Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review
Public Radio app updated and renamed
The much beloved Public Radio Tuner has been updated, and now sports a new name. Public Radio Player [App Store] is your easy way to get to most of the NPR stations in the country.This new version, which remains free, also allows you to find archived shows, like Car Talk, Speaking of Pets, Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me, Fresh Air, and many others. This allows on-demand service of your favorite Public Radio programs.
You also can get a station's current schedule when you start to stream. Some stations don't support it, but if the metadata is there you'll see it in the app.
A couple of things to note at this point: Since the app has been renamed it may not appear when you check for updates at the App Store. However, when you run the older Public Radio Tuner, it will advise you of the new app and download it, leaving your older app in place. The new app won't have your favorites, so those will have to be added in manually.
There is a search function so you can find what you want by station name, call letters, frequency, city, region or category.
I find the new version a bit sluggish, and this is reflected by many other users comments. It's a bit slow to respond on either Wi-Fi or the 3G network.
Some of the stations appear in the list without their location, so it looks like the database should be cleaned up a bit. The app also has to my eye a rather sickly green color. Not a favorite of mine, and I think many people won't be wild about it. Note: The App Store page shows different, better colors (my view) but you can't get them on the release version.
Finally, I had some problems installing this app. On first run it said 'loading' and spun a gear for more than 10 minutes. I bailed out, re-booted my iPhone and it came up fine. If you see something similar, try re-starting your device and see if it solves it.
I love the new features in this app, but it has some rough edges. Luckily it doesn't write over the original version, so you can retain your favorites. I'd like to see a quick update and bug fix for this app, but as it is, it improves on the original feature set and should make Public Radio fans happy.
Here are some screen shots:
Gallery: Public Radio Player
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Max said 8:38PM on 7-22-2009
I actually had a different experience with the install process. For me, the app did show up as an update to the old version, and did overwrite it. I definitely agree on the sluggish comment, the app is very slow to start and to respond to commands. Hopefully they will release another update soon to fix the speed issues, but otherwise it's a great app.
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Joshua Ochs said 9:26PM on 7-22-2009
I've also had crashes in the new one, and am also not a fan of the new color scheme or interface in general. I especially don't like the way the playback controls are mostly hidden with that strange little black bar, and they don't seem to behave properly when navigating the interface.
As you noted, it's a good thing we can keep the old version, and just use the new one for the podcast support.
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Andrew said 11:49PM on 7-22-2009
It works great! Except when I lose 3G!
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owen35 said 8:18AM on 7-23-2009
I have a 3GS and did not have any previous install. The installation was quick and I didn't have a single problem. The performance is great and I do not notice any sluggishness. The only "problem" I seem to be encountering is that scrolling is pretty slow and not very responsive.
thanks for mentioning the app--looks like a keeper.
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Scott said 10:13AM on 7-23-2009
The features looks like they'd be great, but this app was so slow and wonky I wasn't even patient enough to try them all out. It was *really* slow, like 10 seconds to wait for a response!
I use the Slacker radio app all the time, and it's perfectly responsive and even starts a stream withing 3-5 seconds over EDGE, so it's definitely a programming issue.
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marc said 5:51PM on 7-23-2009
this is the second time it was re-named then. the last update, i had two version of it w/ a slight name difference. think i'll wait on another update.
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