 Slacker device can't possibly be "the future" -- Chicago Tribune blogger ·Nov 15, 02:33 PM From the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye: "If
this is the future, then People just named me the sexiest
man “There could be [WiFi] static”"USA Today quotes Slacker CEO Dennis Mudd [pictured], who said Wi-Fi for music isn’t the way to go because ‘there could be static or you might lost the
signal.’ Well, I never heard of static
on Wi-Fi, but OK … so what’s the alternative?"With the Slacker Portable, ‘a selection of songs from your favorite artists is transferred to the Slacker portable player from your PC. New songs are added every time the player is hooked up. They are stored on the player, so you don’t need an Internet connection to listen.’ “1985 called. They want their idea back”"Hey, Dennis… 1985 called. They want their idea back. So what you have for me is a player that chooses songs — I can’t choose them except for telling the software what music I like in general — and then downloads them to a portable device that I can take with me anywhere I go?.."The best thing I could find is that the Slacker Portable has a 4-inch screen. That’s a half inch bigger than your iPhone. But then it gets bad again. If you want free service, there are ads but USA Today doesn’t  clarify
if it’s on the device when it downloads or on the
PC. No ads cost $7.95 a month… for a device that I can’t even
choose my own songs?"So the device can’t cost that much right? Wrong! It starts at $199.99 with 2 GB of storage and 15 stations or $249.99 for 4GB and 25 stations. You can get a Nano for $149 with 4 GB storage… "I don’t know this Mudd guy, and I’m sure he’s great and all. But if he’s for real, then I’m … let’s try again … People‘s sexiest man alive. And to be fair, the device looks pretty good, but I’m just not on board with what’s being sold." Read this entire article online here. share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
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alive.
This approach is very similar to a company that radio legend Charlie Kendall was involved with back in 2001 (roughly).
ClickRadio was supposed to be Internet radio for dial-up connections — it would trickle songs onto your PC when you were dialed into AOL (or wherever), and then it would build radio programming for you based on the songs it had downloaded.
A great idea for the dial-up era, but by the time it was built, the target audience had already gotten broadband connections (e.g., for Napster).
Echoes of that here.
— Kurt Hanson · Nov 15, 03:57 PM · #