According to my Tesla contacts, that's intentional. It's a 1-week trial. Goodbye, XM.
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Audio: Slacker Radio - Premium or Basic
- Thread starter Jrhodesmd
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- Model S User Interface
Doutt
Member
No trial on mine, but Internet radio seems better anyway, and the traffic is through google (or some net provider) it seems, sooo... No loss. My DS DID email me my login though (thanks for the heads up on that Dave), so ill try that out today.
contaygious
Active Member
I followed this thread but was still unsure if Slacker would work in my new Model S. I have a production line version (non Sig) without Sport package, but I do have Tech and Music package. I signed up for Slacker premium ($10 a month month-to-month) and walked out to my car, went to the config settings for Audio and entered the same username/password. It entered and worked perfectly. I can now play 250 stations, but best of all I can type in an artist and it creates an artist station on-the-fly. It also reads my saved stations and playlists (that I created on another device - namely my desktop). The sounds quality was very good. I was expecting low-MP3 quality, but the bass was pretty good and considering what I'm getting, very much worth the $10 a month.
Just wanted to give some clear answers for anyone else who got this far wondering what the situation was...
Just wanted to give some clear answers for anyone else who got this far wondering what the situation was...
contaygious
Active Member
Slacker "High Quality" mode on other platforms such as iOS maxes out at 128 Kbps MP3. They also have content encoded at 40 Kbps AAC+v2 which I sure hope is not what they are using in the Model S. If you are already a Slacker Radio subscriber the other thing to watch out for is the inability to upgrade easily from "Plus" to the required "Premium". You either have to wait for a billing cycle to finish up, or contact their support out of band from their website/apps that don't directly support this.
Ultimately the support for native streaming would be less important if Tesla were to add one of the two following features:
- Bluetooth A2DP additional codec support beyond the currently supported SBC codec. Subband Codec (SBC) sounds horrible despite any sound system it is connected to. Apple added support for native AAC streaming over bluetooth in iOS 6. If Tesla added this support the resulting audio quality would be dramatically improved when paired to an iPhone. Bluetooth headphones are just now starting to adopt these additional codecs as well. I believe Android has similar support already as well.
- USB audio input (not from a FAT32 filesystem, but the "iPod" mode that other cars support).
- License Apple AirPlay. With WiFi coming this could get to be an interesting option as it also brings the codec support desired above.
At least we can use a FAT32 USB dongle in the meantime to get higher quality audio. I just hope this isn't all we ever get.
-Kit (P#5513, Delivery Window 12/15-12/31)
Ultimately the support for native streaming would be less important if Tesla were to add one of the two following features:
- Bluetooth A2DP additional codec support beyond the currently supported SBC codec. Subband Codec (SBC) sounds horrible despite any sound system it is connected to. Apple added support for native AAC streaming over bluetooth in iOS 6. If Tesla added this support the resulting audio quality would be dramatically improved when paired to an iPhone. Bluetooth headphones are just now starting to adopt these additional codecs as well. I believe Android has similar support already as well.
- USB audio input (not from a FAT32 filesystem, but the "iPod" mode that other cars support).
- License Apple AirPlay. With WiFi coming this could get to be an interesting option as it also brings the codec support desired above.
At least we can use a FAT32 USB dongle in the meantime to get higher quality audio. I just hope this isn't all we ever get.
-Kit (P#5513, Delivery Window 12/15-12/31)
So, this seems to indicate that as a Plus subscriber I cannot use my credentials to use Slacker in the Tesla? I *have* to have a Premium account? I think it makes more sense just to stream Slacker from my iPhone over Bluetooth at that point.
I don't have my car yet so I can't confirm, but based on the voice control support to play artists for example that requires the Premium tier, I'm guessing it is currently required and doesn't just downgrade the experience if you only have Plus.
As a Slacker Plus subscriber I can tell you there are also several other downgrades from going to the more expensive Premium tier. Offline caching gets limited to one device instead of 3 devices. The Radio playlists also no longer offer content that falls under the cheaper Radio license. So Plus gets you access to a larger content library than you get with Premium.
Streaming from your iPhone today will result in worse audio quality since it will be either MP3 or AAC+v2, re-encoded on the fly to the terrible SBC codec over bluetooth. At least the native Slacker support will directly decode the audio once and play it.
Now if we could just get the fantastic high bitrate Ogg Vorbis streams that Spotify offers.
Lynn005
Member
I was told that Signatures should have arrived with Slacker installed, but mine didn't have it. I contacted my "remote" DS (don't have them in Texas). She said they currently have a shortage of codes to give out, but they would try to help me out. 
contaygious
Active Member
Good news. I'm told that all general production cars will receive a 3 month trial of slacker possibly and it will be pushed directly to the car! .
Not sure when, but it is in the works.
. Not sure when, but it is in the works.
Good news. I'm told that all general production cars will receive a 3 month trial of slacker possibly and it will be pushed directly to the car!
Not sure when, but it is in the works.
i wonder if this will also be the approach to the unannounced connectivity options. A free 3 month window to get us all hooked. Honestly I'm more interested in LTE support. I'm sure the data plans will end up being expensive given the partner options Tesla has. At least if LTE is in the cars the map tiles will be quick to load.
While on the topic of map tiles I also have vector based tiles on my wish list.
sublimaze1
8Dec2012 / Leeroy Jenkins
Granted, I am a "P", but it seems like (at this point) I have missed the boat - that is - some people have been lucky enough to get free slacker plus for a year, and some haven't. My DS stated that he could not arrange that for me. <saddened>
However, I have a 64GB micro SD full of just about everything - so let me try to go through that first (he he he), and then I will consider other avenues. My Pandora works fine, although I will have to deal with it being streamed from my phone.
However, I have a 64GB micro SD full of just about everything - so let me try to go through that first (he he he), and then I will consider other avenues. My Pandora works fine, although I will have to deal with it being streamed from my phone.
contaygious
Active Member
The slacker quality is slightly worse than my USB and about on par with Bluetooth songs. I'd much rather listen to USB if I have the songs, but slacker is great to search for things.
I'm confused and a bit frustrated by Tesla's integration and lack of integration of Slacker. It's taken me a LOT of time but what I think I've discovered is that Slacker Premium does NOT work in the Tesla. If you have your own PREMIUM account, it will behave as a PLUS account which means you can't play songs more than once and you can't go directly to many songs. Although there is a "rewind" button in the UI, it is always greyed out as that would be a Premium function and none of those work. Not sure why it's there. I have also been told that Tesla will be sending out 3 month free trials (of Plus) over the air. But this is a $12 perk. I'd rather the subscription that I've already paid for not be disabled. I never had a Slacker subscription before this month and was hesitant. Now I think it's the coolest thing in the world and think it's worth 3x the price. I just wish Tesla wasn't somehow standing in the way of it working correctly! Using it via computer, or IOS device is amazing. Over the Tesla... not nearly as cool.
Can you explain how Pandora works with the Model S. When I test drove the car with my iPhone, I was not able to get Pandora to work with the 17 inch screen center stack.
If you sync your iPhone and select it as a media source, then you can play any audio from your phone over the speakers.
Very good to know. The sales folks in Oakbrook did not know that. I look forward to going back and trying it out!
But the 64GB micro SD is, what, in a USB stick? If so, you can only listen to music sequentially, with no "shuffle", correct?
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