Official Slacker Forums

[Jon]

Looks like we have our own little revolution here. I'm digging some of the XM-related formats people are creating. I've got a few more I'm working on but haven't perfected yet for Soul Street and US Country.

Links when they're ready.

[AshevilleSLKR]

Yet another XM refugee, I used to hit xmfan a lot, didnt post much, there is one guy over there that is VERY *rude* if you make any kinda negative comment. Slacker puts whats left of SiriusXM to shame. I'm down from 5 subs to just 2, both prepaid - I still have a couple talk shows on XM left I listen to-but Slacker is my music choice. I got a G1 from Buy.com and love it,love it,love it !

[bucketo]

Another XM refugee here. I started looking at my options after the merger pretty much crapped the bed on all my favorite XM stations. Came across Slacker and have been testing out the web player since. Today I pulled the trigger over at woot.com for the 8gb G1. Can't wait to get it and start Slackin' in the car with the AUX in on the car deck.

XM was really a special thing, I'll miss it but with the tweaks you can do with slacker custom channels I feel I'm in safe hands... The merger totally messed what made XM special.

Keep up the good work Slacker crew!

[maynardgkrebs]

Another XMer here. Haven't cancelled yet, but just bought one of the G1's from Woot. Figure I'll learn the ropes with it, & look toward purchasing a G2 eventually. I love(d) XM, but they've done us wrong.

[Ethos]

Got the G2 for Christmas and wanted to try it out for a while, and its great. Slacker blows XM away, but in all fairness XM cant compete with stations I program myself. The problem with XM is they aren't even trying anymore. XM had all the good stations and programmers and Sirius fired every one of them.

I just cancelled my XM and hope they go out of business. Its harsh but i gave them the last 6 years and they just gave up. oh well Viva la Slacker!

[FredFanTW]

WOW
Another early adopter/investor in XM here.
This reminds me of the early enthusium of XMFAN.com circa 9/02. Remember when Ziggy and Ryan got along?
As my name implies FRED was the reason for being, and I'm talking the original FRED, not what it became later, and certainly not the crap that is Alt nation.
Until recently I had 16 subs. They were great gifts (big family).
I canceled 7 this week, but I will keep my Inno subscribed. Thank God I have the FRED essentials saved.
If Homer is around, what do you think of this business model?
TW

[MikeV]

If Homer is around, what do you think of this business model?

I don't think he's around here... probably because Slacker's a private company. However, it seems like a good mix of ad revenue and subscription revenue, with hardware purchase revenue to add to it.

[full moon]

Another Fred head and ex -xm sub.. The service has been dumbed down to the lowest form ofradio. It is on a death watch...

[2sheds]

Another defector here! We were an enthusiastic, multi-XM-subscription household, but post-merger we're down to one sub (which we'll soon be cancelling). Between killing off Fungus then Sirius-ifying Fred -- that was it for me. I probably would have stuck it out if they'd left Fred alone, but 1st Wave -- ugh.

[oncesir]

I was an XM sub for nearly 2 yrs. I loved Squizz and Da Boneyard. Now that Squizz is the watered down Octane and Boneyard is supposed to be a copy of Buzzsaw I canceled 1 of my 2 Subs. Thank God for Slacker. I listened online before the Nov 12 merger but never felt the need to go further. Then Nov 13th came and I realized what I loved about XM was gone. After a month of trying to adjust I realized I wasnt willing to pay for something that was so poorly planned and executed. I just got my G2 up and running and that will help ease the pain with the death of XM.

[Moondogger]

Just for the record Moondogger is also an XM defector. I still miss XM2, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 10, 13, 40 and so on. I especially miss Bob Dylan and Thyme Time Radio and Matt the Cat with his Harlem show. Post merger is a disgrace. Thankfully I found slacker. Using the education I received from Matt the Cat and Bob Dylan, and oh yeah Tom Petty I am again enjoying the music I discovered there and then some. And thanks to all that have answered some of my lame questions. You have been very helpful.

[jglasson]

I've had XM for a few years. Ever since I got the Slacker, I rarely listen to music on XM anymore. I really, really miss Skanoreah on Fungus.

But it's unlikely that I cancel XM since I still love O&A and Ron&Fez. I also find that I listen to new cable news channels sometimes. And I have an Acura with XM based traffic feeds.

So Slacker and XM are complementary for me. I upgraded to the Plus plan, made some custom stations and can listen to music more to my liking. I hardly ever touch my iPod.

[Moondogger]

[ I hardly ever touch my iPod.[/quote]

I received an iPOD for Christmas from my lovely Godchild. I don't have the heart to tell her I have it loaded with tunes but never listen to it.

[druid42]

I received an iPOD for Christmas from my lovely Godchild. I don't have the heart to tell her I have it loaded with tunes but never listen to it.

What she doesn't know can't hurt her!

[frizgolf]

I find Slacker to be complementary to XM as well. I, too, find myself listening less and less to XM, but as with Slacker, it has its place with me.
As for iPod, Slacker has definitely quashed any thoughts of ever buying one. This G2 is a music listener's paradise. Plug it in to load it up. What could be simpler?

[nyhunter77]

Yeah I have had second thoughts about ever buying an ipod or zune also. I'd rather have a zune i think if i ever got one ... mainly for my Chinese music collection. I suggested a Cantonese / Hong Kong music station but i guess it would have a small following.

[frizgolf]

Yeah I have had second thoughts about ever buying an ipod or zune also. I'd rather have a zune i think if i ever got one ... mainly for my Chinese music collection. I suggested a Cantonese / Hong Kong music station but i guess it would have a small following.

I often wonder just how far and wide Slacker personnel go to add music to their lineup.

[druid42]

Yeah I have had second thoughts about ever buying an ipod or zune also. I'd rather have a zune i think if i ever got one ... mainly for my Chinese music collection. I suggested a Cantonese / Hong Kong music station but i guess it would have a small following.

Most peoples' stations has a following of one. Unless you're not going to listen to your own station, one follower seems to be enough.

[nyhunter77]

Yeah, I would think for a custom station, a following of one is usually the case. But providing the music of course is the expensive part for the slacker folks. I wonder how much it would be to put asian music up though.

I have done a few searches and have found spanish music, so they do have a few international selections (at least they are international to me)

Just in case any readers are of Asian decent or like asian music, maybe you can send a request as well. I suggested in the "suggestion" forum that they should look into a Cantonese/Hong Kong channel, a Mandarin/Tawainese channel, and a Bollywood channel.

In our communities we trade music all the time and I have hundreds of HK songs on mp3 format, but they are a few months old. I'd love to be able to hear them and new music in my car w/o switching devices. I even have some Mandarin and Indian songs because I love them but don't understand a thing ha ha.

Anyway, back to my point, we trade music all the time, I think if slacker carried a good selection of Asian music, they would have potentially a massive audience in the states buying up the G2s for the convenience of not having to keep up with the charts on the other side of the world for new music.

I just think about all the people in NY I know who pay to convert their radios to receive Chinese radio channels which seem to be on another frequency. If we just sell everyone G2s and docks... woo hoo! Slacker will live forever!

PS. sorry for getting off topic

[Burner]

Add another one to the list. XM subscriber for 5+ years, and just dropped 2 of 3 subs today (the active one is in my Wife's car). The original reason I bought XM was to discover new music and Artists I hadn't heard of. At first, that's exactly what XM was. I could listen for an entire day and not hear a single repeat of a song. Slowly at first, the play lists began to shrink in size, then they replaced the programmer for Ethel and Squizz, and they took a turn for the worse. Then they took away my beloved Fungus. Now, XM has morphed into what it was originally supposed to be so different from, terrestrial radio. Shortened play lists and DJ's that babble on and on (I remember when very few channels had DJ's). I got so that the only reason I was keeping it was for the talk content, namely Opie and Anthony. However, that show also isn't what it used to be, with Anthony ranting about the 2nd amendment and politics constantly.

As others have mentioned, I too discovered about Slacker on an XM fan site. I have been playing around with the online player for a couple of weeks, and have an 8 gig G2 due on Monday. I will have to go the podcast route for talk content, but that's not an issue. The music selections look really good, and the channel customization is a nice addition.

I have never been much of a Mel Karmazin fan, going back to the days when I used to listen to Stern in the mid 90's. Now, it appears that he's heading the ship towards an iceberg at full speed ahead. With the stock currently running about a dime a share, and a lot of debt coming due this year, I'm betting they don't see January of 2010.