Will I be happy with Slacker?

[Dan203]

I'm not a big music guy. I only own like 60 songs on my iTunes account. The only time I even listen to music is in the car and in the shower. For the past 3 years I've been pretty happy with SiriusXM in my BMW. Since there is no Sirius option for the Model 3 I have two options. Streaming from my phone via Bluetooth or just using Slacker. I'd prefer to just use the car, so I don’t have to mess with my phone every time I get in the car, but if it's really as horrible as people claim I might have to reconsider.

Also it seems to be unclear from what I read. Does upgrading to a paid Slacker subscription increase quality?

 

[JulienW]

I'm not a big music guy....Does upgrading to a paid Slacker subscription increase quality?

Yes you will be happy and NO quality is dictated by the client.

 

[terrywhite]

3rd option, put your 60 songs on a thumb drive and listen to them in the car. I'm NOT happy with Slacker. My complaint is that they play too many of the same songs over and over again. It's like they have a much smaller catalog than everyone else. I put a few hundred songs on a thumb drive and I use that more now than Slacker. My favorite is Pandora and I stream that from my phone too.

 

[JulienW]

....My complaint is that they play too many of the same songs over and over again.....

The way I avoid this is every time I get in I say Play xxxxx (artist) and pick a different artist each time and try to very the genre a little.

Also I doubt someone who only has 60 tracks is going to be overly concerned about occasional repeats.


EDIT: Also we are supposed to be getting at least Spotify soon (Elon time).

 

[rickdogg82]

You will like it. I prefer it to Pandora.

 

[MountainJedi]

I agree that Slacker seems to repeat too often (I don't know if it's their algorithm or a limited library), but I just skip the song if I feel like I've heard it too frequently.

If you're not a huge music person, Slacker will probably be just fine.

 

[Tony_YYZ]

If you ever wanted to listen to the same song twice in a row ever, you will hate it. I personally think it is a terrible streaming service but if you really don't care much about having control over which songs are playing then it should be fine for you.

 

[johnnyS]

I like slacker. I hear a song somewhere, or I am reminded of a song so I ask Slacker to play it. Then it plays songs from the same genre or time period. I also have favorites saved. I switch between radio, Slacker, and USB.

 

[rhaekar]

3rd option, put your 60 songs on a thumb drive and listen to them in the car. I'm NOT happy with Slacker. My complaint is that they play too many of the same songs over and over again. It's like they have a much smaller catalog than everyone else. I put a few hundred songs on a thumb drive and I use that more now than Slacker. My favorite is Pandora and I stream that from my phone too.

Pandora is the best for music discovery. Make a station of an artist you like you can get a lot of different artists and songs.

 

[mybeans]

I hate Slacker, the audio sounds bad. I find it better to just stream music and podcasts from my phone than use any of the built in media, which is sad.

 

[Dan203]

I don't like FM because of the ads. They always seem to be in a 10 minute block of ads when I want to listen. That's why I've enjoyed SiriusXM.

I don't really want to have to pick songs. Do they have preconfigured stations? Typically on Sirius I listen to PopRocks 99% of the time and occasionally I'll listen to The Blend. I'm pretty much stuck in my genre of 90s/early 2K alt rock type music, with an occasional new song that has a similar sound, so these two stations do well by me. I'd like to find something on Slacker that is similar and just leave it. I'm in the car maybe 10 minutes a day and in the shower for maybe 5, so repeating songs don't bother me.

I tried Pandora a few years ago and didn't care for it. They had a lot of weird songs from Artists I'd never heard of and a lot of strange acoustic/live versions of the songs I had heard. That's not what I'm looking for. I'm basically looking for radio without commercials.

 

[garth_angst]

I don't like FM because of the ads. They always seem to be in a 10 minute block of ads when I want to listen. That's why I've enjoyed SiriusXM.

I don't really want to have to pick songs. Do they have preconfigured stations? Typically on Sirius I listen to PopRocks 99% of the time and occasionally I'll listen to The Blend. I'm pretty much stuck in my genre of 90s/early 2K alt rock type music, with an occasional new song that has a similar sound, so these two stations do well by me. I'd like to find something on Slacker that is similar and just leave it. I'm in the car maybe 10 minutes a day and in the shower for maybe 5, so repeating songs don't bother me.

I tried Pandora a few years ago and didn't care for it. They had a lot of weird songs from Artists I'd never heard of and a lot of strange acoustic/live versions of the songs I had heard. That's not what I'm looking for. I'm basically looking for radio without commercials.

Similar to JulienW, I just ask for a song, say for example Not Behind The Fighter Jet by Guided By Voices. It plays it, and now it is playing something called "Guided By Voices Radio" and plays groups similar to them. I do that for about 12 artists and have a nice variety. Some days I am in the mood for punk, same days Beatles, same days Robyn Hitchcock, some days Pooh Sticks, some days Hoodoo Gurus, etc. It goes on and on.
For you, ask to play a song by Nirvana and then you will get a lot of grunge songs on "Nirvana Radio."

 

[TampaRich]

The best feature of Slacker is that it lets you ban songs that you never ever want to hear again.

 

[UTMB]

No

 

[StealthP3D]

The way I avoid this is every time I get in I say Play xxxxx (artist) and pick a different artist each time and try to very the genre a little.

That's what I do as well and it's exposed me to a huge world of music out there. It uses artificial intelligence to make an educated guess as to what you want to hear so you have to train it by using it. If you are always requesting similar songs it will probably stick to those. Their catalog must be huge because I'm still hearing stuff I've never heard before (and I've been using it for 12 months).

 

[The Gray Foxx]

The best feature of Slacker is that it lets you ban songs that you never ever want to hear again.

It's weird that it only applies to that song though and doesn't actually learn the preference. For instance, I created a channel based on a Dawes song, and it keeps playing Alabama Shakes. I do NOT like Alabama Shakes but no matter how much I thumbs-down them, it keeps playing them.

I mostly use USB to play my own 12K+ song library.

 

[DopeGhoti]

Personally, I prefer Google Music or Spotify, but Slacker was perfectly acceptable for me.

 

[crackers8199]

That's why I've enjoyed SiriusXM.

why don't you just install satellite then?

 

[RandomX]

I'm NOT happy with Slacker. My complaint is that they play too many of the same songs over and over again.

The way I avoid this is every time I get in I say Play xxxxx (artist) and pick a different artist each time and try to very the genre a little.

I agree that Slacker seems to repeat too often

This might help...

I find that if I create a station for a certain artist/band and then never thumbs up a song Slacker actually plays more variety. As if the AI is still trying to learn about what the station should be like.
If you do thumbs up songs, Slacker focuses on repeating those songs which quickly diminishes any variety.

RandomX

 

[Bill Price]

I tried Pandora a few years ago and didn't care for it. They had a lot of weird songs from Artists I'd never heard of and a lot of strange acoustic/live versions of the songs I had heard. That's not what I'm looking for. I'm basically looking for radio without commercials.

It sounds as if you really DIDN'T try Pandora? With Pandora, you can create your own "station" that you can customize with the songs that you like. Pandora will then "suggest" other songs that are similar to your likes and you can thumb up them or thumb down them. Apparently, you aren't aware of this feature?