Verizon tunes Storm into Slacker Radio

(Credit: Slacker Radio)

Don't have a streaming radio application on your BlackBerry Storm yet? If you're a Verizon user, all you have to do to get one is wait.

On Thursday, Verizon started rolling out the Slacker Radio application to every BlackBerry Storm user in its U.S. network. The free version of Slacker Personal Radio App will appear as an icon on the Storm home screen. Those who would rather opt out can hide the button and ignore the service.

In addition to discovering and rating songs, Slacker's edge on BlackBerry is its ability to cache stations for offline listening. This is particularly useful when traveling through weak Wi-Fi areas or dead data zones that would make streaming music a challenge.

A hook into Verizon's V Cast service, which itself taps the Rhapsody catalog, gives BlackBerry Storm users an opportunity to buy one of the service's 4.5 million songs without interrupting the tune's playback.

Verizon will begin pushing the Verizon version of Slacker Radio app to BlackBerry Storm users over the air Thursday and will continue to do so in waves. Slacker Radio operates a two-tiered service. The free, basic streaming service pushed to the phones can be upgraded to a premium subscription, Slacker Radio Plus.

[djrepete480]

"This is particularly useful when traveling through weak Wi-Fi areas." I didn't even know Verizon was letting Storm users use Wi-Fi at this point or that the Storm was Wi-Fi compatible. Guess I don't need the unlimited data plan then, right?

[slveryder]

I've been using Slacker for three years now & I'm planning on upgrading to the paid version soon. I think Slacker is better than Pandora, Yahoo or AOL radio. Being able to use Slacker on my phone would be a major reason for me to look at the Storm when my phone needs replacing.

[galign04]

this is prodcut is very good looking.