For those fed up with the glacial movement of Pandora on the Windows phone platform, a new alternative has hit the streets: Slacker Radio.

Showing up on various forums, the .cab and service is actually very, very polished. It is the official version, but SlackerRadio themselves have not published it on their site yet.

No compromises here as you get album images, lyrics, band bio, reviews and a wide selection of music to choose from.  Audio quality is also extremely good, trouncing Pandora's 64kb stream. Plus they got that whole "let me power off the screen without disrupting the stream" thing. 

Two negative's we've noticed: landscape support is not there and we've had a few songs cut out towards the end for some reason (not uncommon with Pandora either). 

Of course, there is the free "basic" version which limits you to something like 6-skips per hour while the program steers you towards the "full" version with upgrade notices in parts.  Likewise, you don't get all those lyric bonuses in the free version.

If you want the subscription, it's $4.99 per month (on a month-to-month basis) or $3.99 a month on a 12-month plan (billed monthly). You can also try out the subscription for 7 days for free.  We suppose if streaming is your thing it's not a bad deal: the quality of the product is quite top notch. If you just like streaming your own music (as opposed to the jukebox, random streaming), give nanoGroove a shot.

Grab the file at XDA or scan the MS Tag below to automatically download it.

Edit: Whoops!  And just as fast Slacker Radio has remotely pulled the plug. The app currently doesn't work and we have to wait for the fine folks at Slacker Radio to drop this app "officially".  Sigh. [Here's their official reasoning]

GrooveShark, the streaming music on-demand site, is still going strong and while we've had a Windows phone client in the past (see our video review of GrooveFish), it was lacking some finesse and advanced features.

Enter nanoGroove, a full-fledged (though not officially endorsed) GrooveShark client that adds some nice bells and whistles. Although it costs a one-time license of $4.99, we think it's a fair price for a nicely polished application such as this.

Here are some of the features which it's free GrooveFish cousin is lacking

• Supports multiple resolutions (including 320x320)
• GrooveShark Playlist support
• Album art
• Power button disables screen (keeps music playing, saves battery)
• Better graphics

We've had no problem running it on our Touch Pro 2 or Treo Pro and of course you can't beat the sound quality of GrooveShark (it kills Pandora in that regard).

If we had any complaints it would be that the UI has a few extra steps than is probably needed (like having to refresh to pull down your playlists) and it is a little confusing to get songs to actually just play (first you search, then you add to the player, then you switch to player, then you  hit play). 

But overall we're very happy with it and have no problem surrendering $5 for it. If you want the time-limited demo, just scan the MS Tag or go to the NanoGroove site.

Check out our video review after the jump to see how it all works!

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With all of the choices that technology gives us, sometimes the differences between one device and another get blurred. This statement is especially true with the proliferation of Bluetooth headsets. Most headsets follow a similar shape and offer similar features, so it can be difficult to discern the pros and cons of a particular product.

The flip side of this argument is that when a manufacturer releases a headset that breaks the mold and brings a new form factor and/or groundbreaking features, it comes as a breath of fresh air to those of us who follow the market closely. I would like to welcome to the world: Samsung’s WEP870. What is it about this headset that sets it apart from a world full of pretenders and lookalikes? Hit the jump to find out.

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GrooveShark is an interesting free service that allows you to search for music (artist, song, album), stream it directly and even create playlists from your computer.

Now Barguast at XDA has created...wait for it...a free application that will do most of this from your Windows phone (he's constantly adding features). It's called GrooveFish (nice).

GrooveFish itself is an excellent application.  Visually it matches GrooveShark and is quite pleasant to look at and furthermore it works very well (audio fidelity is way better than Pandora).  It's simple: search, select and play.  Heck, it'll even auto-pause on a phone call or when you remove your headset. Ability to create playlists and save favorites is coming in future versions.

But the big issue here is of course U.S. copyright law and GrooveShark: this is not just streaming a ShoutCast station but rather allowing you to stream on demand any song/album/playlist you create, which is a bit sketchy, legally speaking. To their credit they do have a way to notify them of DMCA violations and they will comply. But as this service becomes more and more widely known, you can bet you'll start to see your favorite tunes cooperatively pulled down from the site.

In other words, enjoy it while it lasts.

via 1800PocketPC

For the last 2 years or so, many in the Windows Mobile community have been using MusicID (now Shazam) as a way to ID music that they hear in a commercial, on the radio, or even the supermarket.

Now, via the newly launched Windows Marketplace for Mobile, we have a choice with Midomi. Costing $4.99 for an unlimited subscription, not only do we have a viable music ID program, but one with many, many more features. Probably the most unique is the ability to hum or sing the song you can't quite remember — awkward, sure, but it works!

After the break take a look at my whole review including a video demonstration of it in action.

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It was first on a select few devices, then ripped and pirated for the masses, then rescinded under DMCA notices, but now MusicID has returned as Shazam and it is now legally available under Windows Marketplace for Mobile (although it hasn't showed up in our listings yet).

For a non-whopping (and oddly priced) $4.69 you can have unlimited music identification on your Windows phone, or use the free version which is limited to 5 IDs a month.  You are also treated to a full 7-day trial.  All of which we think is worth it.

(Anyone else notice their old MusicID doesn't work anymore or is it just us?)

See the official press release.

[via Tech Kritik]

The quest continues. I’ve tested Bluetooth Headphones from Sony, Jabra and a couple from Motorola; all of which have pros and cons. The perfect Bluetooth headphones for me would be comfortable to wear for an extended period of time while having the weight distributed in a way that would allow for activity without having wires running different directions.

Motorola has made a number of successful Bluetooth  headphones. The S9 model and its successor, the S9-HD both insert into the ears with a band that wraps behind the head. The S7 model has a slightly different design with only a wire going behind the head and the earpieces hooking over the ear. Motorola’s S305 are my next target and is something of a cross between the two form factors. Featuring an over-the-ear design combined with the wrap-around style, the S305 combines some of the best features in each of Motorola’s other models.

All the juicy details are after the break.

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Frequent readers of this space will recall that I am on a never-ending quest to acquire the perfect Bluetooth stereo headphones. Several aspiring candidates have come and gone (Motorola’s S9-HD, Jabra’s BT3030, et al); all have left room for improvement, none have completely won me over.

And so the saga continues with another offering from Motorola, the MOTOROKR S7-HD. Not one to be constrained by standard naming conventions (where later models will have progressively higher numbers), the S7-HD is a successor to the S9/S9-HD headphones. While the S9 series is a designed as a single piece that goes behind the head and over each ear, the $69.95 S7-HD’s are of the over-the-ear variety with only a wire connecting the two earpieces.

All of the minutiae regarding the S7-HD headphones are on the other side of the break.

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One of the things that has been promised to us for years, and is finally starting to come true on a viable basis, is the full convergence of phone, media player and internet device. Oddly, the segment that is arguably lagging the most on Windows Mobile is the media playback functionality. The biggest reasons that I can see for this are the anemic amount of on-board storage available on most devices, lack of standard audio ports and the shortage of quality free media playback software. The good news is that all this (and more) appear to be coming in Windows Mobile 7. Until then, workarounds abound for these issues, many of which have been featured on this blog.

For those of you blessed enough to sport an on-board 3.5mm audio port (or have already done a workaround). Check out v-moda’s Bass Freq headphones. Available in a variety of colors for those of you that are not stylistically challenged, v-moda offers functional headphones with some additional niceties that I would expect to find in a higher end (read: more expensive) product.

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The thing that I love about my AT&T Tilt and Windows Mobile in general is how flexible it can be. I can use it as a phone, messaging device (text and email), web browser, GPS or for music and video playback. For the music playback, I’m still trying to fine tune the way that I get the sound from my Tilt to my ears. I’ve used a couple sets of Bluetooth headphones (Sony Ericsson’s HBH-DS970 and Motorola’s MOTOROKR S9-HD) but both have quirks that make me crazy after a few minutes use.

This conundrum has me looking for a new set of wired headphones. First on my list is the Atomic Bass headphones by Radius. I’ve always been a sucker for bass, and traditionally that has been a low point for headphones (pun intended).

Follow the break to see how atomic these headphones are. 

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