AOL Radio

AOL, announced late last year that its AOL Radio streaming music would be powered by Slacker Radio (Free, 4.5 stars) in order to improve the music listening experience. The new "AOL Radio powered by Slacker" combines several of our favorite Slacker features while keeping several legacy America Online music aspects, and adds an eye-catching new interface that borrows elements from the Slacker iPad app (Free, 4 stars). AOL may have lost some identity in the move, but the tradeoff results in an all around better service?even better than Slacker Radio's own in some ways.

Don't think that AOL Radio's Slacker Radio implementation means that you can't listen to tunes at Slacker.com?you most certainly can. There are, however, subtle difference between the AOL Radio and Slacker Radio experiences that may make you prefer one over the other. Both are very good, but both finish just behind Spotify (Free, 4.5 stars), the current Editors' Choice pick for paid streaming music services.

Fresh, New Look
The first thing you'll notice when you land on the page is the revamped design. The old and cluttered AOL Radio interface is replaced with a gray and white color scheme and a layout that resembles the Slacker Radio iPad app. The top of the screen features a station's name in the upper-left corner; the upper-right has Facebook "like" and posting options, and a drop-down box for tinkering with options (you can also add Twitter compatibility in account settings). A column on the left houses the various Slacker Radio genres (ranging from Rock to Spiritual to Comedy), as well as custom stations. A history bar lets you quickly see previously played tracks at a glance?excellent if you caught the tail end of a song and want to discover its title or artist.

Package Plans
AOL Radio offers the same packages as Slacker Radio; in fact, you can no longer listen to music without signing up for an AOL account. AOL Radio offers three listening plans for music fans. With the free, basic plan you can skip a maximum of six songs per hour and must listen to audio advertisements. Those ads may prove a minor annoyance to free account holders, but they're nothing compared to the ads that Spotify serve, which sometimes appear?mid-song.

The Slacker, err, AOL Radio Experience
The new AOL Radio is Slacker Radio with a few tweaks. If you have a Slacker Radio account, you also have an AOL Radio account. When I visited the site, I was automatically logged in with my Slacker Radio credentials. You can dive into the deep catalog by selecting one of more than two dozen pre-made stations or keying in an artist or song title into the search engine. If you go the search engine route, AOL Radio will cull a tightly-programmed station. I fine-tuned the experience by clicking the "Ban" icon to prevent a song from playing; clicking the heart-shaped "Favorite" icon gives a song extra weight, causing Slacker to play it more frequently. Clicking "My Stations" loaded my custom station without a hitch. Clicking the "Afropunk" play button launched my created station, sending Lenny Kravitz' "Always on the Run" to my ears.

AOL Radio differs from Slacker Radio in a few ways that may not be obvious to casual users. You can't, skip to the beginning of a track (effectively rewinding it), create playlists (though you can listen to playlists created on Slacker Radio's page), or shuffle tracks. Slacker Radio diehards may consider these deal-breakers that keep them returning to Slacker.com, but others may not notice the omissions.

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