Best Consumer Application of CTIA Fall 2008: Slacker for BlackBerry

Who needs an iPod? Seriously, once you load the Slacker application for BlackBerry on your smart phone, you won’t need to carry a separate music player. When this app launches in October, you’ll be able to take thousands of songs with you from stations you either choose or customize–for free. And you can further personalize your stations on the go using the integrated Favorite and Ban buttons via Slacker’s slick user interface. Unlike Pandora, you can also learn more about new artists as they pop up and–if you’re a Premium Radio subscriber ($7.50 per month)–you can save the songs you like right to your device to hear anytime. The best part about the Slacker application for BlackBerry is that you don’t need a good 3G signal to rock out; smart caching technology allows you to sync your stations over USB (Wi-Fi is coming later) and listen to your stations on a cross-country flight.