I know you’re probably sick of hearing about music Web sites from me, but I fell in love with another one! Now, this one does have a premium service you can pay for, but the free version is enough in itself. I haven’t turned off the classical station since I got here and right now, a lovely recording of “Waltz of the Flowers” is playing. And let me tell you, the clarity is just stellar!
Sadly, at the moment, it only works in the U.S., which probably has something to do with copyright laws. If you find a Web radio station of this caliber for those of you outside of the U.S., will you please send it to me so that I can share it with everyone? Thank you!
So, how does Slacker work? Well, you just need an Internet connection and a Web browser. Then you just have to select the radio station you’d like to listen to. There are a lot of stations to choose from and you can even create a custom station of your own. You can also listen without creating an account, but to get some of the more advanced features, you’ll want to create an account.
You can do so by clicking the Sign In link, located in the upper left hand corner of the music player. You need an e-mail address, a password, birth year, gender and location and you just need to agree to their terms of service. When you’re ready, click the Submit button and you will automatically be logged in.
The buttons on the player are: Play/Pause, Skip, Favorite and Ban.
Skip – As a free user, you get six skips per station, which allows you to skip over a song you don’t want to hear.
Favorite – Next to the Skip button, you’ll see a button with a heart on it. This is the Favorite button and it allows you to mark which songs you absolutely love!
Ban – Next to that, you’ll see the Ban button, which is a circle with a line through it. This allows you to mark the songs you don’t like so that you don’t have to hear them again.
Beneath the Favorite button on the station portion of the music player, you will see a tab that reads Create Station. It will switch you over to the Make Your Own Station tab. Just search for the artist you want to add to your station and then click Save As. You’ll then need to name your station.
I named my station Cacophony (because I like a very odd mix of artists) and I added some of my favorite artists, like Happy Rhodes, Elisa, Loreena McKennitt and about 17 others. They recommend you at least add 15 so that you get a good mix.
Whether you choose a pre-made station or you create a custom station, you are bound to find hours worth of music to listen to. Enjoy!
~ Amanda