So I launch SlingPlayer, and it tells me that there’s an update available.

That is, the OS X version of SlingPlayer tells me that there’s an update available. I click on ‘yes’, I would ‘like to start download now’.

But the download doesn’t start. Instead, I get a web page that asks me to select what I want to download. Shouldn’t SlingPlayer know this, and pass the information along?

Next, it doesn’t know what OS I want this for, either:

Clicking on the ‘SlingPlayer for Mac’ button actually starts the download.

Why? Why on Earth? The effect of pushing the ‘Yes’ button in the application is just to open a certain URL in the default web browser. Why is that URL not the one that’ll start the download? Or at least a page that presents a single button that allows me to download SlingPlayer for OS X, which is the only thing I can possibly download in order to upgrade the current installation. The application doesn’t ask whether I want to download a different SlingPlayer; it doesn’t give me any information about whether my SlingPlayer for Windows or SlingPlayer Mobile (which is itself actually several different applications depending on your device) is out of date; it asks whether I want to upgrade the software I am using now, and then doesn’t bother to send me directly to the appropriate place for that.

This has been this way for several versions, too. Part of the problem is undoubtedly that most people within the Sling Media operation — and certainly the people who actually write and test the software — never upgrade via this path; they’re using beta versions or pre-release golden masters or something, and are not likely to ever be unaware that a new version is available.

It’s a very small thing — two extra clicks — but because fixing it would be a matter of spending ten seconds, once, to change the URL stored in the application, it suggests an inattention to detail that’s apparent elsewhere in the application, too. Like the volume control, for instance:

With the system volume turned up to about 75% and the speakers set to half way — the way I listen to pretty much everything else — this is a comfortable volume in my office:

See that? Notice that none of the volume bar is visible to the left of the slider The application says that this is 6%.

This (30%) is ridiculously loud:

The result is that if you want the TV murmuring in the background, you have to do it by turning down the system volume, which isn’t good if you want other sounds to be audible.