By Jeff Simmons
I love the big buttons and volume adjustments... but overall it's a sorry version of Pandora. The fact that you can see others playlists in a search is excellent. It's not clear on the surface how what the similar artists algorithm works... and a company like AOL/TimeWarner most likely wants to sell it's own artists, etc, etc After I skipped a few songs i hit a 30 second LOWE's commercial... super bummer. Song selection fairly good for similar artist algorithm... but I don't have any reason to sign up for service... it wants me to sign up and give them my info but doesn't give me any reason to do so... no offer to take away ads or pay a monthly fee... Slacker involvement seems to point to mobile use... maybe for pay similar to Spotify mobile... but again... there's zero explanation of the premium services on the player page... but assuming that's on the way as it mentions it on www.aolradio.com. AOL owns shoutcast and although I understand the move towards the "pureplay" genre fad... they could harness the power of stations at http://www.shoutcast.com/ and have the stations promoting for them. Overall it seems like a weak version of Pandora + Spotify from a multi-national company that could do better... 3.5 out of 5 stars
by Dean Jackson
In a oversaturated market, AOL Radio is an interesting alternative for web based listeners. The site is crisp, easy to navigate and packed with a reasonable selection of music genres. I even found a nice selection of perennial favorite TV tunes. (Good for name that tune with friends.) I could do with out the cotton candy of AOL music news in the right side bar, there are plenty of other and choices for entertainment news. I would have liked more news and talk content - I can only assume that's forthcoming. I didn't expect much, its a good choice, but I find it lacking compared to the smart-phone applications like iHeartRadio from Clear Channel and others. We aren't putting down our phones anytime soon, this site has its work cut out for it. I fear, its battling for a market that's already moved on.
www.deanjackson.net
by Kendall Weaver
There's no way to discuss AOL's new "AOL Radio Powered by Slacker" without comparing it to Pandora, and the new iHeartRadio service from Clear Channel. Truth is, if you like those, you'll like this. Functionality is similar. I like the layout and controls.. nothing too complicated. You get 6 chances to fast forward past a song you don't want to hear.. which seems to reset upon each visit to the station. And if you search, in the upper left hand corner is a little heart.. click on it to "Favorite" a station. They should make this a bit more obvious, since it's the only way I see to return to a station you created earlier. The only thing I see as missing from this and IHeart Radio, is the option Pandora offers to "Add Variety," in which you can add an artist to the channel, thereby widening the scope of songs it picks to play. Also, when I created an account, I can't see anything different than using it without an account, other than them offering to send you a newsletter. Again, this is a quick review, so I may have missed something. But clearly, it's a nice way to listen to and discover new music. Although technically, the songs don't have any crossfade, which means long gaps of silence between some songs.. something a terrestrial radio station would never let happen. Ads? I don't hear any yet... but...The biggest question to me is not whether or not this works, or works well.. but does anyone possibly want or need another way to stream music? With over 750 streams of Clear Channel stations alone, plus the ones you can create yourself, plus Pandora, and Last Fm... is there room or desire for another service like this?"
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