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Hey! What the hell's the matter with you? Why aren't you slacking off? Stop working so hard, and kick back and listen to some tunes. And for true slackitude, go to Slacker.com. It's an intuitively adaptive Internet radio service that learns what music you love, and bans what you hate. It is just now lighting up and trust me, it's way cool.

Slacker lets you create your own custom Internet streaming radio station. And, you can even send your custom station to your friends, and let them listen in. Along the way, Slacker will key you in to artists that you may want to add to your station. Wait! There's more!

Slacker is more than software.  It's also hardware. The new Slacker portables let you take your custom stations, or up to 40 Slacker stations, on the road with you. The portables are available in three configurations: 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB, with prices ranging from $199.99 to $299.99.

These new portables will store songs from your stations, but unlike typical portable MP3 players, the Slackers will update with new songs whenever you want. Well, whenever you're in a WiFi hotspot, connected online, or soon - through satellite access. You can even program it so it updates your tunes every night. Fresh music in the morning – better than Starbucks for your morning commute!  And, the music is free. 

Feeling particularly slack today? If you buy your portable directly from Slacker.com, they'll ship it loaded up with your choice of stations. Go for premium service (for as little as $7.50/month) and you can save your favorites so they're right there on your player all the time. Skip as many songs as you want. With basic service, you can skip up to 6 songs an hour, but by changing stations, you can also get around that – when you go back to the original station, a new song is cued up. You can also see what artist is coming up next, to see if you want to waste your 'skip' to get there. For a more permanent solution, you can ban songs you hate, so storage space is never wasted on material you don't want.  Sounds complicated, but it's not. Music the way you want it, constantly updated, and on the go. iWhatever, right? -Ken C. Pohlmann

Slacker