I didn't mince any words when I last reported on the slotRadio. I think it's a silly idea and the wrong path for Sandisk to be heading. Now I have more fuel to add to my fire. The slotRadio was recently reviewed by Chip Chick, who discovered that it doesn't have a play button. I know Sandisk is aiming for a device that's so simple my cat can use, but come on. After inserting one of those slotmusic cards pre-loaded with 1,000 billboard toppers, all you can do is just skip forward or backwards. There's also a switch on the side for powering off and switching to FM radio and dedicated buttons on the ptjer side for volume. I just don't get it. Would a dedicated play button really make the device too complicated for its target audience? Even the Sansa Shaker, which was designed for toddlers, has a freaking Play/Pause button.

Summary:

The Good: Smart player for those who want to deviate away from iTunes and the monotony of just being apart of the same iPod crowd. Travel and exercise friendly. Has an LCD display that shows you the songs playing next or at the moment. 1000 songs are a great value.

The Bad: Don’t like that I can’t see the songs preloaded on the microSD card. You could load duplicate songs if you don’t remember what you have on there that was preloaded. Lack of equalizer options.

Since Sandisk is somehow trying to reinvent the radio, maybe their line of thinking was along these lines: "Well you can't pause FM radio so they shouldn't be able to pause slotRadio either!". Sandisk, in the words of Willy Wonka - "You lose! Good day sir!"

Sandisk slotRadio review by Chip Chick

Update: A known member of the Sandisk forums came by to let us know that the slotRadio does have a Pause/Play function. To access it you do the following: "If you press and hold the Skip Button on the side of the device it will pause. Press again and it resumes playback.". Nice to know Sandisk didn't completely lose it!

Thanks lewislink and SansaFix