Internet Radio on the Go: Slacker's New G2

Sure XM and Sirius satellite radio are nice, but what if the breadth of internet radio could make it to your car? That’s what Slacker hopes will happen — along with winning over those odd folks who listen to music outside the car — with its next-generation portable player, the Slacker G2.

Slacker has put its full-featured internet radio programming into the G2, with two different trim levels available, one with 25 stations and one with 40 (4GB and 8GB, $199.99 and $249.99, respectively). There are 100-plus professionally programmed genre stations, or users can create their own by selecting their favorite artists, all via the Slacker.com player (no additional software required).

Once station choices have been made, the G2 connects wirelessly to nearly any Wi-Fi network, and in minutes each station’s programming has been downloaded to the player, supplying hundreds of hours of music. Best of all, the favorite and ban buttons at the top of the player will note what is and isn’t liked. Take that Ting Tings!

Next time the G2 is wirelessly updated, your feedback is sent in and the stations are reprogrammed according to the music you love and hate. Essentially, it’s internet radio on the go, in a small, 2.6-ounce player brought to life by a brilliant color display.

Check out the Cars.com unboxing photos below. Later today we’ll post our in-depth review on how it performs in and out of the car.