Category Archive
Updated Site!
May 29, 2008
You’ll notice a few changes today, please tell us what you like and don’t like.
The project was a team effort -- special thanks to David, Harvey, Meryl, Alexey, Thomas, and JP.
Continue reading "Updated Site!"
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Radio...Time for the iPhone?
April 10, 2008
This week one of RadioTime's favorite partners demonstrated a prototype iPhone app powered by RadioTime. See the video here.
The demo was part of a public technical chat session.
Rogue Amoeba are experts at all things audio and Mac, perfectly positioned to take full advantage of the new iPhone SDK.
Until then, check out their beautiful Radioshift software that integrates RadioTime on the Mac.
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New SqueezeNetwork and SqueezeCenter Features
March 26, 2008
RadioTime improvements from the SqueezeNetwork and SqueezeCenter arrive today.
* Press "play" from the title (no more drilling down to a specific stream).
* "Now playing" displays the station or show name (instead of Play | 64KB).
* Use the search button to find a station or show.
* Automatic backup streams on failure if there are multiple compatible stream s available. Press "Next" to manually jump to an alternate stream.
* Live show time remaining options. When a show broadcast is available from more than one station, you can still navigate to pick a particular station. Now you'll find them sorted in groups of how much time is available.
* On-demand shows. Where an on-demand option is available for a show you'll find navigation options to listen. Not all of these on-demand streams are compatible with the SqueezeBox and they are not being filtered, so you may see "playlist failed to parse" for some.
* Jive displays station and show logos for easier recognition.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
New Year. New Tuner.
January 11, 2008Today's radiotime.com update includes a new radio tuner that is simpler and smarter.
The tuner takes better advantage the RadioTime platform and experience to help listeners. Improvements include:
- Display of the stream quality to help decide if the reliability problems are specific to your computer. Quality is shown as a percentage or a warning using failures reported by other listeners. The reliability information is usually from the past few hours for large stations and the past few days for small ones.
- Displays a clear warning notice if sports games or other programs are not streamed while you are listening. The radiotime.com site shows which programs are not streamed as "Local Only", but that text is easy to miss and users report when games are not streamed.
- Improved wizard for trying another source when you hear a problem and click Not Working.
- More detailed program "now playing" information.
- Broader browser support (sorry but Mac streaming support is awful, try Radioshift)
- Smarter automatic alternate source support for when streams don't work for you.
Please let us know what you like and what you don't, just press "Found a mistake" anytime and let us know what you think.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Local!
October 27, 2007
Press the Local Radio tab for your local radio -- without registering.
Today's radiotime.com update includes automatic location detection to determine your local radio selection and your time zone.
If the location is wrong for you, or you want to save favorites, please take a few seconds to register, it's free.
We'll also be using the location information to warn when streams only work in certain locations.
The update includes smarter tracking of listener behavior, we'll later use this along with location information to help broadcasters better target their ads.
The update fixes the problems listening to on-demand topics and improves genre searches.
As always, please share feedback about anything busted and features you would like to see.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Radio Makes Pegusus News Even Better
October 25, 2007
Pegasus News has done a bang-up job creating a site teaming with wonderful local Dallas content. Today they made it better by adding local radio to the mix with a clever use of RadioTime "badges". Badges pull specific content from one site for another.
You can see the first version on the Pegasus News Metro page, about halfway down on the right column.
We pitched Mike Orren at Pegasus with the idea -- add a list of local radio stations. Mike wanted to organize around local radio programs, not just stations or syndicated national content. Pegasus worked with us on the badge. Then they went further as a partner improving our guide with information about local Dallas radio programs they know personally.
To manage their listings, Pegasus started with a free RadioTime account. They added programs they wanted to a RadioTime favorite folder. Now they can drop a little html to add favorites badges where they like. The free badge handles all the details for which programs are live and picking the right internet radio player for listening.
In the future they can update badges to feature artist interviews and special local radio content.
Check out samples of more RadioTime badges available and share your feedback.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Announcing Radioshift for Mac!
September 25, 2007Radioshift delivers and amazing TiVo for Radio experience to the Mac -- especially created by the Mac software artists at Rouge Amoeba.
The software uses RadioTime guide under many cool features including a integrating staiton and program information, map display, and iTunes integration. You'll find the same content from radiotime.com filtered for what works on a Mac and integrated to use the right players.
Mac users have long been frustrated with RadioTime, it works poorly with Firefox and worse with Safari (we'll be improving site compatibility over the next two months, but we won't be developing a recorder).
The demo is free and the product cost $32 for unlimited use. We heartily recommend buying this great radio software.
Paul and the guys at Rouge Amoeba have been working hard on this for a year now since we agreed to kill our misguided Mac recorder.
You can't share RadioTime favorites or manage the your recordings from radiotime.com, depending on user demand they could add those features later.
If you find bad data in Radioshift, it's our fault -- don't feel bashful about reporting the problems directly. First find the bad station/program, and click "tell us to Fix It". Most changes are live the same day.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Radio Wiki
July 18, 2007Starting today, anyone can “fix” the RadioTime database.
Moderators make changes live quickly. Why wait for moderators? Unlike Wikipedia, bad info can break listening for thousands of people.
We’ll be recruiting new moderators for their expertise, for both volunteer and paid work. If you are interested, send an email to support@radiotime.com
Everyone will see their contributions acknowledged. With this approach we can scale coverage and quality way beyond the capacity of our 15 administrators already are busy updating stations, streams, lineups, programs, topics, logos, networks, and sports coverage.
The new version just shows a peek, Edit links for basic updates to stations, streams, and programs. Behind the scenes we’ve built new content management applications with browser access, sophisticated revision control, and flexible roles and rights. Now we can also let content owners securely manage their own information.
We encourage complaining, and you’ve responded – telling us to “fix it” every few minutes, all day long.
Don’t stop telling us to fix it, but now you can also fix it yourself.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Yellow play button?
June 10, 2007Yellow means warning -- we are not confident it will work.
Yesterday Thomas pushed a new RadioTime.com with big changes under the hood for internet listening.
You'll notice a few yellow play icons. Yellow means we see failures -- but enough success to let you try yourself.
Yellow may mean you need a special station player. These usually work, but we can't automatically monitor the quality and they won't work in most RadioTime powered products.
Listeners press play and expect the program promised -- every time. Our technical friends may appreciate the knarly problem behind the button.
So we can brag a little here -- fancy stuff happens when you press play. There may be over 1000 listening options that:
- work with your computer or device
- work now
- are local
- are reliable
- start quickly
- have good quality
- work with your connection
- are one of your favorites
- have most of the program left
- have a reliable
All in a few milliseconds, and across continuous changes to millions of alternative listening options every few minutes.
As millions listen through RadioTime, the service dynamically rates the experience -- knowing when it is not available, buffering, or stopped. The service knows which content is streamed and which is only broadcast locally.
If an option fails, the player will "try another" automatically. But we depend on you (plus a team of administrators) to tell us if the wrong program is on.
A lot can go wrong, and sometimes does. But with your help along with our explosive listening growth, it keeps getting better.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
RadioTime Squeezebox Updates
February 02, 2007We are hard at work improving our OPML service that powers that Squeezebox. Based on user feedback, we've made the following improvements:
"Not available" favorites display
The most common problem has been listeners confused why some favorites from RadioTime.com are missing from the SB navigation. The reason is we filter them, but now we leave a note to avoid confusion. Outside of Radio Time favorites we just hide them.
All Option for thin categories
Africa has a lot of countries each with a few stations. Now you can browse the entire list, or drill down to a country. Items not under a sub-category are only listed from the All option.
Smarter Titles
Location browsing items are sorted by frequency then name and include the main genre. But when browsing a genre items are sorted by Name and also display the location. Locations are smarter for the context.
Better Headings
Headings now show the current category so navigation is clear.
Station Source
A new layer lets listeners pick a different stream for the station if available from our default. Maybe faster but less reliable. Or an alternate if one is down.
Show Source
Listening to shows, not just stations is a popular feature. By default we pick one that is live, reliable, and local when possible. Now listeners have an option to change to a different station.
Smarter Filtering
We made it better by hiding empty categories, hiding terrestrial repeaters, and better stream filtering.
Better Streams
We've recently finished a major project to dramatically improve the quality of our streams with our quality of service analytics from volume web listening and desktop recording scoring.
Want to try it out? Go to your Slimserver or Squeezenetwork account and add this url: http://dev.radiotime.com/opml/Index.aspx to your podcast browser.
We'll update the live RadioTime feed in a few days for all users.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Coming soon- Add local radio to your web page
December 12, 2006We are hard at work on a drop-in widget to allow anyone to add a local radio search to their website.
Try for yourself:
The widget is especially perfect for locally flavored content and news sites.
Interested in adding to your page? Contact support@radiotime.com.
Self-service coming soon.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Pro Football Comes to RadioTime
December 04, 2006Attention all fantasy football addicts, Bronco fans living in New York, Redskin fans toughing it out in Dallas, and anyone else who loves NFL football...the days of wishing you could keep up with your favorite player or hometown team are over.
RadioTime is now featuring listings of local radio affiliates in over 20 NFL markets. Each of these stations makes its game feeds available to Internet users and NFL fans around the world. That's right - LIVE, local play-by-play radio feeds from your favorite teams and your favorite announcers, heard loud and clear through RadioTime.com and all of our partnering devices.
Skins fans down in Cowboy country, the cure for what ails you has finally arrived!
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, there are differing contractual issues between teams and their affiliates that prohibit certain stations from streaming their broadcasts. And in those cases, you will unfortunately not be able to hear those game feeds through RadioTime.
The good news is that over 20 teams do allow their games to be streamed. That means most every Sunday afternoon, you'll be able to hear at least one feed from each stadium across the country. That's because we've scoured (and continue scouring) our listings for those stations that DO indeed make their feeds available. Every Friday afternoon, look for our "NFL Weekend" channel on the RadioTime homepage, filled to the brim with game match-ups and schedules for that Sunday's contests.
You can help us out, too. If you know of a station that streams its NFL broadcasts and you don't see it in our lists of streaming stations, let us know! We do a pretty darn good job of finding this info ourselves, but we're also keenly aware of the depth of intellect of RadioTime users. So, send us your tips - and your game predictions if you got em' - and happy listening this coming NFL weekend!
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
About Mac Support
November 13, 2006As part of our launch of RadioTime RedButton, we identified a better recording solution for the Mac platform in AudioHijack Pro. We were also able to integrate the RadioGuide schedule information into their software solution and offer a free transition to the new recording product.
We appreciate all the great feedback and response from our Mac user community, and we do continue to support free online listening and membership through radiotime.com.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Sneak Preview of the new RadioRecorder interface!
September 20, 2006
Checkout our new soon-to-be-released version of RadioRecorder! Kudos to Travis' creative genius! Please feel free to leave a comment to tell us what you think.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
RadioTime 2.0 Preview
May 10, 2006RadioTime 2.0 Preview: We’re working day and night on a major refresh of RadioTime.com. A huge chunk of the work will go live June 1st with many iterative improvements quickly following.
Continue reading "RadioTime 2.0 Preview"
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (1) | Permanent Link
Search //Revolution//
April 07, 2006Thanks to a fundamental shift in our core search technology, finding relevant content on RadioTime is dramatically easier, not to mention faster. We’ve achieved this in large part by replacing our SQL-based information retrieval engine with Lucene.NET. Combined with a carefully tuned representation of our catalog and a bit of magic to ensure that better programs and stations, as judged by our users, find their way higher in the rankings, we see vast improvement in the quantity and quality of results. Connecting you to the content you want to hear will never again be the same. Check it out!
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
RadioTime Windows Player v 2.2
December 22, 2005The new RadioTime Player version 2.2 went live today! Grab a copy from http://radiotime.com/pc/rtinstall.exe
Changes include the first podcasting subscription feature. The RadioTime guide has included one-time podcast downloads for thousands of radio programs since the summer. Now, Windows users can manually subscribe to a podcasting feed (from desktop Settings). Soon, you’ll be able to subscribe with a single click from the guide. Later you'll be able to manage podcast feeds just like recordings using the service. The goal is to remove the technical details so getting live broadcasts, archive radio on demand, downloadable files, or podcast subscriptions all work simply and consistently.
Our free podcasting client will work with any feed and any guide. The personalized podcast subscription feed will work with iTunes or any other podcasting client.
Version 2.2 also includes a new installer that is smaller and faster, and (finally) will just update an old version. We (finally) gave up on InstallShield and jumped to the NullSoft installer. For this change you'll need to manually remove the old version, then run the new. Or wait and we'll push out the new features with live update.
Version 2.2 can record in WMA format. The Windows Media format works on most devices and delivers much better quality for the same encoding rate. Especially for spoken programming you may be happy with mono mode at 20k which leaves far smaller recording files. Stay tuned for an AAC recording option which will offer bookmark and other audiobook features, especially useful on the iPod.
Version 2.2 supports an open SDK so you can integrate the RadioTime service and any of the recording or Player features through a powerful COM interface. Contact support@radiotime.com for details.
We've been moving carefully. Unlike other “bloatware” implementations, the entire RadioTime download is a tiny 1.7MB – covering podcast subscriptions, a powerful recorder, player, library, streaming player interface, and AM/FM hardware support.
See other improvements and steady progress on our Windows client through the release notes.
Posted by radiotime in Features , Podcasting | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Beyond Recording
September 29, 2005Today Peter Svensson an AP Technology writer published a short review of three competitive "radio recorder" software products.
Peter appreciated a few of our strengths, but he gave the nod to a competitor called Replay-Radio. He felt RadioTime was more confusing. Congratulations to the good folks at Replay-Radio.
The short review covered recording streaming programs. We'll argue why our recording is best. But radio is also great live. This post responds to a few points then outlines some our our unique advantages as a consumer service.
Continue reading "Beyond Recording"
Posted by radiotime in Features , News , Press | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
RadioTime Gets a Facelift
September 07, 2005You may notice a few changes around here. We've updated the default "RadioTime" skin all around, including the company home page, RadioTime service, and soon the RadioTime Desktop Player.
We've simplified the navigation using a single line at the top instead of the bulky left side nav. This gives us some extra breathing room when displaying large amounts of data, but more importantly, it allows RadioTime to easily be displayed in other players and services.
Individual favorites folders are now displayed on the "Manage Favorites" page. This puts folder access one extra click away, but the tradoff for a cleaner site was well worth it. We've also added incidcators for the "current" and "default" folders, a common feature that users request.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
New Recording Schedule page
August 20, 2005Many users like to scheduling recordings on their home computer from any browser. This and other great features are possible because the recordings schedule is from the RadioTime service. But actual recordings are made on your local computer.
This week we simplified recording housekeeping with a new “Recording Schedule” page that combines the old “Recording Queue” and a summary of “Recording History”. The new page shows current, future, and past recordings at a glance. You can cancel recordings, re-schedule expired recordings, drill down to change options, or stop live recordings in process.
Continue reading "New Recording Schedule page"
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
The Evolution of the RadioTime Desktop Player
August 12, 2005While hard at work coding the next version of the Windows RadioTime Desktop Player, I found myself reminiscing about how far the player has come in a short period of time. The player has had 4 major interface overhauls, not to mention all of feautures we added with each major release.
Here are some screens of the design comps I have lying around, click to enlarge:
Version 1, The Initial Concept
This thing is enormous. One thing I really like about this player is the fixed navigation that is local to the software. This means that the content floats in the center and scrolls when needed. This is a feature that the current player does not yet have, but we are adding soon.
Continue reading "The Evolution of the RadioTime Desktop Player"
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Global Results Filtering
August 04, 2005Tired of seeing radio sources that you don't care about? Good news-we've added a global results filter. Now you can filter results to internet only or am/fm only by clicking the "Change" button in the orange header at the top of your search results.
This feature has been around since day one in one form or another on a per-page basis, but never global. In the beginning, we called it the "show me" filter, then it became a drop down menu with a few combinations, then after that we made it a button that revealed check boxes. Ultimately, this is the best option.
Now when you perform a search, the header will say "I am viewing.." then your filter settings. We are still working on what the right text is for each choice, and how to let users know that they can change it.
Up next we'll take the filter even further. You'll be able to filter by specific sources, like *only* am, or *only* Windows Media.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
Introducing the RadioTime Player!
April 06, 2005The new FREE Windows Player makes RadioTime easier to use by integrating the guide service, tuning and recording.Highlights include live on-screen program information, better recording technology, and support for the popular radioShark AM/FM USB tuner.
Read More »
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RadioTime For Your radioSHARK
March 08, 2005
We're proud to announce that Windows Client version 2.80 and later will support the Griffin radioSHARK for AM/FM listening and recording. Look for the beta version in the next 2 weeks.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link
RadioTime updates sports coverage for 2005
February 07, 2005We've kicked our sports coverage up a notch by including over 1571 unique station covering 527 sports teams in the NCAA, MLB, NFL, and NHL. For the NBA, we've added 7555 games on 236 unique stations.
Posted by radiotime in Features | | Comments (0) | Permanent Link