baseball posts

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

MLB updates At Bat 2009 for iPhone, gives live streaming to MLB.TV users

by Mel Martin (RSS feed) on Jul 21st, 2009

If you're a baseball fan you already have it. If not, you're missing a lot, and now MLB has updated At Bat 2009 [App Store link] to include more video streaming for fans who already subscribe to MLB.TV. That means as of today, those subscribers can watch all the remaining games this season (subject to blackout restrictions) on their iPhone or iPod touch.

The app has also been tested for iPhone/touch compatibility with version 3.0 of the Apple software. Regulars users of the app who haven't subscribed to any of the special MLB packages still get one free live streaming video game a day to watch, as well as all the current features of the app, including streaming audio from every MLB game as it is played.

I really like the app; my only complaint is that my favorite team which is supposed to be at the top of the list gets shunted down when other teams are the featured live streaming game. I'm hoping that is fixed in this new version, but it is too early to test it.

At any rate, if you're a big fan of the boys of summer, just check the App Store and update. It's especially good if you subscribe to to MLB.TV or MLB.TV Premium.

Batter up!

Tags: At Bat 2009, baseball, iPhone, iPod touch, MLB, sports, streaming audio, streaming video

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

MLB At Bat 2009 struck out, but now back in the game with bug fixes

by Mel Martin (RSS feed) on Apr 11th, 2009

Baseball fans were quite excited to learn that this years MLB.com At Bat 2009 iPhone app [App Store link], selling for $9.99US, would include game day audio. We reviewed the app in March and it received good notices but there was no audio to test at that time. Since baseball season began, the App Store reviews have been filled with comments from angry users saying there are frequent crashes and the audio keeps dropping out. Many wanted their money back.

The good news is that yesterday the app was updated to version 1.01 and most reviews are now positive. The crashes have been pretty much fixed, and the audio streaming is working very well. There are some scattered complaints about the game day pages being a bit behind, but generally people are now very pleased.

In my tests of the first version, I had lots of crashes, and indeed, the audio streaming was spotty. The new version has been crash-less so far, and the audio has been smooth and starts up quickly. I've listened via WiFi and 3G with no issues -- although if you are trying to use the app from your local ballpark, as Steve points out, you'll be competing with thousands of other fans for scarce 3G bandwidth and you may not be able to use the audio features (or do other things involving the cell connection, like making and receiving calls).

The app itself is a bargain, since getting audio from any game all season long costs $14.99 via MLB on the web. For 5 bucks less you get it on your phone. If you can live without streaming audio you can get MLB.com At Bat 2009 Lite for free. Now, if my hometown team just wouldn't come in last again this year all would be well. I guess the iPhone can't fix that.

Tags: app store, AppStore, audio, baseball, bug fix, BugFix, iPhone, iPod touch, mlb, sports, streaming audio

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

First Look: MLB.com At Bat 2009

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Mar 30th, 2009

Opening Day of the Major League Baseball 2009 season is just around the corner, and MLB.com At Bat 2009 (click opens iTunes) has been released. Beware -- this post contains bad baseball metaphors.

This year's app has all the tools. After you agree to a list of Terms and Conditions as lengthy as a major-league player contract, a list of all of the games currently in progress or scheduled for the day appears. Starting on April 6th, every game will have Gameday enabled, which lets you view stats and a pitch by pitch recap of what's happening. Tapping a player's name brings up a virtual baseball card, complete with career and season stats and a line score for the game in progress.

Also on April 6th, a new feature will touch all the bases -- live Gameday Audio from either the home or visiting team radio announcers streamed to your iPhone. As with last year's At Bat app, you'll be able to pull up video clips of games shortly after key plays occur.

Do you miss plays while buying a beer or standing in line for the men's room? No problem, since the app also has a live box score.

MLB.com At Bat 2009 hits a home run! You can get the entire season (including postseason play) for US$9.99. Note that you'd pay $14.99 for just the Gameday audio on MLB.com. There's also a rookie (lite) version available for free that doesn't include the streaming audio. Check out the gallery below.

Gallery: MLB.com At Bat 2009

Tags: app store, AppStore, baseball, iphone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, mlb, software

Filed under: Odds and ends, Internet Tools, Widget Watch

Widget Watch: MLB Schedule

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on May 14th, 2007

I am not TUAW's resident baseball fan, but since it is peanuts and crackerjack season I thought it only appropriate to feature the MLB Schedule widget. This widget gives you an at a glance look at your favorite team's schedule with a 5 day period. If the game has already played it shows you the score, otherwise you get the start time, the opponent, the location, and who is pitching.

MLB Schedule is a free download (and remember if you like to follow more than one ball club you can run multiple versions of the widget).

Tags: baseball, MLB, widget watch, WidgetWatch

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Video, Internet Tools

MLB.TV Mosaic: baseball nirvana

by Mat Lu (RSS feed) on Apr 2nd, 2007

Today is one of the best days of the year: the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, spring is in the air. It's Opening Day! Major League Baseball has really been on the forefront of delivering content on the web, and this year looks to be the best yet. MLB.TV started testing their stand-alone Mosaic player last year, and it looks like they've updated it significantly for the 2007 season (it just became available for download last night). Mosaic is a very cool application that lets MLB.TV premium subscribers watch six (!) baseball games simultaneously (the above screenshot is rather boring since there were only two games last night). You can then click on any of the game to bring up a larger size window focusing on that game alone (as below). This year MLB.TV is doubling the bit-rate of their streams to 700kbps so I would expect the video quality to improve significantly over the last few years.

The biggest downside to Mosaic is that it's a resource hog. This is unsurprising when you discover that it is in part a Java application that depends on Flip4Mac for the video (all the streams are Windows Media based). In addition, location based blackout restrictions apply to the home markets of teams (based on the billing address of your credit card). Nonetheless, for the big baseball fan (and particular fantasy baseball player) Mosaic is close to nirvana, especially for those of us who no longer live in our favorite team's home market.

The Mosaic player is included with a premium subscription to MLB.TV which is $119.95 per year. They have also have a regular subscription for $89.95 that will allow you to watch one game at a time in a browser window as well as an audio-only Gameday Audio subscription for $14.95.

Oh yeah, Go 'Stros!

Tags: baseball, major league baseball, MajorLeagueBaseball, MLB.TV, Mosaic

Filed under: iPod Family, Odds and ends, Apple

Improve your at bat with an iPod

by Scott McNulty (RSS feed) on Jun 5th, 2006

The Colorado Rockies are using iPods (with video) to help their players improve their batting skills. It seems that one iPod can hold five seasons worth of at bats for a particular player, letting the ball player review his performance at his convenience. The Rockies also plan to equip their talent scouts with iPods containing videos of potential draft picks.

[via iLounge]

Tags: baseball, colorado rockies, ColoradoRockies, ipod video, IpodVideo

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