I asked these in another Slacker thread, but perhaps wasnt the best place...I'll ask them here too since this thread is generically titled.
So let me ask these questions, as I can't clearly ascertain the answers from other posts:
If I do sign up for a Premium Slacker subscription (the $10/mo option), and set the MS to use my account,
- What features of the premium will work in the car, which won't?
- Will playlists be accessible in any way?
- Will I be able to do unlimited skips?
- Will stations I create on the PC/Mac be available in the MS and vice versa?
- Will "any song" work like it should? (Even if I have to select from a list on the screen)
Thanks. I pay $10 a month to Spotify as it is. I can easily switch to Slacker if the answer to all or at least most of the above are positive.
I see that the MS already has a SLacker ID and PW. I would try to overwrite them with my ID and PW, but I don't know what the PW is in case I want to switch back. Anyone know that?
OK, so the user manual doesn't say anything about how to use slacker. Most stuff I can figure out or have gleaned reading the forum, but I have a couple questions.
I assume the "favorite song" button is supposed to cause the song to be played more often. After a few hours of listening (over several days) I don't think I've ever had one of the songs come up again. How is it really supposed to work? Also there does't seem to be a way to list or control your favorite songs.
What is custom stations for? Is this something you can only use with a paid account (i.e. not the account that came with the car)?
I've upgraded to the Slacker Premium (or w/e the $10/month version is) and tied it to the car.
1) The car interface is very limited. It might be the free version, might be radio plus. I suspect base version with car is a radio plus variation; unlimited skips.
2) With a full version you can create playlists in the web app (Flash) or phone app (iPhone for me) and they'll be available to the car. I've found I need to re-login to get new playlists available, but maybe it periodically updates and I'm just being impatient. I'll prolly still re-login if a playlist is added. I'm suspicious I need to re-login to get playlist updates (more or less songs on a previously existing playlist), but I'm not certain of that.
3) Unlimited skips is part of either Slacker subscription model. Sometimes, however, I'll get a "you are listening to Slacker Radio" announcement. Usually with custom channels, not with playlists.
4) Custom stations made with the PC (or Mac) are available to the car. The ability to 'tune' the station, however, is not. The '#myStuff' interface in the Flash enabled web browser (ie: PC or Mac) isn't available to the car in any way. So I can't create a custom station in the car either. I can create an ad-hoc custom channel, but not one fully customized and memorized.
5) Any song is limited by some licensing, but otherwise works great.
The car interface is very limited and I find I customize my channels on the PC or iPhone app then use them in the car. Favorites chosen in the car for w/e channel will be used appropriately.
Favorites are one of the tuning parms: you can have favorites play more or less often for a channel.
Custom stations are pretty nice: I put a whole bunch of bands together and it'll play music from those bands and related bands (if I tune it that way). For example: I can play ZZ Top with Stevie Ray Vaughan plus get things like Gary Clark Jr tossed in as 'related'.