Slacker 8 GB Portable Radio with 40 Stations (Black)
from: Slacker
Your Price: $299.99
Prices subject to change.Average Rating: 
Sales Rank: 14012
Sales Rank: 14012
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Electronics : Slacker 8 GB Portable Radio with 40 Stations (Black) |
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 With the Slacker Portable, the world's first-ever personal radio player, you can now take your favorite music with you, and discover new music along the way. |
 Choose from more than 100 expertly programmed radio stations, or custom-build your own. |
 Get new music instantly from the vast Slacker music library by connecting at hundreds of thousands of Wi-Fi spots across the country. |
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Rating:  - * go for the G2 units ... The Slacker portables bring a new dimension to music listening. Without the hassle of ripping your own MP3s, the service allows you to create your own customized radio stations and then, by WiFi or USB, load them onto the player for your enjoyment at any time. Many reviews have discussed the player in depth, so let me address a couple of issues in regards to the older player, the G1, versus the new player, the G2. The G1 player is obviously bigger, and while one advantage is an easier to read screen, it is a bigger package to carry around. The G1 player also has not had any further firmware updates since March '08, while the G2 player has had frequent updates. Therefore, some important features such as improved battery life, and better USB connectivity have not (yet) been updated for the G1. Please check the slacker forums if you're thinking about buying a G1 to see if any updates have occurred since this was posted. The G1 player lacks an equalizer control setting, while this was incorporated into the G2 player. I can't say that the G2's equalizer is worth much, as they don't have any user adjustable settings. The G2 player has a setting to manage the WiFi settings, whereas this has not (yet) been implemented in the G1 player. This again reflects the lack of any further apparent support for this first generation player. As the price of the 8Gb G1 player has not dropped substantially (although for a time it was selling for less than [...] from Amazon), the G2 unit appears to be the primary hardware that is receiving support from the company. The G1 player has had an annoying habit of occasionally having a break in audio at the beginning of a song. This has not been a problem with the G2 units. It is unknown what creates the problem, but there has not been a fix issued for the G1 unit to address this issue. Remember, if you use the web based player at [...] ..... not all the songs that can be heard on the web player are licensed to be downloaded onto the portable players. The company says that there are they are continually gaining more licensing rights, but it is unclear what percentage of music that you hear on the webplayer can be transferred to the portable player. Even with this limitation, you can create a wide variety of stations and enjoy them on the units. However, for your money, you will probably find the G2 unit less buggy, and better supported by the company with updates. Rating:  - * Good when it works... ... I had one heck of a time just getting my Slacker to work, after that the power button the device was constantly acting up. It would be very unresponsive from time to time and caused me to drop my device, inflicting cosmetic damage. I had to get it replaced. The new one was the same way. For a whole week I couldn't use the device simply because I couldn't turn it on. The screen would light up when I plugged it in but that was it. When the device does work it works well. The service is amazing, if you aren't familiar with it go sign up, and the portability just makes it that much better. The device is rather bulky and very lightweight. From its appearance you would think it'd be heavy and high quality, but not so much. It doesn't take much to do light damage. It's a little tricky getting used to the scroll wheel, but get used to it because the touch strip isn't a very good way of controlling the device. For the money, considering the reliability and build it's very expensive. I wouldn't call the price justified. I hope the G2 (second generation at slacker.com) is of better quality. Rating: - * Nice, but ready for prime time? ... Great machine, but has some limitations. The screen is great, the concept is great. Reliability is tolerable. Great for someone who can't afford a LOT of cd's. You DO have to really get the monthly subscription if you want to make it worthwhile. You can really customize your "personal channels". I liked it, but returned it. 1) NO real classical music. 2) Very limited comedy stand up. 3) Decent in other genres. It's selection of music is iffy, if you let it choose too much, or expect it to be 100% accurate for music titles in genre, forget it. It's artist listing for some genres is not accurate. They list some cd's by performer, not "artist". This is miserable for classics. The device is well laid out, with LIGHTED buttons on the side. Sound is good. Volume is good. Sometimes the sound is a bit bright, but not too much so. You don't have to choose 15 stations. You can use fewer, and the device is supposed to know that and make more room for the channels you do have. The 2gb one has 500mb for your own mp3s. You can also select a song as a "favorite", and it will transfer it to the 500mb area to keep it on machine. There are some good settings you can do on the PC software to control the music a bit. It's not exactly perfect right now, but if they corrected a lot of the irritants, it would be a great device. Rating:  - * Fastest Delivery ... It only took 2 days to get my Slacker, BUT when I tried to refresh it, nothing. It worked good till I did that. I talked with a Slacker Tech via email. I tried everything he suggested and more and it still wouldn't work. I shipped it back to Slacker, ( I had to pay posted and insurance on it). That was almost 3 weeks ago and still no sign of a new one!:( Rating: - * slacker falls short ... to start off i'm a huge fan of slacker radio i love the software and everything. the device is just full of bugs. Its almost impossible to update my playlists with my comp. its slow and unresponsive. the touch strip on the side is cool but starts to get in the way if you have large hands. i would give the device a higher rating because like i said the software radio is great but the device falls short on just a few fronts. |
The segment on Van Gogh is, as expected, emotional, yet Schama convincingly portrays Van Gogh as not consumed by madness, but fighting off the episodes with painting. Van Gogh painted one of his most evocative works, Wheat Field With Crows, which even his brother, Theo, recognized was about to put his brother on the artistic map. Yet, as Schama points out, within weeks, Van Gogh had killed himself. "Now why would he want to do that?" Schama muses--and then proceeds to narrate the tormented tale of the answer. Along the way, the viewer gains new appreciation for Van Gogh's signature works, including his famous sunflowers. "Technically, these are still lives," Schama says, "but there's nothing still about them... the sunflowers [seem to be] organisms landing violently from a burning sun." If the reenactments of the artists' lives are a bit overdone, it's forgivable, since the cumulative effect, in an hour, is a new appreciation of the work and the man.
Extras include frank and very funny commentaries by Schama and his co-producer, and lots of behind-the-scenes dish on how certain scenes were achieved. The teeming French opera scene in the "David" episode, for instance, was cast using just 20 French extras and then the rest created by CGI--"the scene works better, really, than [the film] King Kong," Schama says with delight. --A.T. Hurley
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Bird has his cake and eats it, too. He and the Pixar wizards send up superhero and James Bond movies while delivering a thrilling, supercool action movie that rivals Spider-Man 2 for 2004's best onscreen thrills. While it's just as funny as the previous Pixar films, The Incredibles has a far wider-ranging emotional palette (it's Pixar's first PG film). Bird takes several jabs, including some juicy commentary on domestic life ("It's not graduation, he's moving from the fourth to fifth grade!").
The animated Parrs look and act a bit like the actors portraying them, Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter. Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee also have a grand old time as, respectively, superhero Frozone and bad guy Syndrome. Nearly stealing the show is Bird himself, voicing the eccentric designer of superhero outfits ("No capes!"), Edna Mode.
Nominated for four Oscars, The Incredibles won for Best Animated Film and, in an unprecedented win for non-live-action films, Sound Editing.
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The Presentation
This two-disc set is (shall we say it?), incredible. The digital-to-digital transfer pops off the screen and the 5.1 Dolby sound will knock the socks off most systems. But like any superhero, it has an Achilles heel. This marks the first Pixar release that doesn't include both the widescreen and full-screen versions in the same DVD set, which was a great bargaining chip for those cinephiles who still want a full-frame presentation for other family members. With a 2.39:1 widescreen ratio (that's big black bars, folks, à la Dr. Zhivago), a few more viewers may decide to go with the full-frame presentation. Fortunately, Pixar reformats their full-frame presentation so the action remains in frame.
The Extras
The most-repeated segments will be the two animated shorts. Newly created for this DVD is the hilarious "Jack-Jack Attack," filling the gap in the film during which the Parr baby is left with the talkative babysitter, Kari. "Boundin'," which played in front of the film theatrically, was created by Pixar character designer Bud Luckey. This easygoing take on a dancing sheep gets better with multiple viewings (be sure to watch the featurette on the short).
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Brad Bird still sounds like a bit of an outsider in his commentary track, recorded before the movie opened. Pixar captain John Lasseter brought him in to shake things up, to make sure the wildly successful studio would not get complacent. And while Bird is certainly likable, he does not exude Lasseter's teddy-bear persona. As one animator states, "He's like strong coffee; I happen to like strong coffee." Besides a resilient stance to be the best, Bird threw in an amazing number of challenges, most of which go unnoticed unless you delve into the 70 minutes of making-of features plus two commentary tracks (Bird with producer John Walker, the other from a dozen animators). We hear about the numerous sets, why you go to "the Spaniards" if you're dealing with animation physics, costume problems (there's a reason why previous Pixar films dealt with single- or uncostumed characters), and horror stories about all that animated hair. Bird's commentary throws out too many names of the animators even after he warns himself not to do so, but it's a lively enough time. The animator commentary is of greatest interest to those interested in the occupation.
There is a 30-minute segment on deleted scenes with temporary vocals and crude drawings, including a new opening (thankfully dropped). The "secret files" contain a "lost" animated short from the superheroes' glory days. This fake cartoon (Frozone and Mr. Incredible are teamed with a pink bunny) wears thin, but play it with the commentary track by the two superheroes and it's another sharp comedy sketch. There are also NSA "files" on the other superheroes alluded to in the film with dossiers and curiously fun sound bits. "Vowellet" is the only footage about the well-known cast (there aren't even any obligatory shots of the cast recording their lines). Author/cast member Sarah Vowell (NPR's This American Life) talks about her first foray into movie voice-overs--daughter Violet--and the unlikelihood of her being a superhero. The feature is unlike anything we've seen on a Disney or Pixar DVD extra, but who else would consider Abe Lincoln an action figure? --Doug Thomas
More Incredibles at Amazon.com
 The Incredibles Toy Store |  CD Soundtrack |  The Art of The Incredibles Book |
 Game Boy Advance |  On VHS |  The Essential Guide Book |
The Pixar Feature Films
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More Animation DVDs
 Favorite Animated Performances |  Previous Animated Oscar Nominees |  If You Like The Incredibles... |
 Our Disney DVD Store |  Looney Tunes Golden Collection |  Walt Disney Treasures |
More Superheroes on DVD
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Also from Filmmaker Brad Bird
 The Iron Giant (Writer/Director) |  "Family Dog" on Amazing Stories (Writer/Director) |  Batteries Not Included (Cowriter) |
 The Simpsons (Director/Consultant) |  King of the Hill (Consultant) |  The Critic (Consultant) |
