Well, Slacker certainly got our attention with this one: the popular streaming Internet radio service has announced that it is covering the up-front cost of BlackBerry Curves--essentially, making them free--for all four major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile).

AT&T subscribers will get a BlackBerry Curve 8310, T-Mobile subscribers get the Wi-Fi-enabled Curve 8320, and Verizon and Sprint fans get the CDMA-based, 3G-capable Curve 8330.

What's the catch? There isn't any, aside from the usual two-year contract shenanigans. If you were to buy these handsets on your own, they'd all be pretty cheap -- averaging $49 up front -- but free is better than $49 by a wide margin. To get started, head to www.slacker.com/freephone. Oh, and to be nice in turn, I'd say give the free Slacker for BlackBerry a whirl, since I imagine that's the point of the giveaway. (It's good, too.)