TuneIn Radio Pro arrives on the iPad as the most comprehensive and potentially groundbreaking radio app on Apple’s tablet. Sky+ for radio? Yes please.
By Leo Stiles
One thing the Apple App Store isn’t short of is radio station apps but with just about every obscure station out there churning out individual apps, radio listeners might find that their iPad app space is getting a little cluttered. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way because the TuneIn Radio Pro app delivers every possible radio station to your tablet in one excellent package.
Developer Synsion smartly builds the app around the iPad’s location services, as the most requested stations tend to be local and national ones, so within a couple of minutes with the app, we were listening to a variety of home-grown stations ranging from Newstalk to Youghal Community Radio.
The list of stations is pretty comprehensive and chances are that if your favourite radio station is broadcasting online then the TuneIn app will be able to find it.
Tapping any station will deliver a raft of information, such as bit-stream rates, connection quality and depending on the station, a full programme listing for the next 24 hours. This programme information isn’t just a thoughtful addition to the app; it’s essential for delivering the application’s best feature – live recording.
It’s incredibly to difficult to find an exciting picture of this app so take it or leave it
When listening to a stream you can pause it at any time and the app will automatically begin to record the stream. When you resume, the app will pick up the radio show exactly when you left off; even if that happens to be hours later.
Essentially this makes TuneIn the SKY+ of radio apps. You can also use the built-in radio listings to schedule recordings of any show you want and then listen back at your leisure. This is an absolutely essential feature for those stations that don’t offer podcasts on iTunes.
The app doesn’t just restrict you as regards local stations and the developers claim that TuneIn has access to over 40,000 stations worldwide. While we can’t verify this with any degree of certainty, the range of stations on offer is absolutely colossal. The app also makes browsing these stations a bit easier thanks to handy categories such as Talk, Music and Sport. These categories are then divided into sub-categories that group stations into every imaginable genre.
The scheduling feature comes into play here again and allows you to build up your own personal listening schedule, switching streams exactly as you want and ensuring that certain overpaid DJs (we’re not looking at you, Pat Kenny – Ed.) will never pollute your airspace again.
You can even schedule past shows and podcasts as well but only if the station offers such services. Lastly, the whole app runs effortlessly in the background, leaving you free to use your iPad for things like work and stuff.
Here at JOE we are not above paying a few euros for a decent app but TuneIn really is an essential purchase, not only for its incredible feature set but also because it costs just 79c. If you love your radio then there really is no reason not to pick this up.
TuneIn Radio Pro is available on iPad for 79c.
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