If the name LiveOne is unfamiliar, that’s because it’s only a few years old, and it’s better known for the streaming service contained within the app: Slacker Radio. Slacker has long been praised for the excellent curation of its playlists and channels/stations, but what makes the app and service jump out for this list, in particular, is that it’s been at the forefront of offline listening options for over 15 years.
In 2008, Slacker released the Slacker Portable, a purpose-built portable device that synced Slacker stations over Wi-Fi for offline listening, even for free users. It was a brilliant idea, and at close-out prices, it eventually found its audience. However, it wasn’t marketed well, and because it came out shortly after the release of the iPhone and shortly before the launch of the App Store, its timing was terrible.
Having said that, this experience gives Slacker a much longer track record in offline listening than its competitors. It’s not free like it was when there was a dedicated Slacker device, instead being part of the service’s top plan, which costs $9.99 per month. That’s arguably a bit steep if you’re already subscribing to another music service and just want Slacker’s office benefits, particularly since Slacker doesn’t offer features that might make it a fully viable alternative, like lossless encoding.
But when it comes to a relatively seamless experience that bears little difference to listening to Slacker’s content online, and if, in particular, you like the depth of recommendations from human-selected playlists across all genres, Slacker/LiveOne is pretty hard to beat.
