the basis of its new mobile strategy. [Via Zatz Not Funny]
Filed under: Portable Audio

[MikeV]

Phasing out hardware design and development has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to continue refreshing a caching device.

What guarantee can they provide? How about the fact that Slacker's Blackberry app still supports caching too. It probably uses the same exact system on Slacker's end of things that the G1/G2 use. And if/when RIM decides that they want to give up exclusivity to the caching feature, I'm sure it will arrive on other devices - certainly Android/Windows Mobile, possibly iPhone - very quickly.

So when Slacker says that you'll be able to continue to use your G1/G2 to cache Slacker content, you can pretty well bank on the fact that it's not going anywhere. The caching feature is what separates Slacker from the competition, and it's still very widely used among Blackberry devices.

Just don't expect a new Slacker portable to be coming to market... it's not gonna happen.

[popeye]

Slacker phases out hardware business, focuses on other devices
By DONALD MELANSON,
Published 2009-10-23 09:13:28
E-MAIL
SHARE
CREDIBLE
80
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8 credits.
2 discredits.
It's not exactly a huge surprise considering we haven't even heard so much as a whisper about a new Slacker device as of late, but it looks like company president Jim Cady has now finally confirmed that Slacker will indeed be phasing out its hardware business altogether. At the moment, that business consists entirely of the Slacker G2 personal radio, which will still be available "though at least the first half of next year," and offers a number advantages over the Slacker app for other devices. Those apps (and Slacker's online music service) will be the company's sole focus from here on out, however, so we'll no doubt see some expanded functionality sooner or later -- especially considering that Slacker has apparently raised a "few more million" dollars in funding on the basis of its new mobile strategy. [Via Zatz Not Funny]
Filed under: Portable Audio

I rest my case!! Another Company screwing the customer. So I guess we get 8 more months of a service and device that will become useless. I am glad this idiot has raised a lot of capital to further his profits. Give some back to me who you have lied to and put out a product that to the company is not as "profitable" to them. Also save some of the milllions for your legal counsel.

Man Class Action Suit in the making.
PS-thanks for your moderators furthering the lies. The little guys suffer. So to the ignornt person above who said that they will be there for 3-5 years-hh.
I am pis..d!!!!

[MikeV]

I rest my case!! Another Company screwing the customer. So I guess we get 8 more months of a service and device that will become useless. I am glad this idiot has raised a lot of capital to further his profits. Give some back to me who you have lied to and put out a product that to the company is not as "profitable" to them.

Man Class Action Suit in the making.
PS-thanks for your moderators furthering the lies. The little guys suffer. So to the ignornt person above who said that they will be there for 3-5 years-hh.
I am pis..d!!!!

Um... where in that article does it say that they're screwing the customer? If you're referring to this - [the G2] will still be available "though at least the first half of next year," - That's talking about its availability for sale in the retail marketplace, not the ability of it to continue caching.

I think your being * is unwarranted at this point. If your G2 works, and will continue to work, what does it matter? Enjoy the music! It's not going anywhere. And if Slacker really does stop providing service to the G2 in 8 months, then file your class action law suit.

[popeye]

Phasing out hardware design and development has absolutely nothing to do with the ability to continue refreshing a caching device.

What guarantee can they provide? How about the fact that Slacker's Blackberry app still supports caching too. It probably uses the same exact system on Slacker's end of things that the G1/G2 use. And if/when RIM decides that they want to give up exclusivity to the caching feature, I'm sure it will arrive on other devices - certainly Android/Windows Mobile, possibly iPhone - very quickly.

So when Slacker says that you'll be able to continue to use your G1/G2 to cache Slacker content, you can pretty well bank on the fact that it's not going anywhere. The caching feature is what separates Slacker from the competition, and it's still very widely used among Blackberry devices.

Just don't expect a new Slacker portable to be coming to market... it's not gonna happen.

Do you represent Slacker?
Let me get this in writing for Slacker directly, then I will "slack" off. Seems like I heard that the Red Sox will win the world series also.
Why don't they respond and assure the people who invested in their product and services and assure us. Who runs or sponsors this forum-you? I gather Slacker gets info and opinions from here-give something back.
I am tired of the little guy getting screwed by corporate America. Slacker obviously does not care.

[MikeV]

Do you represent Slacker?
Let me get this in writing for Slacker directly, then I will "slack" off. Seems like I heard that the Red Sox will win the world series also.
Why don't they respond and assure the people who invested in their product and services and assure us. Who runs or sponsors this forum-you? I gather Slacker gets info and opinions from here-give something back.
I am tired of the little guy getting screwed by corporate America. Slacker obviously does not care.

I don't represent Slacker. Just a long-time user of the service. I have a G1 AND a G2, in addition to an iPhone and Blackberry. I don't use the G1 anymore, and haven't used the G2 in a long time, but it still works and I'll continue using it until it dies.

I think you need to chill for a bit. It's the weekend, you're not going to get any official word from Slacker at least until tomorrow. There's no sense in getting yourself worked up over something like this. Caching will continue to be a part of Slacker's future in their mobile apps, so there's no reason that they would need to stop providing service to their own portables, just because they're not making new ones anymore.

[popeye]

Do you represent Slacker?
Let me get this in writing for Slacker directly, then I will "slack" off. Seems like I heard that the Red Sox will win the world series also.
Why don't they respond and assure the people who invested in their product and services and assure us. Who runs or sponsors this forum-you? I gather Slacker gets info and opinions from here-give something back.
I am tired of the little guy getting screwed by corporate America. Slacker obviously does not care.

I don't represent Slacker. Just a long-time user of the service. I have a G1 AND a G2, in addition to an iPhone and Blackberry. I don't use the G1 anymore, and haven't used the G2 in a long time, but it still works and I'll continue using it until it dies.

I think you need to chill for a bit. It's the weekend, you're not going to get any official word from Slacker at least until tomorrow. There's no sense in getting yourself worked up over something like this. Caching will continue to be a part of Slacker's future in their mobile apps, so there's no reason that they would need to stop providing service to their own portables, just because they're not making new ones anymore.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes I will chill and wait until hearing from them, hopefully.
Getting tired of being marketed then getting ....
Appreciated.

[ljb6599]

Popeye....I do not appreciate being called ignorant.Please direct your angry comments elsewhere.I have a right just like you do to express my opinion on this forum and to not be called names for doing so. I am a long time customer and Slacker in my opinion has been a very good service and I am sure they will respond to your concerns on this forum like they always have.The biggest question is however are you going to trust what they have to say.
Thank you,
Len

[popeye]

Popeye....I do not appreciate being called ignorant.Please direct your angry comments elsewhere.I have a right just like you do to express my opinion on this forum and to not be called names for doing so. I am a long time customer and Slacker in my opinion has been a very good service and I am sure they will respond to your concerns on this forum like they always have.The biggest question is however are you going to trust what they have to say.
Thank you,
Len

How did I refer you as ignorant. I used your information.

[ljb6599]

You want to hear the same songs over and over for 3-5 years enjoy it then-that is not what I paid for.That is not right and is a rip off So to the ignornt person above who said that they will be there for 3-5 years-hh.
I am pis..d!!!!
That ignorant person was me
Sincerely,
Len( ljb6599)

[outofcontrol]

You have double posted a topic that is already in the G2 forum. Slacker has already responded to this.......

We will continue to support the devices by answer questions, and helping people with the products as long as you need us to. Any of the new G2 players sold will continue to have a 1 year warranty on them, so that should cover everyone against any defects in manufacturing. But even after the warranty is over, we'll still be able to answer questions, and provide suggestions when needed, and we'll continue to support the usage of the players via our refreshing abilities (which will still be available in products even after the portables are no longer sold by us).

It's not like we'll sell them throughout the upcoming year and then suddenly stop supporting the devices. We'll still be here to support them.

Best regards,
Rome E
Slacker Support

Even if you paid full price for your G2 what are you complaining about ? 200 + bucks is not the end of the world, and you decided to spend the money. Besides you can continue to use your device as normal despite this news. Don't understand what you are whining about. Class action law suit good luck. Why don't you enjoy your G2 since you bought it to use ? Your concerns don't add up.....chill, smoke out, have a beer, something to relax yourself.

[Vlaktor]

To put it simply, Slacker is trying not to make the same mistake Sega did and stay in the hardware market when superior hardware is already available or shortly around the corner. A lot of time and money is spent in hardware research & development. When Slacker first started out, no mobile devices had their services on them so they created their own. Now several devices have Slacker service (although only a few have caching) and more are in the works. The time and money that was spent on creating their own hardware can now be spent on making the Slacker service work on other devices or making the existing service better.

I paid full price for my G2 as well and am very happy with it. I still prefer it to any Slacker supporting device currently on the market but am sure somebody will create something I will like as much or more by the time my G2 wears out. Once Apple gets their heads out of their * and allows caching on their devices, many people will be a LOT happier.

The Sony Walkman X would be a perfect replacement for the G2 if it allowed caching of more than three stations. I believe Slacker may actually be limiting them from caching the same amount the G1 or G2 can to boost sales of their own devices. Now that the G2 is being phased out, I'm sure licensing agreements with third parties will loosen up and allow for more cached stations. Can somebody from Slacker confirm this?

[BillD3818]

I don't blame Slacker for getting out of the hardware business. Let other companies make the hardware and have the headaches..

But anyway Popeye where does it say there will only be 8 months of service left and the G2 will be useless in 8 months? It says no such thing.. The article said Slacker plans on selling the G2 for about 8 more months. There is no way the G2 will become 'useless' the day after Slacker stops selling them!!!

Please stop with the exaggerations and hyperbole..

BTW I have 2 G2's, and still like them and plan on using them for another 2-3 years.

[RomeE]

To put it simply, Slacker is trying not to make the same mistake Sega did and stay in the hardware market when superior hardware is already available or shortly around the corner. A lot of time and money is spent in hardware research & development. When Slacker first started out, no mobile devices had their services on them so they created their own. Now several devices have Slacker service (although only a few have caching) and more are in the works. The time and money that was spent on creating their own hardware can now be spent on making the Slacker service work on other devices or making the existing service better.

I paid full price for my G2 as well and am very happy with it. I still prefer it to any Slacker supporting device currently on the market but am sure somebody will create something I will like as much or more by the time my G2 wears out. Once Apple gets their heads out of their * and allows caching on their devices, many people will be a LOT happier.

The Sony Walkman X would be a perfect replacement for the G2 if it allowed caching of more than three stations. I believe Slacker may actually be limiting them from caching the same amount the G1 or G2 can to boost sales of their own devices. Now that the G2 is being phased out, I'm sure licensing agreements with third parties will loosen up and allow for more cached stations. Can somebody from Slacker confirm this?

I'm reading through the posts, but I wanted to quote this one first.

It is absolutely 100% spot on. When we first started, way back in 2007, there was no market for our application other than our own hardware. We wanted to create an experience that you could listen online or on the go. At the time we could only create the "on the go" by making our own hardware. And based on many people's comments here on the forums, we have been rather successful in making a product that allows this.

But, as we moved into 2008 and 2009, all of a sudden the world shifted. Apple created the App Store, and allowed 3rd party applications, then RIM opened up the BlackBerry to 3rd party applications. Now other companies are as well. There used to be a time that carriers didn't want you to use anything on your phone but what they provided to them. But, times are changing, now they are seeing that there are many talented companies out there that can make something better than them, they can just provide a platform.

Well, we have a great radio product, but doing our own hardware is not something that we need to do any longer. Instead we can work with these other companies and put out our great products on those platforms. This allows us shift our resources and money elsewhere, and focus on making an even greater products.

What's that old saying? Jack of all trades, master of none? Well, we want to provide the best Radio Experience that we can. By moving out of doing our own hardware, and moving into supporting our Radio Experience on multiple other platforms, this allows us the freedom to do that. It also means that we don't run into areas that we have competition with our partners. So, this is a good thing for everyone.

As someone else pointed out in this thread, I've already posted that we'll continue to support the G1 and G2's. Heck we have a ton of G1 people that still refresh their players, and we love this. And the G2's are even more than the G1's. While we don't plan on doing anymore "Slacker" Branded hardware, the technology that we created will be used in other areas. Already, the ability to cache has been used on the BlackBerry Devices and the Sony Walkman devices. So, there are alot of possibilities here, and it just makes sense to adjust to the market and take advantage of all these wonderful pieces of hardware that are out there and will be coming out. As a small start up, it's very hard to compete against some of these hardware companies head-to-head on hardware. But as a radio company, we feel we provide a superior product that we can get into many different pieces of hardware.

And, the product you bought 6 months ago, works the same today, as it did last week, as it did last month. Nothing has changed with this announcement, other than us letting you all know that the market has changed, and what we are going to do in the future.

Best regards,
Rome E
Slacker Support

[DAB]

Right On Rome! Thanks for the clarification! I don't think it can be spelled out anymore simply than that. This guy wants a written guarantee, but no one these days provides an absolute iron clad guarantee for anything these days. I wonder how many Pontiac or Saturn owners who had manufacturer warranties from GM in writting woke up one day to find out those brands no longer exist. However, GM is still going to take care of them. So just because the hardware isn't going to be produced anymore doesn't mean Slacker is going to thumb their nose up at those of us who did buy the hardware when it was being produced and sold.