# Slacker Question



## slasher016 (Sep 12, 2017)

So our Model 3s have an upgraded Slacker account. I'm more familiar with Pandora but it seems very similar. Anyways -- I accidentally down arrowed a few songs I was trying to up arrow (shame on me for watching the road.) Is there a way with the Slacker/Tesla relationship to login to the account somewhere and delete those down arrows? I know you can do it with Pandora, and I assume the functionality exists with Slacker. But how do we login or browse our online slacker account that we get automatically through Tesla? Is there a way through the car or through Slacker's site?


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

slasher016 said:


> So our Model 3s have an upgraded Slacker account. I'm more familiar with Pandora but it seems very similar. Anyways -- I accidentally down arrowed a few songs I was trying to up arrow (shame on me for watching the road.) Is there a way with the Slacker/Tesla relationship to login to the account somewhere and delete those down arrows? I know you can do it with Pandora, and I assume the functionality exists with Slacker. But how do we login or browse our online slacker account that we get automatically through Tesla? Is there a way through the car or through Slacker's site?


What if you use the voice command "Play [song] by [artist]" and then when the song comes on change your vote on it?


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## slasher016 (Sep 12, 2017)

SoFlaModel3 said:


> What if you use the voice command "Play [song] by [artist]" and then when the song comes on change your vote on it?


Interesting thought, but it doesn't always seem to actually play the song you request. Oftentimes you get something similar. But if I could force it to do that, that might work.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Slacker has two levels: dislike and ban. It is less likely to play a disliked song. As mentioned you might be able to reverse it. Banning the song or artist will truly never play it again. It's part of why I've loved Slacker for many years now...I can pretend this is a world without awolnation...


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## Star3 (Jun 6, 2018)

JWardell said:


> Slacker has two levels: dislike and ban. It is less likely to play a disliked song. As mentioned you might be able to reverse it. Banning the song or artist will truly never play it again. It's part of why I've loved Slacker for many years now...I can pretend this is a world without awolnation...


Why cant Elon put XM radio in the Model 3, then we wouldn't have these issues.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

ranton said:


> Why cant Elon put XM radio in the Model 3, then we wouldn't have these issues.


I've had XM since before they were merged with Sirius (so something like 15ish years) and in the last year or two I have nearly only used my phone/BT for any audio in my car. So I am more than ready to drop sat radio in favor of streaming + BT.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

ranton said:


> Why cant Elon put XM radio in the Model 3, then we wouldn't have these issues.


As I've already answered when you posted this same question elsewhere:


garsh said:


> For the same reason it doesn't have an 8-track deck, cassette player, or CD player - it's old technology that's no longer in high demand.
> 
> Streaming is the future. For anything else, there's Bluetooth.
> 
> https://www.xm-radio-satellite.com/blog/a-bluetooth-siriusxm-radio-vehicle-dock-is-here/


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## Star3 (Jun 6, 2018)

garsh said:


> As I've already answered when you posted this same question elsewhere:


I disagree with that. XM is used by virtually every other car maker in the world. It is not going away anytime soon. If that was the case, why is it still available in the Model S and X? Yes it would probably cost more to put it in the model 3 but it is a feature a lot of owners would use.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

ranton said:


> I disagree with that. XM is used by virtually every other car maker in the world. It is not going away anytime soon. If that was the case, why is it still available in the Model S and X? Yes it would probably cost more to put it in the model 3 but it is a feature a lot of owners would use.


Sure, "a lot" may use it. But there's a cost involved with adding it (cost of hardware, cost of additional assembly steps required to add that hardware, and cost of writing the software to control it) and the lack of it is not slowing down sales of the Model 3.

Additionally, there are now XM Radio Bluetooth Docking Stations available, so it is at least possible to have your XM radio in the car with the purchase of this accessory.


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## slasher016 (Sep 12, 2017)

I found this thread that has some useful information. I'm going to try to ask Tesla for my creds.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/things-i-learned-about-slacker-streaming.88701/


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

ranton said:


> Why cant Elon put XM radio in the Model 3, then we wouldn't have these issues.


Gross. I've had Sirius since 2002, and finally cancelled just last year after realizing I hated listening to it compared to Slacker. The quality of music choice went down when they merged with XM (At least from the rock/alternative genre perspective), and of course there is no way to train it that you never want to hear certain annoying songs. I have tried every music streaming service out there, and Slacker continues to have the deepest selection of music, with much less repeating. Not to mention the horrible audio quality as Sirius/XM is locked in to compression algorithms from 18 years ago when they deployed the satellites and radios.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

JWardell said:


> The quality of music choice went down when they merged with XM


And on the XM side, 'commercial' radio was brought on and you lost the ability to listen online without an extra membership fee. Pretty much all around that merger sucked for the customers - so much for the FTC looking out for consumers on major mergers.


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## Maevra (Oct 24, 2017)

ranton said:


> Why cant Elon put XM radio in the Model 3, then we wouldn't have these issues.


I've heard that XM radio is affected by the other electrical components in the Tesla and requires more shielding as a result. If that's true, maybe Tesla figured it wasn't worth the hassle and cost to add it.


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

I upgraded to Slacker Premium to avoid the radio format (songs "like" the one I asked for) and have my own playlists. With a Premium subscription if you ask for an artist, it plays just their songs, frequently by order of popularity.

I do miss Spotify (larger song library, easy to add a song to a playlist). With Slacker, I have to edit playlists on my phone or computer. Ugh. Rather just tap a song and have it ask which playlist to add it to.


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## PandaM3 (Apr 23, 2018)

So I added an artist (the Killers) from the slacker DJ menu to my favorites. I didn’t realize that they have different artist spotlights that change weekly.

Anyhow when the artists changed the following week, the artist selection became unavailable. It keeps saying the link is broken. 

Additionally I can’t remove it from my favorites. Everything else I can remove and add, but this station I can’t do anything with.

Am I missing something? Is there a procedure to remove it? I don’t have the premium account.. I have the free account.


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## slasher016 (Sep 12, 2017)

I got a response from Tesla and they said:

Unfortunately we do not provide a login for Model 3 owners as the provided account is only an option available to Model S and Model X owners.

Seems very weird, because the car is very clearly using an account.


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## telero (Aug 3, 2017)

slasher016 said:


> I got a response from Tesla and they said:
> 
> Unfortunately we do not provide a login for Model 3 owners as the provided account is only an option available to Model S and Model X owners.
> 
> Seems very weird, because the car is very clearly using an account.


Is it possible that for the Model 3 they are using a generic account rather than vehicle specific? Seems like they were using vehicle specific in S/X from the thread you referenced as someone mentioned there that they had to get their credentials to login since it wasn't setup initially. But from what I've read (haven't tried) on the Model 3 is that you just press a button that will re-log you in without having to know the username or password if you had changed to another account. Although if it really is generic, I wonder how they'd support the 4 year limitation that is mentioned in the manual? Maybe it uses your VIN number or some other car specific value and a hard coded password?


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

telero said:


> I wonder how they'd support the 4 year limitation that is mentioned in the manual?


there are also 2012 Model Ss out there that came with 4 free years of 3G data (not sure when the switch to LTE happened) that are still getting free data...


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## Jason Bourne (Aug 18, 2017)

I've wondered some things about how Slacker works also:

Does Slacker interpret any difference between me skipping past a song within the first 20 seconds of it playing (indicating that I know/recognize the song and I don't want to hear it right now) and half-way through it (indicating I don't know/recognize the song but I thought I'd give it a try but I don't like it right now)?
Does Slacker interpret any difference between me 'liking' a song within the first 20 seconds of it playing (indicating that I know/recognize the song and I know I like it) and half-way through it (indicating I don't know/recognize the song but I like it now)?


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Jason Bourne said:


> I've wondered some things about how Slacker works also:
> 
> Does Slacker interpret any difference between me skipping past a song within the first 20 seconds of it playing (indicating that I know/recognize the song and I don't want to hear it right now) and half-way through it (indicating I don't know/recognize the song but I thought I'd give it a try but I don't like it right now)?
> Does Slacker interpret any difference between me 'liking' a song within the first 20 seconds of it playing (indicating that I know/recognize the song and I know I like it) and half-way through it (indicating I don't know/recognize the song but I like it now)?


I can't answer this definitively, but in six years of daily Slacker use, in my experience, skips supposedly vote to play a song less in the future. This may be true for the stations with deep libraries (like Alternative Deep Dive), but definitely have no effect with stations with smaller libraries (New Alternative Now, theme stations). I like to imagine they skips may help them determine if music is unpopular enough to move from a New Music channel into a mainstream channel, but who knows. I strongly doubt the time at which you skip a song has any additional effect.
Ban is the only truly effective way to prevent a channel from playing a song ever again.
Slacker also does not really have a like function in the same way Pandora uses the like. It is called favorite.
Favorites are used in two ways...as a list you can access later (like a browser bookmark), and some stations you can advance tune to play more of your favorites in the say way you can tune them to play more or less new and mainstream music. I'm not sure you can access that stuff from anything other than a computer, and again only for certain larger channels.


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## Tchris (Nov 22, 2017)

JWardell said:


> Gross. I've had Sirius since 2002, and finally cancelled just last year after realizing I hated listening to it compared to Slacker. The quality of music choice went down when they merged with XM (At least from the rock/alternative genre perspective), and of course there is no way to train it that you never want to hear certain annoying songs. I have tried every music streaming service out there, and Slacker continues to have the deepest selection of music, with much less repeating. Not to mention the horrible audio quality as Sirius/XM is locked in to compression algorithms from 18 years ago when they deployed the satellites and radios.


XM radio certainly isn't the greatest, but it's selling point for me is reception on road trips. Streaming's downside is you only have music if you have wireless service, which is fine in and around town. On the road you're going to have interrupted service.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Tchris said:


> XM radio certainly isn't the greatest, but it's selling point for me is reception on road trips. Streaming's downside is you only have music if you have wireless service, which is fine in and around town. On the road you're going to have interrupted service.


Most of the streaming services let you cache a few hours of music to the phone app, so they work well in that situation.
But the one thing I miss the most about Sirius is just having music playing immediately when you get in your car without thinking, no fumbling with apps and bluetooth.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

JWardell said:


> Most of the streaming services let you cache a few hours of music to the phone app, so they work well in that situation.
> But the one thing I miss the most about Sirius is just having music playing immediately when you get in your car without thinking, no fumbling with apps and bluetooth.


I can confirm that as soon as my door opens, Apple Music starts via Bluetooth right where it left off!


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## Tchris (Nov 22, 2017)

JWardell said:


> Most of the streaming services let you cache a few hours of music to the phone app, so they work well in that situation.
> But the one thing I miss the most about Sirius is just having music playing immediately when you get in your car without thinking, no fumbling with apps and bluetooth.


I wasn't aware of the cache feature. That certainly would help in remote driving situations.


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## Quicksilver (Dec 29, 2016)

slasher016 said:


> I got a response from Tesla and they said:
> 
> Unfortunately we do not provide a login for Model 3 owners as the provided account is only an option available to Model S and Model X owners.
> 
> Seems very weird, because the car is very clearly using an account.


Was playing around with Streaming, Tune-in, Radio, etc... this evening and although I can click on the Log In button and try to log into my personal Slacker account, it won't let me go to my personal account. I do have a Tune-in Radio account and I logged in with no issues. I got all my favorite channels at the top row which is nice. I don't know why Tesla would restrict Slacker to just their official account while letting us owners log into our Tune-in personal accounts.


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

Quicksilver said:


> Was playing around with Streaming, Tune-in, Radio, etc... this evening and although I can click on the Log In button and try to log into my personal Slacker account, it won't let me go to my personal account. I do have a Tune-in Radio account and I logged in with no issues. I got all my favorite channels at the top row which is nice. I don't know why Tesla would restrict Slacker to just their official account while letting us owners log into our Tune-in personal accounts.


 you can use a personal slacker account if it is their upgraded subscription, just not the standard personal account.


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## MrMatt (Jun 1, 2018)

telero said:


> Is it possible that for the Model 3 they are using a generic account rather than vehicle specific?


If i had my druthers, I'd love a Slacker account PER profile! So me and my wife can have different likes....


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## Dave in Saskatchewan (Aug 12, 2018)

JWardell said:


> Gross. I've had Sirius since 2002, and finally cancelled just last year after realizing I hated listening to it compared to Slacker. The quality of music choice went down when they merged with XM (At least from the rock/alternative genre perspective), and of course there is no way to train it that you never want to hear certain annoying songs. I have tried every music streaming service out there, and Slacker continues to have the deepest selection of music, with much less repeating. Not to mention the horrible audio quality as Sirius/XM is locked in to compression algorithms from 18 years ago when they deployed the satellites and radios.


Thanks for the discussion on Slacker Radio and the Model 3. I upgraded to Slacker Premium in my model 3 about 3 weeks ago. Everything worked for a time as advertised. Playlists and favorites as created on my desktop showed up in the vehicle. 2 days ago the playlists no longer appeared. I tried turning off and on my Slacker account in the vehicle without success and rebooted the system without effect. All that happens is the download circle spins around forever. Everything is the same for Slacker Premium on my desktop and other devices. This is maddening as having playlists in the vehicle were the main reason for upgrading to Slacker Premium. Can anyone suggest a solution?


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

Dave in Saskatchewan said:


> Thanks for the discussion on Slacker Radio and the Model 3. I upgraded to Slacker Premium in my model 3 about 3 weeks ago. Everything worked for a time as advertised. Playlists and favorites as created on my desktop showed up in the vehicle. 2 days ago the playlists no longer appeared. I tried turning off and on my Slacker account in the vehicle without success and rebooted the system without effect. All that happens is the download circle spins around forever. Everything is the same for Slacker Premium on my desktop and other devices. This is maddening as having playlists in the vehicle were the main reason for upgrading to Slacker Premium. Can anyone suggest a solution?


My playlists disappeared too. I'm currently loading an update and hope that fixes it. Otherwise maybe Slacker changed something. I already called it in as a bug.


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

The update failed, and now I can't get Autopilot to work (multiple reboots).
Hmmm.


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## Bill Wolff (Apr 12, 2017)

Star3 said:


> Why cant Elon put XM radio in the Model 3, then we wouldn't have these issues.


Please no Sirius or XM! I had that for the last decade and got so tired of the "DJs" talking too much and commercials for other stations. Just play some music...


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## njkode (Jul 6, 2018)

Just got our model 3 today, a question about slacker radio. Is the account for the car a limited account? I ask because we searched for an artist and could not find it. However, if we try to search on our desktop on the slacker website it finds the artist. 

Do we need to update to premium to have access to the fill library?


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

Tchris said:


> XM radio certainly isn't the greatest, but it's selling point for me is reception on road trips. Streaming's downside is you only have music if you have wireless service, which is fine in and around town. On the road you're going to have interrupted service.


I have a Sirius radio in my F-150. I don't subscribe to the service because when they offer free two-week trials I've learned the reception is not that great. It cuts out all the time when I'm going to my ski cabin. I think the farther North you are, and the more hilly the terrain, the worse the problem is. That said, there is no cell service around my cabin either.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

njkode said:


> Just got our model 3 today, a question about slacker radio. Is the account for the car a limited account? I ask because we searched for an artist and could not find it. However, if we try to search on our desktop on the slacker website it finds the artist.
> 
> Do we need to update to premium to have access to the fill library?


While I can't answer your exact question, I believe the account that comes with the PUP on the Model 3 is a special deal between Tesla and Slacker and doesn't exactly match any of the publically available Slacker account options. That means it's not an unlimited account.

For example, the maximum bitrate of Slacker Premium (or whatever they call their highest subscription) is 256 Kbps but the Tesla Slacker account has a maximum bitrate of 128 Kbps. A Slacker rep told me the Model 3 can handle a maximum bitrate of 160 Kbps but only if the owner was signed into a Slacker Premium account.


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## Kevin W. (Jul 6, 2018)

Hello, Everyone. I spent about 4 hours putting together a playlist on slacker on my computer for an upcoming music festival and then saw that it wasn't coming up in my M3. I emailed Slacker asking about playlists and all they replied back was "
Playlists are not supported for use in Tesla. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

I emailed back and asked if they have any plans to support them or if I should cancel my account. This is SO dumb of them. Playlists are the only way to play full albums, as far as I know. Let me know if anyone finds a work-around. I hope Tesla/Slacker figure this out soon. With so much great technology in the car, it's a shame that something so basic can cause such challenges. Sometimes it's the simple things that kill an otherwise great experience.


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

Kevin W. said:


> Hello, Everyone. I spent about 4 hours putting together a playlist on slacker on my computer for an upcoming music festival and then saw that it wasn't coming up in my M3. I emailed Slacker asking about playlists and all they replied back was "
> Playlists are not supported for use in Tesla. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
> 
> I emailed back and asked if they have any plans to support them or if I should cancel my account. This is SO dumb of them. Playlists are the only way to play full albums, as far as I know. Let me know if anyone finds a work-around. I hope Tesla/Slacker figure this out soon. With so much great technology in the car, it's a shame that something so basic can cause such challenges. Sometimes it's the simple things that kill an otherwise great experience.


If you have the Slacker Premium account, I believe you can download the songs you want for off-line play and put them on a thumb drive (with albums) and insert it in the USB port of the Model 3 for easy access. But I haven't verified this.


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## Dave in Saskatchewan (Aug 12, 2018)

Kevin W. said:


> Hello, Everyone. I spent about 4 hours putting together a playlist on slacker on my computer for an upcoming music festival and then saw that it wasn't coming up in my M3. I emailed Slacker asking about playlists and all they replied back was "
> Playlists are not supported for use in Tesla. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
> 
> I emailed back and asked if they have any plans to support them or if I should cancel my account. This is SO dumb of them. Playlists are the only way to play full albums, as far as I know. Let me know if anyone finds a work-around. I hope Tesla/Slacker figure this out soon. With so much great technology in the car, it's a shame that something so basic can cause such challenges. Sometimes it's the simple things that kill an otherwise great experience.


Hi Kevin: As per previous message - playlists on M3 with Slacker Premium were working then vanished from the monitor. I called this in to the roadside assistance line and was told this was a bug that was introduced with an over the air update and that Tesla was working toward a solution. Nothing has changed. Suggest that everyone in the same position call the roadside assistance line and let them know of the issue. In my mind, Tesla/Slacker should fix this in short order. Slacker came with the vehicle and I then paid for Slacker Premium. This should function on the M3 as it does on all devices.


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## theishu (Mar 21, 2017)

Does anyone know how long the Slacker "M3 premium" account is valid for? I've heard varying reports - some said one year, others say four. I haven't contacted Tesla myself, but I was wondering if anyone else did. Thanks!


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## Hollywood7 (Sep 14, 2017)

theishu said:


> Does anyone know how long the Slacker "M3 premium" account is valid for? I've heard varying reports - some said one year, others say four. I haven't contacted Tesla myself, but I was wondering if anyone else did. Thanks!


If you purchased a Slacker Premium account then it stays active as long as you continue to pay the $9.99 er month.
What came with your car is a Slacker "Plus" account that is good for 1 year, unless you purchased your car before September.


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## theishu (Mar 21, 2017)

Hollywood7 said:


> What came with your car is a Slacker "Plus" account that is good for 1 year, unless you purchased your car before September.


Thanks! I bought in May, so does that mean I have the 'Plus' (model 3) account for 4 years?


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## Hollywood7 (Sep 14, 2017)

theishu said:


> Thanks! I bought in May, so does that mean I have the 'Plus' (model 3) account for 4 years?


It's my understanding that you will have the Plus account for life. New owners get it for 1 year then pay $100 annually.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

I have Slacker Plus. My stations came over when I logged in but my custom Playlists did not show up. If I went to Slacker Premium would the playlist show up? I was able to convert my Spotify and Apple playlists to slacker but now I'm not sure if my model 3 will support it.


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

Madmolecule said:


> I have Slacker Plus. My stations came over when I logged in but my custom Playlists did not show up. If I went to Slacker Premium would the playlist show up? I was able to convert my Spotify and Apple playlists to slacker but now I'm not sure if my model 3 will support it.


Playlists = Premium


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## Jason Krellner (Sep 8, 2018)

Madmolecule said:


> I have Slacker Plus. My stations came over when I logged in but my custom Playlists did not show up. If I went to Slacker Premium would the playlist show up? I was able to convert my Spotify and Apple playlists to slacker but now I'm not sure if my model 3 will support it.


I contacted Slacker because I was disappointed to find out that Custom Stations on Slacker are not supported in the Tesla. I have a station that includes all my favorite artists (well over 200) that I have used in my cars FOR YEARS. What it does is play songs ONLY from my favorite artists, and when they come out with new albums/music, it is AUTOMATICALLY mixed in. I am SO disappointed that Tesla won't allow this functionality in my PERSONAL Slacker account. I feel absolutely ridiculous using BT to stream my Slacker custom station when my car HAS SLACKER BUILT IN.

Slacker said there's nothing they can do unless Tesla decides to support this feature. Unfortunately, I think I am in the minority, as Slacker doesn't seem to be used by many. This is a feature that ONLY Slacker has. On all other streaming services, you have to use their curated stations or playlists. My issue is no one else can predict what I want to hear (my station has a broad array of genres), and I don't like the predictability of playlists (even on shuffle, I find myself getting bored).

Anyone interested in joining forces to get Tesla to allow this functionality?


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