http://venturebeat.com/2007/03/13/sl...l-ipod-killer/
Slacker is an ambitious new music service created by some industry veterans that takes aims at the iPod. Slacker is a music player device, but it is also a music delivery service. It is path-breaking because it wants to let you take it anywhere: It will be the first service to use satellite to deliver music constantly to your device.
Slacker’s service is essentially a personalized Internet radio station, similar to popular services
Last.fm and
Pandora.
On Slacker, your “station” refreshes automatically with new music. It plays music that matches your tastes, which you determine by clicking “love it” on a song you like, and “ban it” for one you don’t like. Slacker then constantly updates the music it plays for you, finds new songs that match the bands you like, and songs from bands that are similar in style to those bands (those that have say, a similar energy level, popularity, or era; Slacker does not, however, assess “acoustic characteristics,” like Pandora does, to decide what music to send you). It reshuffles songs just like a radio station, but it feeds you newly released songs, and also other songs that match your updated tastes.
Slacker has licensed two million songs, so it has depth.
Slacker is so named because it is designed for the estimated 70 percent of people who like music, but who can’t be bothered to constantly update their playlists.