Slacker Launches Music Player

Internet radio station Slacker has launched a portable music player that can download tunes from its website over a Wi-Fi or wired connection.

The player has a four inch screen and a touch screen scrollbar and can play MP3 and WMA music files downloaded from a computer. The player is available with a battery life of 10 hours and two, four and eight gigabytes for $200, $250 and $300, respectively.

The company claims that apart from playing music, the player has the capacity for 15, 25, or 40 radio channels that can be personalized online by the user. “The channels are pre-programmed online by Slacker, and can then be stored on the device and each one can feature several hundred songs,” said Jonathan Sasse, vice president of marketing at Slacker.

The company claims that the device features custom or pre-programmed stations, which users have set up online, which allow them to update their playlists via Wi-Fi or USB connection. The users do not require a software interface similar to Apple’s iTunes.

The premium version is available for $7.50 per month and does not have featured ads and limitations on the number of tracks users can skip while listening.

The players are expected to be available in major consumer electronic stores during the first quarter of 2008.

Source: ComputerWire daily updates