Slacker already boasts over four times the music selection of their nearest competitor.   The high quality sound over any connection is an attractive feature, but now you don’t have to stop your tunes to check your e-mail.  This allows uninterrupted musical enjoyment while you still conduct business.  Another great improvement for the new Slacker application is faster song to song transitions.

Slacker has been doing anything but Slacking.  They are working constantly on improvements so that the consumer can enjoy an unparalleled music experience.

Yesterday Sony unveiled its top-of-the-line Walkman Video MP3 player – the X-series Walkman.   This is a premium portable entertainment device that Sony hopes will rival Apples iPod and Microsofts Zune.  The X-Series  is Wi-Fi enabled and features an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) touch screen, Sony’s Digital Clear Audio Technologies, as well as embedded content provided by Slacker Radio and YouTube.  That’s right…..Slacker comes standard!  This will give the Internet radio provider even more exposure, and is sure to bring more Slacker fans to the forefront.

“The new X-series leverages Sony’s engineering heritage and integrates the latest advances in OLED and other innovative technologies.  We focused on enhancing audio and video playback to develop a device that
allows consumers a deeper, more interactive way to enjoy content, as well as discover new content, for a truly unique entertainment experience.”

The X-Series Walkman boasts a 3-inch OLED touch screen, delivering outstanding video, exceptional color reproduction, extremely high contrast and a rapid response rate.  The 180-degree viewing angle and the next generation display allow for amazing video playback and photo viewing.  Additionally, when watching
movies on the device, the image on the screen can be adjusted based on the user’s preference, while navigation has been simplified via a feature called scene scroll. Utilizing the scene scroll feature, users select their preferred time increment and simply swipe across the screen to scroll forward and backward through scenes.

If you have ever bought noise cancelling headphones, you know the benefit they deliver.  Sony’s X-series Walkman is the industry’s first video MP3 player to offer integrated digital noise canceling technology. The new model uses a unique, built-in digital noise canceling (DNC) software engine to block out ambient noise, while providing a high-quality audio experience.  This is accomplished via 13.5mm EX headphones which house a small microphone to measure intrusive noise so the DNC filter can create an optimal inverted sound wave that reduces up to 98.0 percent of the noise. Sony’s DNC software engine makes it possible for the digital noise canceling technology to work in all environments, but custom settings can be selected to enhance the experience. Users can select airplane, bus/train or office modes which use different filters in the digital signal processor specifically tuned for these surroundings.

As an added benefit, users can turn on the noise canceling feature for peace and quiet even without listening to music. On airplanes, travelers can also connect the X-series player directly to a plane’s audio / video
system with the included accessory cable, and enjoy regular in-flight entertainment with the bonus of digital noise cancellation.

What goes into your X-series?  Sony thought of that as well.  The X-series Walkman broadens options for enjoying content from multiple sources, including many download stores, the FM tuner, personal collections and embedded services like Slacker Radio. Using Slacker, music lovers select up to three stations and hundreds of songs will get pushed to the device at no charge. When the stations are refreshed in a Wi-Fi
area, the content is buffered and cached on the Walkman player so those tunes can be enjoyed anywhere and everywhere. Slacker also features rich metadata allowing users to access artist info while listening to a song
and customize channels with “favorite” and “ban” buttons for the service to suggest content.

Support for popular audio and video codecs is enhanced because the X-series Walkman devices play protected Windows Media Video (WMV) files, and supports other video codecs such as AVC Baseline (H.264) and MPEG-4, allowing you to enjoy movies and video clips from your other media collections as well as paid music services. It also comes with Content Transfer software which simplifies “drag and drop” transfer of non-DRM music, videos, podcasts and playlists from online music services such as iTunes to Walkman players.

The battery life is up to 33 hours of music playback and up to 9 hours of video playback giving users plenty of entertainment between charges.  The X-Series marks Sony’s first Walkman product with Wi-Fi integration, making it a smart device for consumers who want to stay connected at all times.  Utilizing built-in Wi-Fi technology, the X-series Walkman Video MP3 players let you access an Internet web browser, subscribe to and refresh podcasts, and search for and playback content on YouTube, all without using your PC. In addition, a “Related Links” function found when playing your favorite songs allows for quick searches
of complementary content via YouTube using metadata associated with the song.

We all know the iPod is all about function.  Sony is as well.  The device utilizes a hybrid interface with both touch panel operation and a hard key system to improve upon the navigation experience. Select buttons like volume, play/pause, rewind/fast forward, lock and noise canceling enhance usability when the device is in a backpack, purse or pocket for quick operation without looking at the display.

The Sony X-Series Walkman is expected to be available at retailers in mid-June and will be priced about the same as the iPod Touch. The 16GB model will be $299, and the 32GB will cost $399.

It should be noted that the lyrics will only be available via the web player if you have an existing Radio Plus subscription. If the ability to cut ads, skip unlimited songs, and request unlimited songs were not enough, you can now add lyrics to the list of features available for only $3.99 per month.

iPhone and Blackberry pics after the jump…

Slacker iPhone lyrics

Slacker Blackberry lyrics

Today Slacker announced the release of their latest free mobile app for the BlackBerry Storm. BlackBerry Storm users in the U.S with OS 4.3 or higher can now listen to their favorite Slacker radio stations anywhere they go, whether they are connected to a wireless network or not.

The intuitive sleek user interface has both horizontal and vertical views with full touchscreen capabilities that allow users to pause, skip, rate, ban, view artist info, album art, and look ahead at information about the next artist coming up in rotation.

Exclusive new station caching for the BlackBerry now enables listeners to store their favorite stations on a memory card, allowing them to listen without a network connection. The new caching ability is also said to reduce power consumption by up to 5 times that of streaming playback and enhances performance.

The application is totally free and is available for download by visiting Slacker.com from any BlackBerry Storm. More images for your viewing pleasure after the jump…

Now playing:

Menu:

For the first time, iPhone and iPod touch owners can finally take advantage of the same features made available via the web interface, such as artist biographies and album reviews, station fine tuning, “peek ahead” song previews and custom artist stations.

This is clearly a huge addition to the crowd pleasing arsenal of Slacker products but, more importantly, this new app gives Slacker a big leg up on the growing competition. More eye candy after the jump…

Fine Tuning:

Station Info:

Now Playing:

First Things First.  You need to upgrade your Blackberry operating system to version 4.5 or newer.  Not only will this allow you to download the Slacker application, but it will make your Blackberry better with things such as HTML e-mail.

Once you have accomplished this, the rest, like anything else brought to you by Slacker, is a breeze.  Simply direct your Blackberry to the link provided at Slacker, hit download, and shortly thereafter you will have the full Slacker service streaming on your Blackberry device.

The Slacker Blackberry service is intuitive, and even has the Slacker functions you have come to expect.  You can ”Love” songs, “Ban” them, and even find great new content.  There is buffering at times when listening live, so you may want to cache a few of your favorite channels onto the micro SD card in your Blackberry.  Caching stations makes them more seamless, and means that buffering or cell signal will not be a worry.

In some ways, the interface on the Blackberry even outdoes the existing portable.  I like the way the album covers are staged on the Blackberry service, and the channel organization is also quite nice.  The company groups together channels into categories, and has your own channels and recently played sitting right there at your fingertips.

The Slacker for Blackberry carries no additional charge.  This means whether you are a basic, Plus, or Premium listener, you are not going to see Slacker billing additional charges to you.  Data plans between cell carriers may vary, so check out your cell plan before jamming out for hours on end.  Cached stations are stored on the device, so even those that have limited data plans can take Slacker portable with relative ease, and you can enjoy the service as you commute!

If you have not tried Slacker on the Blackberry, get off your butt and download the application.  You will be glad you did.

Features:

• Unlimited free music on your BlackBerry
• Over 100 expert-programmed genre stations
• High-quality stereo sound over any connection
• Listen even when not connected
• Music plays even while using other applications

If you missed your shot at the 2GB Slacker portable back on the first of the month, now is your chance to upgrade for only $20. For today, and today only, you can get your hands on the Slacker 8GB WiFi Internet Radio Player with 40 Stations for only $69.99 at woot.

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 2.76 x .67×4.2” (70mm x 16.5mm x 109mm)
• Player Weight: 4.6oz
• Screen Dimensions: 4” diagonal (16:9 Aspect Ratio)
• Screen Resolution: 480×272 TFT-LCD
• Audio Formats: MP3, WMA
• Wi-Fi: 802.11B/G
• Battery Type: Li-Polymer
• Battery Life: Up to 10 Hours
• Battery Charge Time: about 3 hours

So you ask… what’s the difference between the new Plus and Premium services? The only difference I can see is that the Premium has the ability to “heart” your favorite songs and cost $6 more per month. That being said, this new price point will no doubt be tempting to those who are already hooked on the ad supported service.

I have no idea idea long it will last but, as of today they are offering a 7 day free trial.