slotRadio gets reviewed

Read these two reviews. They sum it up pretty well.

http://eightymphmom.blogspot.com/2009/04/sansa-slotradio-player-from-sandisk.html

http://windowseatblog.com/2009/04slot-radio-best-music-player-for-rugged-travels

Message Edited by slotmonsta on 04-25-2009 11:47 AM

(copy paste the URLs to your browser’s address bar to access the reviews)

@sansational wrote:

Read these two reviews. They sum it up pretty well.

 

http://eightymphmom.blogspot.com/2009/04/sansa-slotradio-player-from-sandisk.html

 

http://windowseatblog.com/2009/04slot-radio-best-music-player-for-rugged-travels

Message Edited by slotmonsta on 04-25-2009 11:47 AM

Well, that makes 3 of you that are excited about SanDisk’s latest offering.

No offense but frankly, I’m underwhelmed. And if you look at the traffic on the individual boards here on the forum, and coorelate the number of posts to the popularity of the individual device, I’d say that many others share the same ‘ho-hum’ attitude toward it.

I for one, feel SanDisk will be lucky to recoup even it’s development & design costs on it, let alone the manufacturing and distribution expenses. SanDisk should be looking to ‘push the technology envelope’, not fold it over, lick the flap and seal it shut.

@tapeworm wrote:


@sansational wrote:

Read these two reviews. They sum it up pretty well.

 

http://eightymphmom.blogspot.com/2009/04/sansa-slotradio-player-from-sandisk.html

 

http://windowseatblog.com/2009/04slot-radio-best-music-player-for-rugged-travels

Message Edited by slotmonsta on 04-25-2009 11:47 AM


 

Well, that makes 3 of you that are excited about SanDisk’s latest offering.

 

No offense but frankly, I’m underwhelmed. And if you look at the traffic on the individual boards here on the forum, and coorelate the number of posts to the popularity of the individual device, I’d say that many others share the same ‘ho-hum’ attitude toward it.

 

I for one, feel SanDisk will be lucky to recoup even it’s development & design costs on it, let alone the manufacturing and distribution expenses. SanDisk should be looking to ‘push the technology envelope’, not fold it over, lick the flap and seal it shut.

Well said!

I’ll wager a bet with you (Tapeworm) that you are wrong. I think slotRadio is going to be huge - and the player will sell out faster than you expect. You should have seen my mom’s and dad’s reaction to it.

Let’s meet again on this board one year from today - and if you were right, I will personally buy you the top of the line Sansa player at that time. Agreed?

If you are wrong, however, I will ask you to merely admit it.

Message Edited by Sansational on 04-25-2009 02:11 PM

@sansational wrote:

I’ll wager a bet with you (Tapeworm) that you are wrong. I think slotRadio is going to be huge - and the player will sell out faster than you expect. You should have seen my mom’s and dad’s reaction to it.

 

Let’s meet again on this board one year from today - and if you were right, I will personally buy you the top of the line Sansa player at that time. Agreed?

 

If you are wrong, however, I will ask you to merely admit it.

 

If I am wrong, I will be perfectly willing to admit it. It wouldn’t be the first time. I’ll even post it in the Announcements board and you can ‘sticky’ it if you want to for all future visitors and members to see in perpetuity. :stuck_out_tongue:

However, if at that time the SlotRadio is Sansa’s top on the line player, as the writing on the wall indicates, then you can save your money.

If I am wrong, I will be perfectly willing to admit it. It wouldn’t be the first time. I’ll even post it in the Announcements board and you can ‘sticky’ it if you want to for all future visitors and members to see in perpetuity. :stuck_out_tongue:

However, if at that time the SlotRadio is Sansa’s top on the line player, as the writing on the wall indicates, then you can save your money.

Fair enough. Let’s wait and see :slight_smile:

@sansational wrote:

I’ll wager a bet with you (Tapeworm) that you are wrong. I think slotRadio is going to be huge - and the player will sell out faster than you expect. You should have seen my mom’s and dad’s reaction to it.

 

Let’s meet again on this board one year from today - and if you were right, I will personally buy you the top of the line Sansa player at that time. Agreed?

 

If you are wrong, however, I will ask you to merely admit it.

 

 

Message Edited by Sansational on 04-25-2009 02:11 PM

is this bet open to all takers?

It might do a lot better when more cards come out, and if Sandisk would put a little advertising out.

I bought one, if nothing else for the novelty.  SlotMusic cards will play in it, as will your own “mix cards”.  It’s small, and feels substantial, like it would be hard to break.  I suppose time will tell for that.  It seems it would be a good “gym” or “workout” player, with one’s favorite card in it.

I look forward to the release of the cards.

It would also be nice if there were track listings available for the original card and the new ones.  I still haven’t figured out the format to be able to view it.

The initial batch of cards is out - Rock, Country, R&B/Hip-Hop, and Oldies. Please see the website - www.slotradio.org

There is an audio preview of each and every channel in each and every card (with partial lists of the artists on each card). You will not be able to see a track list - as the tracks are encrypted. That’s part of the “radio” aspect of it all.

jkj1962 wrote:

It might do a lot better when more cards come out, and if Sandisk would put a little advertising out.

 

I bought one, if nothing else for the novelty.  SlotMusic cards will play in it, as will your own “mix cards”.  It’s small, and feels substantial, like it would be hard to break.  I suppose time will tell for that.  It seems it would be a good “gym” or “workout” player, with one’s favorite card in it.

 

I look forward to the release of the cards.

 

It would also be nice if there were track listings available for the original card and the new ones.  I still haven’t figured out the format to be able to view it.

drlucky wrote:


@sansational wrote:

I’ll wager a bet with you (Tapeworm) that you are wrong. I think slotRadio is going to be huge - and the player will sell out faster than you expect. You should have seen my mom’s and dad’s reaction to it.

 

Let’s meet again on this board one year from today - and if you were right, I will personally buy you the top of the line Sansa player at that time. Agreed?

 

If you are wrong, however, I will ask you to merely admit it.

 

 

Message Edited by Sansational on 04-25-2009 02:11 PM


 

is this bet open to all takers?

Nope (as indicated in the post) - “I’ll wager a bet with you (Tapeworm)”.

I’d love to get a piece of that action myself, come to think of it.

The SlotRadio concept is different, music at a greatly reduced price, with the listening experience similar to listening to the radio.  Having random access to each individual song is what we’re doing with individual downloads or rips from our CD collections.

Being able to have the company of a large library of music, simply by switching over to the SlotRadio card, and keeping that assortment separate from everything organized on the Fuze, for example, sounds nice indeed.  The advantage of not having to deal with the requisite interruptions of advertising and announcements, common (and necessary) in broadcast radio, just might catch on.

As for the cool little SlotRadio player, once you have one in hand, and have a look at the interesting display, I believe you just might like it.  There are plenty of folks (my own parents included) that would enjoy the machine, without having to mess with loading it up.

µsansa

Read these two very different angled reviews - will give you a very good idea about slotradio!    

The geek’s opinion: http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/review-sandisk-slotradio-player-bundle-20090513/

The mom’s opinion: http://momfuse.com/2009/05/sandisk-slotradio-fall-in-love-with-music-again-sop-bonus-entry-12/

Both seem to get the concept very well. 


The firmware needs a few relaxations of restrictions from the labels.  $99 for a $40 card a $59 restricted hardware player is not cheap.

  1. RANDOM SHUFFLE of playlist option.  even a radio station changes the playing order. the arbitrary fixed order is pretty lame.

  2. Restart current song in play. well at least once per rotation

  3. 3 song custom playlist.  allow at least a few songs to be added to a custom play list instead of pressing the button 999 times.

  4. A complete text list of what is exactly on the card. either on the card or on your site.

  5. Monthly/Quarterly/Semi/Annual Top 100 Billboard Hits in 10 playlist of different genres.  in order of ranking and with a random shuffle feature.

  6. Lower Priced Specialty Collections like just 1 playlist of 100 or a specific Artist.

  7. Considering the restrictions for basically a painful marketing tool for the labels (well at least the first 100 label songs) $40 is way too high, heck even $25 is too high.

The variety and idea of a ■■■■■ proof PC free digital collection is great, but FIXED playlist gives you a big headache because after playing the first 100 song over and over again just to get to the next 900 kills the novelty of the concept and any marketing potential for the other 900 lower down on the list.

Have you actually purchased one and used it? …

Here are three very different angles on slotradio -

 

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/review-sandisk-slotradio-player-bundle-20090513/

 

http://www.ploomy.com/2009/05/06/sansa-slotradio-review/

 

http://outside-blog.away.com/blog/2009/06/the-gear-junkie-scoop-sandisk-sansa-slotradio-player.html

Yes I did actually purchased the slotradio basic kit and an extra card 80s and 90s and used it, and still have it.  The hardware player itself ■■■■■ big time, so I updated the firmware on my Sansa Fuze for use there of the slotradio card.  Once Sansa offers cell phone apps that play the card I will get the app if there is some relaxation of the restrictions shown above.  I showed a coworker who was wanted an alternative for road trips to satellite radio, and liked the concept.

Don’t prejudge people just because of a critical review of the product.  I personally think the concept has potential with some relaxation by the labels of some of the restrictions so it can functional more like a portable personal radio without the need for internet, satellite or radio connection, especially for remote areas and countries.

immred6 wrote:

Yes I did actually purchased the slotradio basic kit and an extra card 80s and 90s and used it, and still have it.  The hardware player itself ■■■■■ big time, so I updated the firmware on my Sansa Fuze for use there of the slotradio card.  Once Sansa offers cell phone apps that play the card I will get the app if there is some relaxation of the restrictions shown above.  I showed a coworker who was wanted an alternative for road trips to satellite radio, and liked the concept.

 

Don’t prejudge people just because of a critical review of the product.  I personally think the concept has potential with some relaxation by the labels of some of the restrictions so it can functional more like a portable personal radio without the need for internet, satellite or radio connection, especially for remote areas and countries.

I would think that if you are posting on this forum, the slotradio player is almost by definition not for you… People posting on this forum should naturally gravitate toward a full-function player such as the Fuze, with the option to play slotradio cards.

I actually do want it work since alot of people like myself did buy it as a portable device where we don’t want to take our nice Fuze.

Is it my imagination or did the retail price of all the cards increase from $40 to $50.  Labels are really sticking to a declining recessionary customer base.  I understand your company just passes on the costs and restrictions.  I do respect Sansa generally for offering very functional products for people who don’t want an Ipod or a Zune.

I would like to see the product find a strong supported niche and not end up in the Radio Shack discount bin in 12 to 18 months.

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