Audio: Slacker Radio - Premium or Basic

[brianman]

Is Slacker a free service?
will we be required to pay at some point?

My understanding...

• Generally speaking, Slacker is not a free service.
• For Model S Signature, the vehicle purchase includes a year of Slacker Plus.
• For Model S general production, the vehicle purchase includes 3 months of Slacker Plus.
• The current Model S software does not support all of the Slacker Premium features even if a premium account is used with the vehicle.

 

[byt]

I prefer Slacker to Pandora because even with the premium Pandora account you can't skip songs unlimited or at least I haven't hit a limit with Slacker Premium yet. Anyone know the annual cost for it after the 1 year expires on our sigs?

 

[dsm363]

I prefer Slacker to Pandora because even with the premium Pandora account you can't skip songs unlimited or at least I haven't hit a limit with Slacker Premium yet. Anyone know the annual cost for it after the 1 year expires on our sigs?

They haven't released any of the pricing information I believe. I like the selections Pandora picks out better but like Slacker for the same reason you do (ability to keep skipping songs).

 

[HFh]

I prefer Slacker to Pandora because even with the premium Pandora account you can't skip songs unlimited or at least I haven't hit a limit with Slacker Premium yet. Anyone know the annual cost for it after the 1 year expires on our sigs?

I went ahead and created my own account already. $3.99 / month. There's also a more expensive option, $9.99 a month I believe.

 

[contaygious]

If you log in to the slacker website or ios app you can see the expire date. Mine is dec 2013.

 

[jhs_7645]

If you log in to the slacker website or ios app you can see the expire date. Mine is dec 2013.

Two questions:
1) How did you get the password?
2) Can you 'configure' the account (favorite stations, etc..) and then have those settings accessible via the car?

 

[contaygious]

Yes my rep told me the password a while back on the phone so I could enter into the car. I have slacker on my ipad and can change settings for the car.

When the trial runs out I'll lose my settings though so I guess I'll take screen shots Nd input it again into the new account when this one expires.

 

[kevincwelch]

For those of you who have purchased Slacker service, how are your channels working on the Model S?

I'd love to be able to play these channels or save favorites in the car. Right now, it seems as though I can only view Slacker channels in the "history." Am I missing something here in terms of saving favorites (during the trial period)?

 

[SteveH]

I can play all of my custom Slacker channels from the menu no problem. At one point the car did stop updating, but a reboot fixed that quickly.

 

[jhs_7645]

For folks who are purchasing premium slacker subscriptions (or thinking about it) you might consider that Tesla might offer them bundled with whatever future data plan they will offer. It might make sense for some people to buy a Slacker subscription anyway, and use it for their car as well as away from the car, but for me I'm holding off on a premium subscription until 1) the car allows me to use all the features of a premium subscription and/or 2) Tesla announces their data plan and pricing (and if it does, or does not include the subscription).

I do have a basic subscription to slacker, and I'm hoping that the car will eventually work with that as well. I guess I'm just throwing out a word of caution before people invest in the premium subscription.

 

[geharmon]

Slacker question - Has anyone noticed changes in volume from song to song, depending on the location of the car. It's significant enough to require adjustment changes using the volume control wheel. Driving from point A to point B might require several volume adjustments. I live 45 miles south of Boston, MA where we get spotty cell coverage depending upon your location. I'm assuming that's the cause.

 

[kevincwelch]

I notice changes in volume with HD radio when I enter the parking garage at work, but that's it.

Sent via Tapatalk.

 

[gmtom1]

Yes my rep told me the password a while back on the phone so I could enter into the car. I have slacker on my ipad and can change settings for the car.

When the trial runs out I'll lose my settings though so I guess I'll take screen shots Nd input it again into the new account when this one expires.

So did your trial run out yet? Is it still working for you? I've started using Slacker basic in anticipation of getting my MS soon just to get used to what's available. Would be awesome if I can access my stations that I setup in the car from the web and/or I could get my play history into the car somehow, while still getting the "Tesla plan"

 

[Jason S]

For those of you who have purchased Slacker service, how are your channels working on the Model S?

I'd love to be able to play these channels or save favorites in the car. Right now, it seems as though I can only view Slacker channels in the "history." Am I missing something here in terms of saving favorites (during the trial period)?

For folks who are purchasing premium slacker subscriptions (or thinking about it) you might consider that Tesla might offer them bundled with whatever future data plan they will offer. It might make sense for some people to buy a Slacker subscription anyway, and use it for their car as well as away from the car, but for me I'm holding off on a premium subscription until 1) the car allows me to use all the features of a premium subscription and/or 2) Tesla announces their data plan and pricing (and if it does, or does not include the subscription).

I do have a basic subscription to slacker, and I'm hoping that the car will eventually work with that as well. I guess I'm just throwing out a word of caution before people invest in the premium subscription.

I have a premium subscription that I attached to the car. Switched from Pandora for home and just entered that into the car.

The car's interface doesn't allow all the premium features (it is missing browsing to just play an album or playing a favorites 'mashup' channel and the various create custom channel features) but it does allow access to the same songs AND allows access to custom channels and playlists created on the account. BUT I need to log out and log back in to the service in the car to get the new lists.

 

[Thumper]

I listened to a band on FM yesterday and then listened to the same song immediately on Slacker. To my surprise, the Slacker version had significantly better fidelity.

 

[epley]

Any idea when/if the Model S UI will support all the Premium functions?

 

[phat78boy]

Any idea when/if the Model S UI will support all the Premium functions?

Would love this as well.

 

[tomnisim]

I have just purchased the premium version of slacker but I cant figure out how to access in the tesla Can anyone help? I contacted Tesla service and they said I cant but it appears several people have the premium version. I have a 2015 P85D

 

[Gizmotoy]

I have just purchased the premium version of slacker but I cant figure out how to access in the tesla Can anyone help? I contacted Tesla service and they said I cant but it appears several people have the premium version. I have a 2015 P85D

There's some debate as to what version we actually have given the limited UI in the car, but I think it's generally-accepted now that every car already has a premium account. In the settings you can change the account info if you wish: I'm not in the car, but I think it's Controls->Settings->Apps. Some people have gotten the Slacker login info from Tesla to use elsewhere. No matter what you do, though, the Tesla UI is pretty limited relative to all the features Slacker supports.

 

[morbot]

Hopefully they remedy this situation soon... when my free trial expires I was planning to go to a Premium account assuming I'd get the extra features.

I don't even mind if everything cannot be created in the car (like custom playlists) but if I could access it through my desktop to set it up, then get it through the car I'd be happy.