Two weeks after ramping up hardware pre-orders for their Portable Radio Player, internet radio provider Slacker has delayed product delivery from this week until late January. While delays are pretty common, it’s a bit unusual to pull back so close to shipment. (I’d call this manuveur a ‘Foleo‘, but I was actually looking forward to that device. As Asus has proven with the Eee PC, there’s a market for small Linux notebooks.) Back to Slacker, Walt Mossberg has previewed the device – summarized over at Orbitcast:
I’ve been testing a prototype of the chunky, black plastic Slacker player, which is dominated by a four-inch color screen. It has two redundant navigation systems: a touch-sensitive strip at the side of the screen and a wheel on one edge. It provides a rich listening experience, including album art and other photos, artist bios and album reviews. The sound is good, and the Wi-Fi wireless connection worked in both my home and office.
I’ve been in touch with the PR people trying to get my hands on a unit. The pre-programmed “stations” populated during WiFi connectivity appeal to me, though I couldn’t get a straight answer on how many songs are copied over with each sync. (Important to know when taking long flights.)