[Alpha Omega]

I just got my Bold and looking for the better of the 2. I've heard Slacker has better Audio, But Pandora do not interrupt your music with ads, and dont require a subscription to get rid of them. So tell me what you think.

[TLD1]

I just got my Bold and looking for the better of the 2. I've heard Slacker has better Audio, But Pandora do not interrupt your music with ads, and dont require a subscription to get rid of them. So tell me what you think.

No question...Pandora is the way to go.

BTW...nice avatar Alpha Omega!! HOOK EM!!!!!

[Laura Knotek]

They are both free. Try both of them and see which one you like better.

I tried Pandora on my PC and did not think it offered a big enough selection of songs.

I like Slacker better, because the library is bigger, so I do not hear the same songs repeatedly.

[ipdstnger2]

Slacker=cache=less battery usage!

[jd914]

It's a matter of choice. Get them both and you be the judge.

[fabuloso]

Its free radio. Why do you have to ask to chose?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[rabbivj]

slacker=cache=less battery usage!

this.......

[indigo75]

I like Pandora, but you should try both of them. They are both free!

[Vapour Trail]

I like Slacker better. With Pandora, I found myself hearing the same songs over and over. Slacker has MUCH deeper playlists. And, as a big prog fan, the fact that Slacker has a prog station that is quite excellent is a point in its favor. Those things made it worth an occasional commercial for me.

[Mojoski]

The caching feature of Slacker makes it the clear winner to me.. Went way out in the woods this past weekend where had hardly any signal at all. Still had plenty of fresh tunes with my cached stations!

Thanks for the reminder! Need to go update my cached stations!

[Manuelitoohno]

call me not hip or cool but aol radio does the job for me.

its the best ota internet radio app ever. i tried pandora and i didnt like it.

[paimon.soror]

Guys dont you have to pay for teh Cache feature of Slacker? I didn't think it was included in the free version. Not sure if the OP is looking for a free solution

[droopie]

slacker because it has more channels for the type of music u want. i did like pandora but slacker had more channels. they both have your custom channels but slacker has more channels then just ur own custom.

[acowart]

Guys dont you have to pay for teh Cache feature of Slacker? I didn't think it was included in the free version. Not sure if the OP is looking for a free solution

Slacker station caching is free.

[sdnberry86]

Sweet, I was wondering the same thing. I was hesitant about downloading Slacker because of the size of the app. But I see its better according to the above posts

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[MarcPandora]

I agree with the other posters in saying that you should try all the apps out for yourself and decide which one you like best. Every app/service has it's upsides and downsides and I'm sure you'll find die-hard fans on either side!

Without getting too "rah rah" over Pandora (for whom I work) I do want to add a bit of (hopefully) valuable information to the discussion. First, we've been working hard on enhancing our backend playlist generation algorithms to have a better "memory" of what songs have been listened to recently for a particular user, and we're using this now to feed back into future songs so that (hopefully) you'll be hearing less repeats and more variety. If you do find that the music you're getting on a station doesn't have enough variety, you can add additional "seeds" to the station (another song or artist). Ironically, I'm giving this advice knowing that the current version of the Pandora BlackBerry app doesn't allow you do to add new seeds to an existing station - so you'll have to use the web version on a home computer to fine tune your stations. But it will make a big difference on the variety of music you get, especially if the initial seed for the station is a bit more obscure. Check out this section in our FAQ for more details.

In terms of caching for offline play, the main reason why Slacker can do that and Pandora cannot is due to the music licenses that each service uses. That said, I would argue that having a "live" playlist can be more dynamic in that when you submit a thumb-down or thumb-up rating for a song, that feedback is immediately fed back into the playlist algorithm for upcoming songs. This may or may not be something that's important to you - but something to consider.

Sound-quality wise, I think both services are about the same. Make sure if you just installed Pandora that you go to the application's options menu and turn audio quality to "High" if you want the best possible quality (and your mobile network speed can handle it). The default setting is "Normal" which is fine for many people (and easier on the networks) but more discerning listeners will want the higher bitrate setting of "High".

I hope this adds some value to the discussion. I know this topic comes up from time to time and I enjoy reading the debates - just figured I'd put in my $0.02!