what is slacker radio on my android able to cast to?

Slacker Radio continues its dominance as one of the best streaming music apps. The service and its complementary Android app take undergone many changes in recent months to help it compete with the likes of Spotify and Tidal. Slacker'southward latest updates aren't as considerable every bit those we saw in the 2013 revamp, just the under-the-hood fixes and thoughtfully curated stations make the app more appealing to casual and hardcore music fans akin. Slacker Radio lacks a few modest features found in competing products, such every bit track crossfading and gapless playback, simply it has enough dandy features and content of its own to be worthy of an Editors' Choice honor.

Subscriptions

Slacker Radio'due south Android app has a gratis Basic tier that lets y'all stream dozens of stations, but monetizes the experience with audio and banner ads. You're too express to six song skips per 60 minutes, so you'll want to use the skip push button judiciously if you lot opt for free listening.

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The Basic plan is a good introduction to the service, but serious music fans should sign up for the $three.99 per month Slacker Radio Plus. This mid-level tier lets you savor commercial-complimentary music, unlimited song skips, and offline listening. The top-tier Premium service, which costs $9.99 per month, delivers the ultimate Slacker Radio experience by opening the door to on-demand listening and the ability to create custom playlists.

The $9.99 per programme is the manufacture standard that Spotify ($9.99 Per Month; thirty Solar day Gratuitous Trial at TIDAL Music) and Tidal ($9.99 Per Month; thirty Day Free Trial at TIDAL Music) take also adopted, though Slacker Radio lacks the erstwhile's excellent $14.99 per month Family Plan and the latter's $nineteen.99 HiFi plan, which delivers delicious uncompressed audio streams.

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Sound Quality

In testing, Slacker Radio streamed crisp, hiccup-free audio over my abode and office network connections. Unless y'all're an audiophile who's used to listening to uncompressed, high-fleck-rate music through the highest-finish devices, Slacker Radio's sound quality will satisfy. If that is how you listen, however, yous should pay for the uncompressed FLAC audio of Tidal's HiFi plan.

I tested Slacker by listening to, among others albums, Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), which streamed criply to my headphones. The bass lines were relatively full, and I noted a good separation of high and low sounds. Certainly, a good pair of headphones improves the experience, simply it comes downward to the signal, in the end.

Interface and Categories

The Slacker Radio habitation screen has a panel-driven interface that highlights new content, recommended stations, and curated playlists. Equally a event, it'due south easy to dive into the service'south deep well. For case, the app recommended that I cheque out Slacker xx: East Coast Hip-Hop (because I listened to Wu-Tang Clan, I assume) and Nifty Songs You Forgot (because I listened to the playlist Ane-Hit Wonders). Slacker Radio'south recommendation engine is light years ahead of Pandora Net Radio'southward oddball Music Genome Project choices.

The Stations section holds Slacker Radio's 20+ genre categories and more than 100 private stations. Tapping the Themes icon, for example, reveals multiple subgenres, such equally Artists to Lookout 2016, Attack of the Boy Bands, and Pokemon Radio. The category king is Holiday, which boasts 35 channels at the time of this writing.

The My Music section lets yous access stations you create, playlists, bookmarked stations, and recently played stations. Your three most recently played stations as well live on the dwelling screen equally shortcuts. Favorite Songs is easily my, well, favorite department, as it creates a station around songs you've marked equally favorites. It's similar having a personalized greatest hits station, and information technology's a joy.

Specials is the section that truly demonstrates Slacker Radio'south greatness. The stations in this category are all human-curated and/or human-hosted programming that provide entertaining insight into a vocal or album. Led Zepplin: A to Z is a prime example of a Special. The show takes y'all on an alphabetical journey through the band's itemize, and features exclusive interviews with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, also as commentary from Redbeard, a host from music site InTheStudio.internet.

Live Radio and Curated Channels

The News/Talk/Sports category is exactly what it sounds like—stations that cater to the news, talk, and sports crowds. Comedy, ABC News, American Public Media, and ESPN programming fall under this category. The well-nigh intriguing of these stations are the ESPN stations that allow y'all tune in to live sports talk. Unfortunately, ESPN is the only Slacker Radio aqueduct to serve up live programming; the rest is streams of prerecorded content. iHeartRadio ($ix.99 Per Calendar month; xxx Day Free Trial at TIDAL Music) , on the other mitt, has over a thousand live terrestrial radio stations on offer. Slacker Radio'south Men and women's lifestyle stations (where y'all'll hear grooming tips, financial advice, and more) round out the talk options. If you're looking for a streaming music app that specializes in live radio and lets you build custom stations, however, iHeartRadio may exist more than your speed.

Spotify doesn't offer live streaming options, but it counters Slacker Radio with very absurd features of its own. Spotify lets you download and subscribe to the playlists that your buddies create and suggests songs based on what's trending in your geographic area. It's a far more social experience than Slacker Radio offers. Plus, Spotify has gapless playback and crossfade capabilities. Those are both features that I'd honey to meet Slacker Radio prefer.

Tapping a Slacker Radio channel launches an data page with subsections that allow you Ban or Favorite a vocal, read lyrics, and view album and artist information. The album and artist pages are far more streamlined than Spotify's and therefore a bit easier to read and navigate. Unfortunately, lyrics aren't available for every song.

Slacker Radio's Fine Tune area has toggles (for turning on/off the Slacker DJ, and ESPN and News updates), and a slider that lets you adjust the ratio of hits to discovery within a given station. On the topic of Slacker Radio'southward DJs, the service'southward human-curated content is meridian-notch; the DJs add gravitas to many of the themed stations such every bit Pharrell: Deoxyribonucleic acid. There I learned that "Hollaback Girl" was Gwen Stefani's response to a perceived diss from Hole's Courtney Love. This type of background information makes Slacker Radio feel like an quondam school radio station, merely without the grating morning zoo crews.

Radio Royalty

If you lot dig taking custom stations on the go, you'll exist well served by Slacker Radio for Android. The app has splendid curated stations, informative DJs, and a well-balanced mix of music, news, and talk that make information technology a precious stone, much similar the Editors' Option award-winning Spotify. If yous're an Android user who values a varied listening experience, download Slacker Radio, y'all won't be disappointed.

Slacker Radio (for Android)

Cons

The Bottom Line

Slacker Radio for Android brings excellent streaming music, news, and talk to Google-powered smartphones and tablets. It remains a top service in an increasingly crowded field.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/slacker-radio-for-android

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