Slacker Radio Love it or Hate it?

[jasdelta]

Hi Folks,

I’d would appreciate some feedback from owners on there love or hate relationship with Slacker radio and any alternatives being used.

 

[rodrego]

My experience is that he audio quality is great, but the stations recycle the same 10-15 songs over and over. Lack of diversity gets really boring. I stream XM from my phone when I get bored with the songs on slacker.

 

[rodrego]

I am refraining from the poll since I neither love it or hate it. I’m just OK with slacker.

 

[KenF]

It is OK for what it is — a Pandora knockoff.

It is not a usable alternative to Spotify, Apple Music, Google Music, or the like.

 

[Sandollars]

You need a "Meh" choice. I neither love nor hate it.

 

[Jrzapata]

Hate, stream Apple Music over Bluetooth. If Spotify was available would cancel Apple Music and move there.
Again, I hate slacker
Can I vote again?

 

[Alt*]

Ya it’s just Meh to me...I dont like that you can’t pick a certain song or album, even though you can search by song or album!

 

[PoitNarf]

It’s a bit better if you go for the premium subscription. I went with the upgraded subscription a few weeks ago and I’m happy so far. I think I get a slightly wider range of songs on a particular channel but it’s hard to tell if that is actually the case. I can also now play any song I want as many times as I want (included Tesla Slacker account only lets you request a specific song once every 24 hours), play nothing but songs from a single artist (Tesla account mixes in similar artists if I tell it “play songs by Metallica”) and I can also play entire albums.

I would prefer more options though. Apple Music would be a welcome addition or some sort of streaming option for SiriusXM.

 

[ragrvs]

I really don't like it. Conversely, I love spotify. I can search for and find anything I want, music matching seems better, and once a playlist finishes I get a good exploration of similar music. With slacker I feel like I'm listening to the same 40 songs. I also love the weekly playlists based on my previously plays in spotify but slacker again... feels like I'm playing the same songs. I have to manage the majority of playlists/songs selection/ etc through my phone vice not using the beautiful screen as well. I absolutely love the sound system in my M3 and I am dying for spotify integration.

 

[Reid]

Love Spotify, that's pretty much all I use with bluetooth from my phone -- both on my old car and new. Wish they had spotify in the car but I don't care THAT much-- to be honest I'd rather just change tracks using the steering wheel controls, and phone UI is easier than tapping a touchscreen in a moving car anyway. My old car had CarPlay and I used it maybe once or twice and gave up. Having the "correct' audio system in the car's display is overrated. But I'd still prefer the option

 

[Gavyne]

I would rate it "better than expected". Didn't think I would like it at first, but it turned out pretty alright. I use my own usb stick for mp3's but I do switch it up and turn on slacker from time to time.

 

[MosquitoFloss]

Slacker is fine for a free offering, but it would be nice if you could integrate other options. My beef is that if I feel like listening to the Rolling Stones, it will offer up "Start Me Up" or some other super obvious top 5 song, then make me sit through The Who, The Beatles, The Eagles, and Pink Floyd, before I get to hear "Satisfaction". What is kind of interesting is that if you ask it to play a somewhat more obscure artist, it actually does a pretty good job playing other rare stuff too. Elliott Smith leads to Pedro The Lion and Red House Painters. So it's as if there's a sliding scale for how adventurous your tastes are, if that makes any sense.

 

[Reid]

I would rate it "better than expected". Didn't think I would like it at first, but it turned out pretty alright. I use my own usb stick for mp3's but I do switch it up and turn on slacker from time to time.

Oh, I hadn't even thought about that. I tried using SD cards in my Golf but there was something it didn't like about certain filenames where only about 1/4 of the songs ever showed up. I fought with it for about 4-5 hours, constantly exporting from iTunes, renaming, etc, and finally gave up.

Which USB port do you use? One of the 'phone charging' ones under the cell phone holder panel? Or is there one somewhere else I'm not thinking of? I suppose a stubby little USB stick might work well in the rear seat vent area too.

 

[Knightshade]

Oh, I hadn't even thought about that. I tried using SD cards in my Golf but there was something it didn't like about certain filenames where only about 1/4 of the songs ever showed up. I fought with it for about 4-5 hours, constantly exporting from iTunes, renaming, etc, and finally gave up.

Which USB port do you use? One of the 'phone charging' ones under the cell phone holder panel? Or is there one somewhere else I'm not thinking of? I suppose a stubby little USB stick might work well in the rear seat vent area too.

Only the 2 front USB ports (for the phones) work for USB key data.

You can get a power/data splitter cable if you want to keep both phone chargers working up front

 

[Big Dog]

neither -- I'm ok with it, too.

 

[VLTWGGN]

I'm just ok with it, leaning towards hate. I find it irritating that I can't use Spotify or Apple Music to listen to exactly what I want, when I want it. Even my 3 series with the terrible iDrive system has better Spotify/Bluetooth integration.

 

[jasdelta]

Thanks for all the informative posts.

 

[Aellinsar]

I like it. I already have a Google Music subscription, so I really really wish that was native through the car. Pairing my phone (which stays paired maybe 25% of the time), searching for a song on the phone and them playing is a lot more work than using the built-in system.

 

[Runebane]

I vote Meh as well. It's ok, don't love it don't hate it. using my phone to get what music I want is easier.

 

[Knightshade]

The problem isn't slacker (apart from how badly Tesla throttles the bitrate of the stream)- the problem is the lack of virtually any alternatives available on the MCU, including no local wired playback from devices and the crap USB interface