Digital Trends

Slacker G2 (4GB) November 3rd, 2008 | by Nick Mokey

Setup

In an interesting twist of Slacker’s customizable music model, the company will actually preload a G2 with your favorite Slacker stations straight from the factory for no extra charge - if you buy it directly through Slacker and take the time to select them. Though it might seem inconsequential to hardcore PMP users, it makes a big difference from the ease-of-use perspective Slacker specializes in. And since the unit has been designed to take on more music whenever connected, having a full load right from the beginning means you’ll never have to wait for all 4GB to load in one sitting, unless you run it dry between refills.

Given how much effort Slacker puts into making the G2 ready-to-roll right out of the box with music, we were disappointed to find that our unit had lost all its charge from the factory, and wouldn’t even boot up once we plugged it in. After a few failed attempts to fire it up during the first few minutes, we abandoned it for two hours per the manual’s recommendation, and only got it to turn on upon returning. While it functioned perfectly afterward, the lack of out-of-box playability was a bit of a buzzkill. 

The Slacker Interface

Like the online version of the Slacker interface, the G2 makes album artwork the centerpiece of its display, putting it front and center and arranging other bits of information around it. A top bar displays the station name and battery life, while below, you’ll find artist, album title, and track title arranged around the player’s status bar.

Unfortunately, though the layout is sound, the player’s sluggish response time and limited input options (really only a clickable scroll wheel) make navigating through it quite difficult. Scrolling quickly through menu options makes a pronounced lag time obvious, and attempting to type in Wi-Fi passwords using an on-screen alphabet and a scroll wheel felt like a punishment straight out of Greek mythology (remember Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill and letting it roll down for all eternity?) We could probably tap it out faster in Morse code. 

Image Courtesy of Slacker

The User Experience

Having a player pushed full of new music every time we connected it was a new experience for us, and one we thoroughly enjoyed. Remember the time you left for a run with stale tracks on your MP3 player because you didn’t have time to put new music on? Or for a long car trip? Or for a party you were going to provide music for? Slacker cuts all the work out, turning your player into a treasure trove of new tracks every time you turn it on. If you’re lazy, you’ll love it. If you’re an astute Pitchfork reader with a catalog 8,000 albums deep, an encyclopedic knowledge of every band under the sun, and discriminating tastes in music, you’ll basically see it as an expensive version of the radio. Control freaks, move on now.

Highlighting the artist’s name with the scroll wheel and selecting it will bring up an artist bio, while doing the same with the album artwork will bring up a review. We enjoyed having such comprehensive bundle of extras available onboard without putting any additional effort into gathering them. And since much of the music to come across the player will be new to your ears, the reviews and bios make interesting reading for car trips and train rides, and might even allow you to skip a visit to Wikipedia when you get home.