Slacker vs Pandora

[BriDroid]

I haven't used Slacker so I can offer no comparison, but Pandora has just been plain awesome. I used to care less about the whole concept of streaming music to my iPhone, but now I can't imagine NOT having this functionality. I've made several play lists with Pandora and I think it does a nice job of playing similar music to the artist or genre selected.

 

[BLiNK]

my Slacker account is due to expire soon, will probably give Pandora a try

 

[drizzle]

I'd go with Pandora

 

[j7469]

I prefer Slacker personally. I believe that Pandora is more popular. Apple showcased it during their iOS 4 event and even tipb.com has it's updated on its front page.

However for all the slacker fans out there, I used live chat for slacker asking for the release of the background supported version of slacker and their response was "it has been released to Apple and is expected to be released today. We do not have a specific time for the release but it it should be today".

So take that for what it's worth hopefully we'll see the update soon.

 

[OTACORB]

Slacker 2.0 allows you to cache your station to your iPhone, this way you can play your stations from the device memory, no Wifi or 3G necessary and this saves battery life. Slacker has about 4 times the library of Pandora. I have a plus subscription which is $3.99 per month no ads, unlimited skips.

Pandora is great too and I use it as well. But it is a far cry from Slacker, which allows you to create stations with the specific songs and/or artist that you want. Not some system that decides for me. Even though I did the Pandora one, I am still limited in terms of the number of skips.

If you have not tried Slacker give it a spin! The caching of stations makes them light years ahead of Pandora. I also understand that Slacker will be iOS4 compatible once Apple approves the the update.

OTACORB

 

[2pugs+gmom22]

Thank y'all for all the opinions and info! I've had Pandora and enjoyed it but now I'm going to try Slacker as well. Maybe it's being a child of the 60s but I do love the name Slacker!

Kathy in NC

 

[Smalls]

I've always used Pandora, but I've heard great things about Slacker. I guess I'm a slacker to move onto Slacker.

 

[jsc315]

I like Last.fm because you have the option to play your playlist that you've made on their site. Also like Pandora you can put in any artist name and it will play similar tracks. I have them both along with iheartradio on my phone and use them all about the same amount of time just whatever i'm in the mood for.

I use all of these as well as HD radio app. It not HD in any means just the name of the app. It plays online streaming content from shoutcast and a few others. Some of the streams are crap but for the most part its very good. Also If you get the pro version you can play music in the background through a browser. The only problem is you dont know what song is playing.

I personally love Pandora. Have bought and found a lot of new music I never even knew I liked before. Also there is a paid version of Pandora for all those complaining about the lack of time to play and the ads. Sadly its just for the Desktop.

Last.fm is good if I want a certain type of music by genre or if I want to play my playlist that I have built up from the years and years of using last.fm, since I only have 8GB Ipod touch, last.fm is a great way to randomly stream a lot of my content I have scrobbed previously from my own catalog.

I never used Slacker so I cant give my thought on it.

 

[omg_its_kerri]

I've tried both and prefer Pandora. I just think the music "suggestions" it makes are more accurate when making a playlist. It's all personal preference, though. We can't decide which is better for you.

 

[Bella]

Slacker is pretty cool. You can ban the artist or song. Buti think I still prefer Pandora.

 

[Spiritinthesky]

I'm a Slacker!

 

[dt81]

Hey guys, rather then start a new thread I figured it would be better to bump this to the top. I couldn't really find any help with in this thread in regards to my question. So hopefully you guys can shed your thoughts. Pandora One or Slacker Plus. I'm going to be upgrading my account on either one but not sure which one to do that with. I like how Slacker allows ou to have NO ads and unlimited skips where Pandora does not offer that. I have not used Slacker so I can't compare the quality between the two. I do notice that with Pandora (on the i4) it sometimes just stops working and I can't get it to play any station. I have to wait for it to finally play on its own. So any thoughts?

 

[stkywik]

It's really just a matter of personal preference. I don't think you'll get any definitive answer on your question. I personally like Pandora better because it plays more songs that I like on stations that I create. The paid version for both do not add anything uber-significant that make one a must buy over the other.

 

[Duvi]

I haven't used Slacker in a while, but Pandora always seems to
play a song that I would never have thought of to find, but like.


Today... this song I never heard from Akon was played and it
really surprised me because I don't have Akon as an artist
station, but from my likes/dislikes, it somehow can tell I'd like
it.

Every once in a blue, I do get a song I have to hit the thumbs
down for.

 

[Duvi]

I also payed the yearly fee and now have Pandora
radio on my desktop and laptop + unl+ streaming.

I'll even play Pandora through the night. I hit 40hrs
the first week of trying it. Between the gym and
going to bed.

 

[paul100]

Pandora and Slacker are in category of ad-supported but free applications, despite the fact that, both handles the "in-app" ads differently.

 

[Chris71]

Was a slacker premium user for the last year, now that the subscription is up I think I may give Pandora a spin.

 

[Appleluver23]

I prefer Pandora, but I like that you can fine tune on Slacker.