I recently got fed up with my XM radio. IMO the Sirius merger killed all my favorite stations, and castrated a few others. Desperate for new music (trying to wean myself away from talk radio), I cast a net looking for good alternatives.

Unfortunately, many of the best options are computer-based. I want portability. And I don't want to rely on my MP3 player, I like to hear new stuff.

Then I found Slacker radio, and got a great deal on one of their portable units on Woot. It's the size of a Blackberry, I can incorporate my preferences, and I don't have to spend hours searching out and loading music and setting up playlists. If they play a song I hate, I can skip it.

I guess I'm not the only convert. Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher to dorks like me) has become a sort of darling of the nerd crowd. He's also quite a good writer. Here's his review of the Slacker portable. It's a good read, even if you're not interested in the technology. http://www.enduserblog.com/2009/02/the-slacker-media-player-nostalgia-th...

He has written two books and has another due out in May of this year.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&un...