When XM and Sirius satellite radio services sought to merge, they explained how their combining was not a threat to competition because so many more choices are available to consumers than were envisioned only a few years ago. With mobile music apps, online streaming radio stations are not only for connected computers, but have come to smart phones.
In January 2010, Slacker demonstrated new mobile capabilities including station caching for a range of popular devices that will enable listeners to enjoy the Slacker experience without a network connection. Slacker also showed a new Slacker app for the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi in addition to announcing plans to integrate ABC News into the Slacker Personal Radio offering.
The new wireless station caching capability will enable iPhone, iPod touch, Android and BlackBerry smartphone users to save their favorite Slacker stations, storing the music directly on the device or SD memory Card, to listen anywhere - whether they are connected to a wireless network or not.
Slacker Radio 2.0 for iPhone and iPod touch provides greater performance with wireless station caching for listening to music without a network connection. Slacker Radio 2.0 for Android provides enhanced functionality, including wireless station caching.
Slacker Radio 3.0 for BlackBerry smartphones sports a streamlined interface and improved performance with integrated wireless station caching. Slacker Radio for Palm webOS is now available for Palm Pre and Palm Pixi smartphones. ABC Headline News has been added to Slacker Radio.
With access to a song library that is nearly four times the size of the leading competitor, Slacker Personal Radio enables listeners to create their own Personal Radio stations based on any artist or mix of artists, or listen to and personalize over 120 expert-programmed genre stations ranging from Alternative Rock to Comedy and everything in between. Personalization options include rating songs or artists, playing more popular vs. more eclectic music and listening to newer vs. classic songs.
Whether listening on the web, BlackBerry smartphones, iPhone and iPod touch, Android-powered smartphones or a Slacker-enabled TV or Blu-ray player, Slacker listeners have instant access to their favorite music along with artist profiles, album reviews and album cover art.
Radio has become so much more than it used to be. With Slacker's upgrades, the music available to connected devices is now extended to those devices when they are offline.