You no longer have to buy the Slingplayer app with the new Slingbox M2

Sling Media is making some changes to the Slingplay and Slingbox ecosystem, and it starts with the new Slingbox M2. While it is not a new hardware experience, you might consider a new entertainment bundle. From the looks of it, the M2 is the same device as the M1 that was introduced last year. Traditionally the Slingplayer apps cost a pretty penny and have to be bought for each device, if you don’t use the same account. The result is an extra expense to utilize the Slingbox features on your mobile devices, an expense that is put on top of the cost of the hardware.

With the new Slingbox M2, you get the ability to download the Slingplayer app to an unlimited number of devices for free. The M2 is a $50 more expensive than the M1, the Slingbox M2 comes in at $199. The Slingplayer app will still get access to updates made by Sling Media and later this year, there a few updates coming. You can expect to see video quality improvements and improved start-up time.

The only thing to note about the free experiences, would be the application will now be ad-supported. The company has stated that these advertisement spots will be seamlessly integrated and that if you view your content in full screen, you shouldn’t even see them.

Sling Media will also include a live video stop service, which will be available for use right after the purchase of the product. You can think of it as a Skype or video call with a live customer service agent.  The Slingbox M2 will allow you stream your video from your mobile devices to the Chromecast, the Apple TV, the Fire TV, and Roku streaming players.

Overall, this seems like an interesting route for Slingbox to be taking and while the new applications are advertisement supported, I am hoping that it won’t hurt the experience. It will be an interesting trade-off, but it will help to eliminate the cost of the expensive Slingplayer applications. The Slingbox M2 is available now for $199.99 from retailers like Amazon and BestBuy, as well as from www.slingbox.com.