 RAIN 7/25: Deezer SmartRadio review; iPhone may get native Net radio support ·Jul 25, 11:49 AM DEEZER CUSTOM RADIO HAS STRONG INTERFACE, WEAKER SONG SELECTION: Deezer’s SmartRadio service is similar to NATIVE INTERNET RADIO IN iPHONE UPDATE?: Reports and rumors are beginning to fly about the iPhone firmware update 2.1, including the addition of a a “mobile radio” function, which may point to an Apple-created Internet radio player for the device. Third-party Internet radio applications for the iPhone, including Pandora and AOL Radio, have been SLACKER RUMORED TO BE COMING TO iPHONE, BLACKBERRY: A Slacker application for iPhone and Blackberry mobile devices is rumored to be “about ready to launch.” According to an anonymous tipster close to Slacker, the player would feature the site’s advanced tuning capabilities (newer/older, popular/fringe, etc.) with “better audio quality than other solutions out there.” Additionally, the application will reportedly cache content, so users’ stations will be accessible even when they are not online. The official word from Slacker, via VP of Marketing Jonathan Sasse, is that the company is, “very close to releasing the Slacker Radio experience for many mobile devices. This is in-line with our ongoing strategy to deliver Slacker on mobile devices in addition to Slacker Radio Players.” For more, read Laptop Magazine’s coverage here. ESPN HOST GOES OFF-AIR TO FOCUS ON PODCAST: Dave Dameshek, share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
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Last.fm and Pandora’s customized streams: punch in a favorite artist or track, and listen to similar music. Deezer falls short of its peers in catalog depth however. Not every artist can be the subject of a SmartRadio channel (e.g., Iron & Wine but not Yeasayer), and the player repeats itself, playing two Bob Dylan tracks in a row after two Okkervil River cuts. The player is limited in its ability to “learn” listeners’ tastes as well, only featuring a “Dislike” button. Additionally, SmartRadio is at times erroneous in its song selections—in listening to Iron & Wine’s channel we were presented with a mislabeled big band waltz. Despite a split interface, in which half of the controls appear outside of the radio player itself, SmartRadio’s design is slick and savvy. Album art slides gracefully across the screen, joining its recently played brethren in the background of the player, eventually forming a mosaic of your music. A would-be good player, SmartRadio needs a larger library of music to draw from, not to mention more unique features to separate it from other customized Internet radio broadcasters who are already doing what SmartRadio offers, and better.
exceedingly popular and have received extensive praise from the press (
the afternoon host of 
