Some of the Slacker crew is here in DC today and, while I couldn’t swing a meeting, we did carve out time for a brief phone call. Basically, much of what Mari loves from her Slacker Portable hardware will be ported to the Blackberry platform next month. Unlike Pandora‘s mobile solution, Slacker copies playlist songs down to a device. Though you’ll obviously need a network to populate your mobile, once loaded, you’ll be able to listen on the subway or plane without worrying about connectivity. The basic ad-supported service will remain free, and an ad-free premium service will also be offered. RIM’s serious about reaching beyond their traditional business-oriented base by bringing the noise multimedia (also see TiVo).
Lala Opens Music Locker and DRM-free MP3 Store
There’s a new music store in town named Lala.com. TechCrunch and many others are calling it a possible game changer or revolution in music sharing/buying. I was pretty skeptical of the concept at first, but after trying it out I’m pretty impressed. It has potential to be a very nice service as a HTPC plugin, too. … Read more