by Demian Russian
Slacker, the internet radio service provider, added the integration of ABC News (NYSE: DIS) to its service yesterday. While news content is a welcome addition to the Slacker service, there are several drawbacks which highlight why it’s no match for Sirius XM’s (NASDAQ: SIRI) superior news content. Slacker seems to be taking steps to be more like Sirius XM Radio. First they added a couple of comedy channels, and now a news channel, and it’s not free. Did I just hear “subscription model?” Well, it is free for the 14 day trial period, but after that it will run you $4.99 a month ($3.99 a month with a prepaid annual subscription). After the free trial period, users who want access to the ABC News channel must subscribe to Slacker Radio Plus. In addition to the ABC News channel access, Slacker Radio Plus features no banner or audio ads, unlimited song skips, song lyrics, and mobile station caching. Sounds great right? It depends on how you look at it.
I tried out the free trial of Slacker’s ABC News and I discovered several drawbacks compared to the Sirius XM Satellite Radio service. Slacker’s ABC News channel consists of segments from ABC News programs, which means they are prerecorded, which means they are not live, which means you are listening to old news. I like to listen to live news as it’s happening. I know the Slacker ABC News content isn’t live, because the player would allow me to skip to the next segment when I first turned it on. I was not able to determine exactly how old the news was that I was hearing, as no indication of time was offered at any time during the programming I listened to.
Only one news channel is offered with the Slacker service. Besides not being live, Slacker’s ABC News channel only offers snippets of stories — which means you don’t get the whole story. Sirius XM’s subscribers get live access to several different news channels, including CNN, Fox, CNBC, Bloomberg, MSNBC, NPR, BBC, and The World Radio Network. Sirius XM’s news channel offerings include: financial, political, medical, entertainment, human interest, National and International news. You don’t just get the top stories, you get in-depth analysis and opinion of those stories.
Even Slacker fans who enjoy customizing their channels will have some things to complain about. If you want to integrate the 2-5 minute ABC News snippets into one or some of your stations while on your mobile phone, you cant. You must turn all stations on or all stations off from the Slacker website only. If you want the ABC News content integrated into one or some of your stations, you must go to the “fine tune” settings for each individual channel, also only on the Slacker website. Also, Slacker does not allow ABC News content to be cached, even though this is allowed with all of their other content. In addition, if you bought a Slacker G1 or G2 portable player and want to listen to the ABC News content, you can’t. The ABC News content is not compatible with and will not play on any of the Slacker portables. Bummer eh?
Of course, users must have an Internet connection to access the Slacker ABC News content. Unlike Slacker, Sirius XM’s premium content can be accessed all across the U.S. and Canada via the company’s satellites and network of terrestrial repeaters — without additional data plan charges. While Slacker and Pandora do offer users the ability to customize their channels with their favorite artists etc., there is no reason why Sirius XM couldn’t integrate these features into their internet platforms sometime in the future. Unlike Satellite Radio, Slacker and Pandora occupy a space where there really is no barrier to entry — especially for Sirius XM.
Position: Long SIRI
Contact the Author: demianrussian@satelliteradioplayground.com
You’re trying way too hard to prove Slacker is less than sat radio.
I listen to FM radio all the time and the news doesn’t change in a 12-hour period, it’s the same news all day. Thus it is not live, and who even cares if it is live.
A pretty lame attempt to convince yourself you can’t lose sitting on these shares. Too bad you missed the big run up to $9, that was you opportunity never to be seen aain.
Thought this might help clear up your confusion.
The content — which includes segments from Good Morning America, anchored by Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Juju Chang and Sam Champion; and Nightline anchored by Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden and Martin Bashir — is located within the mobile app in a folder marked “News (news),” and works in much the same way music stations do (i.e. you can skip stories). You can also choose to add hourly news updates to any of your stations.
So reality is it is a podcast of sorts rom TV shows and news shows and also includes hourly updates. So if it’s not live who cares, it clearly is current and is probably exactly what sat radio delivers.
Nice try
And how much is a Sirius/XM subscription versus 4 bucks per month for Slacker? Besides which, this article compares apples with oranges. Quit trying to prove that a colossally expensive dinosaur infrastructure model can compete with Internet streaming as a business model. It cannot. Thus the fact that Sirius XM s a penny stock at risk of being delisted.
Sirius XM is not at risk for delisting. Only someone that has no idea of what they are talking about would say that. Sure, Slacker may be a cheaper monthly subscription, but they also don’t have any of the live content that Sirius XM has. Can I listen to a football/baseball/hockey/soccer/basketball game live on Slacker? Can I get Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Martha Stewart, etc,etc,etc on Slacker? Can I drive accross the country and get slacker the whole way?
The answer is no, I cant. Yes, perhaps apples/oranges, but how do you like them apples?
Actually, I can get Slacker across the country if I either have a cell connection or cache stations to my phone. Slacker, and sites like it, are primarily music services; so you are correct that they don’t have talk content (aside from comedy and news). However, music is their primary product. The music selection blows away satellite radio in terms of depth, programming and customization. Does satellite radio allow you to build stations, skip songs, request albums and tracks, read artist and album reviews, read lyrics, influence the station based on your preferences and get rid of all commercials for $4 per month? Nope, sure doesn’t. Now, if you want to pay for Stern for $14 a month and continue to listen to commercials, that’s fine. But I suspect a lot more people want cheap, uninterrupted, customized music.
John,
You cannot drive across country and have a cell phone connection the entire way, I am sorry. There is not a service anywhere out there that has coast to coast service. NONE. Most of the way? Maybe.
As far as the commercials, Sirius XM content is mostly COMMERCIAL FREE, so that argument is gone.
As far as the customization aspect, I agree that Sirius XM should offer a service like Slacker/Pandora for their internet and smart phone users. In fact, I am finishing up an article about that very topic now. Stay tuned for Monday morning…
Brian,
If you are driving across the country, then before your trip, you can cache the stations you plan on listening to on Slacker, then you won’t experience any interruptions… even when going through tunnels and under bridges (sorry, Sirius).
I have both Sirius and Slacker. I love Sirius for Howard Stern and the indie-rock station, Sirius XMU, but Slacker’s options have made it my go-to source for music of late.
I use it on my 38 mile (one-way) commute to work nearly everyday and it rarely cuts-out (I don’t even cache my stations either, I just stream). Bridges and tunnels are more annoying for satellite radio then the rare case of Slacker “buffering” for a few seconds.
-Greg