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CES 2009: Slacker Available for BlackBerry Smartphones!

By Kevin Michaluk on 8 Jan 2009 10:20 am
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Slacker Available for BlackBerry Smartphones!

Press Release

Slacker Announces Availability of Mobile Radio Application for BlackBerry Smartphones  

Exclusive station caching feature guarantees playback everywhere while also dramatically boosting battery life and performance

LAS VEGAS - January 8, 2009 - Slacker, Inc. today announced the availability of the free Slacker Mobile application for BlackBerry® smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM). BlackBerry smartphone users* can now hear their favorite Slacker radio stations wherever they go, whether they are connected to a wireless network or not - a Slacker Mobile feature exclusive to BlackBerry smartphones. The application, which is compatible with BlackBerry® Device Software version 4.3 and higher is available as a free download by visiting Slacker.com from your BlackBerry smartphone.

The Slacker Mobile application provides BlackBerry smartphone users in the U.S. with a personalized music discovery and listening experience pulling from over 100 expert- programmed Slacker stations, over 10,000 artist stations or a nearly unlimited number of the listener's own custom-created stations.

Slacker station caching, an exclusive feature for BlackBerry smartphones, enables mobile listeners to store favorite stations on a memory card, allowing Slacker music service to play without a network connection while boosting battery life up to 5 times that of streaming playback and enhancing application performance. In addition, BlackBerry smartphone enthusiasts can enjoy Slacker Personal Radio while doing other tasks such as emailing, instant messaging or web browsing.

The groundbreaking Slacker music service enables listeners to enjoy Personal Radio stations and hear their favorite music without ever having to manage playlists or research new artists. Included in the Slacker application for BlackBerry smartphones are detailed artist bios and album reviews for each song that is played, providing the ultimate resource for music discovery. The Slacker Mobile application works with the free Slacker Basic Radio service, along with Slacker Radio Plus and Slacker Premium Radio subscription offerings.

"Slacker Mobile makes your BlackBerry smartphone the ultimate personal radio player," said Dennis Mudd, CEO of Slacker. "And because of our caching technology, BlackBerry owners can play their personal radio stations everywhere, even on subways and planes, with much better battery life and faster song skipping than is possible with streaming stations."

"Our new BlackBerry smartphones provide truly impressive audio and video performance that allows the smartphones to serve as powerful and conveniently accessible personal entertainment devices for consumers and business users alike," said Jeff McDowell, Vice President, Global Alliances at Research In Motion. "With access to millions of songs and easily customized programming, it's no surprise that people are excited by this new application."

Slacker Personal Radio, available online at www.Slacker.com, enables listeners to personalize over 100 professionally programmed stations or create, edit and share their own Personal Radio stations. Slacker listeners also have easy access to artist profiles, album reviews and cover art on the web, with the Slacker G2 portable and now on BlackBerry smartphones.

Slacker Mobile for BlackBerry smartphones offers:

  • Free music library featuring millions of songs
  • High-quality stereo playback from cached stations and all streaming wireless connections
  • Over 100 professionally programmed genre stations
  • Create custom artist stations
  • Station caching for music playback anywhere, greatly improved battery life and accelerated application performance
  • Multi-tasking - listen to music while doing email
  • View artist biographies and photos
  • View album art and reviews
  • "Peek Ahead" artist and album preview
  • Pause and skip songs
  • Rate songs as favorites
  • Ban songs and artists you don't like

Pricing and Availability

The Slacker Personal Radio Mobile application for BlackBerry smartphones is available immediately as a free download by visiting Slacker.com from your BlackBerry web browser or visit www.slacker.com/blackberry for more details.

About Slacker, Inc.

Slacker is the world's first Personal Radio company offering "Your Radio Everywhere." Slacker allows music lovers to play highly personalized music online at the Slacker web site or on the go with Slacker Personal Radio players. Visit www.slacker.com for more information.

###
*The Slacker Personal Radio Mobile application is currently available for U.S. customers only. Slacker Mobile for BlackBerry is available for BlackBerry smartphones running operating system 4.3 or higher with the exception of the BlackBerry Storm which will be fully supported in a future release.

Slacker and Slacker.com are registered trademarks of Slacker, Inc. All other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective companies.
The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.

Topics: Special Coverage

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Kevin Michaluk Kevin Michaluk 3706 (articles) 3034 (forum posts)
124 comments

hardee

I am thrilled to see this.

TEVIS

Not ready for the Storm yet :(

EmoKiller

Look forward to checking this out

Trader Z

Signing up now. Great tip -- keep these coming.

We need more cool media-based apps (that also are free) for the Blackberry platform.

Just wish we can store on media card or device memory and not only app memory which is limited.

Saiyajin

And got the message that it's not ready for the Storm. Sounds like it'll be great when it becomes available.

bergeronjc

not ready for the Storm yet :(

Anonymous

link doesn't work... lol.

gvegas864

You need to use your WAP browser, not the BB browser. I had the same issue.

neevz

Cant wait to get this on my Storm. Has anyone used this and Nobex Radio Companion? How do they compare?

RevG

I thought FlyCast was going to be my streaming app of choice, but I have to say that Slacker absolutely kicks FlyCast's rear end. The audio quality, the album art and bios, and of course the ability to cache a favorite station makes me really glad I got my 8GB micro SD card for Christmas. Man, is this great stuff!!!! And given that it is free to boot, its foolish not to download this if you're a streaming music lover.

The ability to perform other apps while listening to this in the background is also a nice touch.

My real frustration with FlyCast was the spotty connections and losing stations even in very strong EVDO areas. In fact this morning on my way to work it froze up my BB altogether while trying to listen on my commute. By chance, I came across this on Crackberry this morning and now I can't stop listening!!!

If you like Pandora, you'll really dig Slacker. If you like FlyCast, you'll REALLY dig Slacker. This made my day!!!!

Who needs satellite radio? Rock on, Slacker!!! Thank you for offering this to us BB users.

Peace,
Shawn

LogosV

I installed this before work, and it streamed for 30 minutes on the drive in to work with no problems or interruptions. Great app so far!

trooperben

WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOWWWWWW !!!!!

My new favorite App

QuIcKsIlV3r

on your phone, go to www.slacker.com and it will automatically take u to the download for the app.

This sucks that its on available for the US. I'm here in Canada and used 90210 as my zip code, but it just says buffering for like 20min :(

BabiCakes

lol I love the way most people think of 90210 first as the zip code. That really does suck that you can't get it to work.

Bizzle NYC

Or 90210 as the zip with a 212 for an area code. ;-P

Pray4NotUpon

I hear ya!!!!!!it says buffering forever and wont play a thng. thats no good, I live just above the border in Toronto and I'd assume they'd be missing out on thousands and thousands of applicants, if it worked up here! oh well...

any suggestions for a radio??? radio bee wont work on my 8220 flip

tom1l21

Slacker doesn't load stations on my Verizon Curve 8330 OS 4.5.0.97. It just says buffering. I have full bars of service and in EVDO coverage:(

It says by: "buffering" and it continues to show the hourglass for 1 second every 3 seconds.

EDIT: I guess its just some stations

username0022

No joke, this app is by far and away the best I've seen so far and it's FREE!!!

Loving it.

JavaDevelop

Slacker Radio is available for BlackBerry, but not the Storm. WTF!?!?!

cwhitney24

I like it///cant complain to much its free. I do like the idea behind it. a few problems so far i have found...

--takes a while to log in
--Freezes up from time to time
--moves very slow
--occasional static

but over all good app and cant wait to see it get even better

denniswking

Well now thats something that might have made owning this new storm worth while!!!!! can't wait!!!!!! see i am a slacker bring it on baby!!!!!!!

cwhitney24

Does anyone know if i were to go out and buy a bluetooth would it play trough that or would it only play trough my curves speakers????

tech42er

Just tried it with my bluetooth headset, it works but it's a little choppy. With my (wired) headphones, it's crystal clear and smooth.

Exergy

I just downloaded this app and I already love it!

Rdgoeson4ever#CB

I have it running on my Alltel 8330 with 4.5.0.89, it's great. a little slow to get started, but once it does, it's been playing flawlessly. I also just turned on my Motorola s9's and it's streaming out to them without a problem.

Bla1ze

"I thought FlyCast was going to be my streaming app of choice, but I have to say that Slacker absolutely kicks FlyCast's rear end."

But..Slacker does NOT work in Canada due to the draconian license agreements, failure IMO and FlyCast DOES work in Canada!! If FlyCast can do this for free, how come Slacker, which users actually pay for through their premium services cannot?

Funny how I predicted it as well..

http://crackberry.com/ctia-2008-hands-slacker-blackberry#comment-21919

silverfox2000

So no love for the storm or Canada. Not cool.

AttaQ

I love me some Slacker!

csierra72#CB

I've used the desktop app on my pc and just downloaded and cached my stations. Works Great!!

run_said_ran

I have to agree with quite a few of the above posters, this app is FANTASTIC. I had been using FlyCast on my BB Curve and I swear ... I never heard a COMPLETE song the entire time.

Not only is this app PLAYING the songs, they're playing smoothly and I just traversed an entire playlist with not one glitch. Oh yeah, bonus points ... FREE!!!

Dasmasters

Has anyone had a problem when creating your account?

Mine keeps saying "error creating account", but gives no explanation of what the error is?

bayzbol44

I am getting that also, but it says it is due to a Firewall issue. I am hoping someone can tell me what is wrong.

Dasmasters

My BB is my personal unit, but it's connected to my company's email and internet server.

I don't see anyway around this problem which would allow me to get around their firewall?

Very disappointing :-(

bayzbol44

I was finally able to get this to work last night...I went to OPTIONS/SECURITY OPTIONS and disabled my Firewall. I am not sure if this is a good idea or not, but this was the only way for me to get this application to work.

It is a bit slow in loading, but everything else is great so far.

mishiee

is there no way canadians can get this to work? has anyone tried? can we trick the app into thinking we're from the U.S.? thanks

keymaster

This would be one of the best apps to demonstrate on the storm. Makes absolutely no sense to release this app without full device compatibility. Kind of makes me feel like everything about this device is an afterthought.

Se7en2

For the person asking if Bluetooth works with this app, the answer is yes.

So far, I love this app. I'm a big fan of Pandora and now of Slacker, too.

grimball

Please espouse us with the "how-to"...It is not typical Bluetooth activation on an 8820..... Please.........

pvtolson

i have been waiting forever for this

Artemis68

Can't wait to get this for my 8900 once T-mobile releases the 8900...I love internet radio!

I'm hoping it will be okay over EDGE.

pontiff

Finally!! Well worth the wait... Hopefully Sprint gets their act together and releases their OS Upgrade LOL!!! I'm not holding my breath

Anonymous

>> and FlyCast DOES work in Canada!!

That's because all they are doing is re-broadcasting terrestrial radio...and that is questionably legal.

And yes...the record label dealings are draconian.

ctyus1

one word about this app.... OMG! lol

mom24

I have downloaded this and am trying to sign up from an account but it keeps saying the "IP address has been flagged as a potential attacker: try again later." What does this mean and how do I get around it? I would love totry this app it sounds great. I have a 8120 running 4.5 OS.

Anonymous

Will slacker radio work on a blackberry 8130 on the BES?

tstolarski

cool! yet no support for the storm, so lame.

KILLBILL

This awesome!!

THank you

Jerry5k

Using my Bold-The music is fantastic. Using my wireless HD headphones I have been listening for the last hour and not one second of dead sound. And, I thought Flycast was good. I have already downloaded 3 stations on the cached feature.

TRY IT, YOU"LL LIKE IT!!!!

bayzbol44

I downloaded this application and I have it on my BB Curve, but when I go to create an account I get a Firewall error message (Slacker attempted to open a connection to a location inside the Firewall which is not allowed by your I/T policy...). This is a personal BB, so I have no I/T group blocking this. Any idea what I need to change to make this work? I tried deleting the application via Desktop Manager, but it won't allow me to delete it. IF you can help, please message me at my PIN 24320950. This sounds like exactly what I was looking for!

Bill Andrews

I installed it, and it works. Can't figure out the caching yet ...

Anonymous

and just like everything else out there, "Application is coming soon for the Blackberry Storm."

*sigh*

...when will it be storm users turn?

...

wilsoni91#cb

But there is nothing for the storm yet. what a let down

captcrackberry

This is amazing, been using it for the last 2 hours, CHEM BROS RADIO!!!

Bill Archinal

The download was fast. The appearance is nice but I have yet to hear any music. It is a constant buffering state. I hope the kinks get worked out soon.

Happy Jorge

Great little program! ran it through my car stereo all day today. Stoped one time, then started up again. Great quality. Comedy channel is nice too.

Anonymous

it's not available in canada

how ghey

CMJ

It seemed to download & sign in well on my VZW 8130 pearl, but when I choose a station to play it says "An error has occured. Please try your request later" I'm running 4.5, is this app not compatible with the 8130??? I'm sad now...

Valace2

XM for 8130 for VZW stunk to. Even after I downloaded it. Why does this crap happen to us VZW Pearl owners. And on top of that no Storm support, so neither of my berries can run it.

CasyCasy

Not yet ready for the Storm... darn

Goodfella88

Installed it on my Curve(os 4.5) and so far, so good. A must have app for any music lover. Sweet!

krn

App loaded successfully, and registration was fine. When I go to log in, I get "login failed. Cannot save account information. Anyone else getting this?? Solution??

Anonymous

This application works great and I may even end up paying for it monthly to avoid any of the limitations though, I am finding that when I am not using the application with head phones its playing through the speaker where I listen to a caller NOT on speaker phone. So, not the speakers that my media player would play music through and I am not seeing any options for this application that would let me change that, can someone help me!??

MiamiSunkiss

I am using a BB Bold on ATT and no one has yet to answer my question.......still waiting, help please!!!

evil

Just change the settings in your "Music Player" on your Bold from "Activate Handset" to "Activate Speakerphone". Then it should come out of the speakers.

adrianmayer

Great App!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Evermore707

No problems running on VZW curve with 4.5.0.89. Made my self a channel with dream theater and some other prog metal!

stormaddict13

I can't wait until this comes out for the storm. I currently have flycast and I am satisfied with it but I want to also try this out too once a storm version is released.

Scylas

This is amazing..
The only thing about my Iphone I missed was Pandora... this is just as good if not better.
I love it...

rockigirl

It was a bit slow during setup and I had some major lag but a battery pull did the trick and now it is all good. Best part is that there are no pauses! Love it so far.

For those wanting this on their storm, there is a jad link floating around in the CB forums and storm users report having success downloading it.

borockster

I finally figured out how to cache my stations...AWESOME!! Definitely a top 10 application!

Bo

l ll llll l l ll

holy crap ... yes its not available on the storm ... GET OVER IT ... the is so many post about "oh its not available on the storm" WE KNOW!!!

other than that its a great app ... works well with my curve :)

slipdisc

Very Nice. Works perfectly on my sprint 8330. Thanks.

rdaex

Its just sitting there with the loading bar. Has been for at least a few minutes now. Am I not doing something I should be doing? Its just says please wait.. and the status bar is like 98% full.

Sprint Pearl w/ 4.5 OS

rdaex

Had to change my internet emulation from Internet Explorer to Blackberry format, then it gave me the download link.

Anonymous

When I go to www.slacker.com on my Bold, it gets hung up on the main Slacker screen. The loading bar goes all the way to the end and stops just short of finishing. Any clue what I need to do to correct this so I can download it on my Bold?

Anonymous

Make sure you are using the BB browser to try to download the app. If you are using Opera or something else, the site will not know you are a BlackBerry apparently and not give you the link.

mungera

Works fabulous on my VZW 8830 on 4.5.0.101. I'm so happy for a new toy!

dominiguy27#CB

It seems like it doesn't work on the new 8350i. I was able to download it and create an account but when I sign in it just goes into a white screen. Anyone out there having the same problem with their 8350i and this app?

Anon

the exact same thing happened to me on my 8350i. did live chat with slacker and they will refer the problem to engineers. no eta on the fix.

by the way, have you tried any other cool apps that work on your 8350i. seems like were in the bb minority since many people dont have our device.

dominiguy27#CB

I tried Nobex radio companion and it seems to work with the 8350i. Any word on the fix for slacker and 8350i?

bx2md

wow I cant wait to try it out
sounds great

TechThirsty D

Does anyone know if you can you get talk radio stations?

By they way - big fat Kudos for a sweet stinking app! I've been playing for an hour. It's found every artist I've searched.

dcjr99

Hey guys,

I loving this and it works well but I'm getting an "error has occurred" when trying to use the wifi with it.. Are there anymore issues like this? .214 is the os and very few app's on my bold.

DANIEL

obinna83

Free for 7 days? Did anyone else pay for subscription, or is it reallyjust free for 7 days

evil

But but you get commercials and limited song skipping(7 song skips per hour, per station). If you want use Slacker Plus then its free for 7 days and then it's $3.99 month which gets you commercial free music, unlimited song skipping and song requests. It's definitely worth it!

dloy07

This is my first post 'cause I had to let everyone know I love the slacker!!

bx2md

I just downloaded it and just messing around with it and its just GREAT..... sounds clear loads quick
so far so good

ilabelu

this is quite interesting. testing on my verizon curve. will cache some stations and see how it works out.

have already experienced 2 crashes and resets. not sure what is causing it. maybe someone else can help.

if it continues to be free, and works consistently well, with no bugs, then we have a winner.

Anonymous

Oh, Oh.. There goes the dataplan for Verizon. Great app but it leaves room for abuse to certain providers with their "limited" dataplans. I can see 100's of thousands of customers caching their stations for hours on end causing a spike in carriers capacity. In a few months, more caps on dataplan abuse. Love the app though!

blues911

it took me some time but I got it...works great...

chopsticks

This app is awesome for many reasons:

1. its FREE!
2. not only is it free but very good. The songs are good and the sound comming out is just like listening to mp3s or even better.
3. the interface is easy to get around and to use.
4. and did I mention that it is FREE?

Air Force One

I didn't read this whole thread, but in case it hasn't been pointed out, this is a ground-breaking free application. THANK YOU Slacker and Thank You Crackberry!!!!

Runs flawlessly on my 9000 ...FLAWLESS!

I am using BB 8320 T-Mobile. I installed the app today. I was on WI-FI. The app slowed down my phone extremely and in a minute or two it crashed and restarted. I like the idea but I uninstalled the app.

joygasm310

and I freaking love this app. Ive been looking for a good app for streaming music over my BB now that im on 3G, and this one just takes the cake. I love indie rock, and ive found a ton of it here.

Bye-bye Flycast (never worked that great)
Bye-bye Nobex radio companion (was awesome, but not enough stations)

Taurinh24

go to
www.slacker.com/dwls/bb/slacker_mobile.jad

to download. Then disable compatibility mode. Works fantastic on the storm, good menus and all.

*note, this is not an official storm release * it works fine, runs fine, sounds fantastic, great to get us by til the official storm release. i have not had any problems yet, just disable compatibility mode and it runs fine :D

PB85

does it slowdown your phone while using slacker?

The Blues Man Roll'n

This is good stuff here. I have a BB Pearl 8130 (Sprint), and was able to download the Slacker app. All you have to do is turn off your firewall, click save, go to Slacker website, download, and you're ready to rock and roll.

Oh, gotta sign up too!

vomviersen

Registration and installation went smoothly, sound quality is good, interface is good, and the free version is more than satisfactory (Verizon Curve 8330).

njsetmed

This app works great! Sound quality is great. Free version is more than enough ! Does burn up the battery. Thats to be expected though. This is gonna be alot of fun!

mauiandtwy

This is a great app. and must have on your blackberry! I added it to my lovely Bold and no problems. I live in a small US territory called GUAM and it works perfectly fine here.

RIM it

I cant download the darn thing because it requires too much memory. 1.1 MB is too much. Get with it Slacker. You are slacking.

chief113#cb

Anybody get a message saying that slacker wants you to change the settings so that they can get your phone #? What's that about?

lpre1158

Just downloaded the Slacker software and its GREAT! Super variety of musical genres, I like variety. Used it at work where I don't always get great web connectivity and it had no hitches. Great addition to my phone.

brupell

this is the coolest app, I've downloaded in a long time. it kicks XM radio's a@@!!!! now i can ignore everyone at work.

bellxx

Just loaded it on my Pearl Flip and it is Great!!!!

MijnHeerWout

This works great on my Verizon 8130 Pearl .. easy download, easy to cache to my SD card, great sound ... nice beat and easy to listen to ... I'd give it a 93 ! Can't beat the oldies ...

jocat89#cb

This is so AWESOME!!!!!!!!it rocks!!

cable_girl

too cool!!! At my office I can only get one radio station to come in clearly. Now I'll be a SLACKER at work!!!

SugarBell315

I love Slacker. I work at a bank and when I am in my office I don't have to fight with static on the radio or listen to the elevator music we play. Using Slacker is also actually easier on battery life then my MP3 player.

Anonymous

Where I work I do not get the best reception on verizon network. It has only buffered once in the last hour. This is a really great app. with great music....

norpino10

I am completely amazed by this free application! There are so many artist/song choices. The sound quality is crystal clear on the Bold!

berrymuch

Hello all! Like many of you out there in Crackberry Land, I have bee happily investigating the Slacker Radio Application. I was skeptical at first, having tried flycast, berrytunes, mobiola xplayer just to name a few. Slacker might take awhile to load, but once it does, it plays without interruption until you shut it down! Created my own custom station and cached it to my sd card. I turned my pearls radio off and could play the cached station without an internet connection! WOW! Slacker won't get old like your mp3 collection. It's always fresh! Do yourself a favor. Download it to your blackberry and let the good times begin! I've got Slacker playing in the background as I text. Slacker puts an end to dead spots! Long live Slacker! Peace!

PB85

Just downloaded the slacker for curve, and hooked it up to my aux in my car and realized that you can play music from slacker and also talk on the phone through your car speakers... give it a try!!!!

themaestro

Thank you sooooooo much for this great app. I can't get enough of it. I have cached a couple of my custom stations and they sound excellent! Thank you Slacker, and thank you Crackberry. Please keep the great apps coming!!!

lovethiz

not for storm this sh*t sucks come on

studcookie

Wow, this app rocks! Atleast on Alltel EVDO, it does. I'm not missing FlyCast now! Yay Slacker!

yayarea

Man this app gets a nod from me bigtime. Wait a sec....as I was typing this, my device crashed and is now restarting....

:-\