iHeart Radio app and Radio.com app.....

Apparently the people at Entercom/CBS have just unveiled an updated radio.com app.

Besides each having a different cadre of stations on it's roster...what is the difference between them?

Also, I realize the iHeart app covers all the iHeart stations..but what is the reason/rationale for the radio.com app to exist?

Doesn't it do the same thing that the TuneInn app does?

Are there any benefits/features between the Radio.com & the TuneIn app?

Wimmmex said:

Are there any benefits/features between the Radio.com & the TuneIn app?

Click to expand...

Branding. One is owned by Entercom, the other isn't.

TuneIn has really been pushing its subscription business, and it's own in-house stations. Some companies have asked that TuneIn remove their stations from the app. As of now, I see Entercom stations are still there. At some point, it's possible that more big companies will be gone from TuneIn.

In the case of Entercom, it has had a long-standing partnership with TuneIn. CBS initially pulled its stations from TuneIn only to relent a couple of years later. I seem to remember part of the rationale was that Radio.com either pulled it’s support for or wanted to reach Windows Mobile. Also, CBS concluded being on TuneIn only increased its visibility.

Some companies want exclusivity in branding while others prefer the visibility. Beasley, for example, has its own app called iRadioNow and has deals with iHeart and TuneIn. Townsquare, on the other hand, is exclusive to RadioPup.

Something else to think about is that iHeart and TuneIn have a few technical issues worked out that plague Radio.com and Townsquare. If I plug my phone into my car through the charger port in my garage, Radio.com and RadioPup are gone by the time I'm at the end of my block. The only way to get them back is to unplug my phone, force quit the app, plug it back in, and restart. TuneIn and iHeart will pick up the switch from WiFi to cellular almost seamlessly.

Kent said:

Some companies want exclusivity in branding while others prefer the visibility.

Click to expand...

I think that's the key question radio stations will have to grabble with. Do they want exclusivity or do they want to be everywhere.

Kent said:

Something else to think about is that iHeart and TuneIn have a few technical issues worked out that plague Radio.com and Townsquare.

Click to expand...

On the other hand I've read some complaints that iHeart loads slowly. I had absolutely no problems with TuneIn. But they really are pushing their own streaming channels radio than being simply a portal for OTA stations. They tend to be pretty lax with updating those pages.

Having an iPhone, I have no problem with iHeart, though I have some friends with Android devices who absolutely loathe the app. TuneIn still works pretty well, though one of the problems I griped about a lot with it, the battery draining, seems to be an issue again as toggling the auto locking feature was made a premium function not long ago.

I remember hearing that Townsquare said approximately 80% of listening came through single station apps with RadioPup making up the remaining 20%. Personally, I don’t care for the single station apps because my music tastes are both eclectic and fickle enough that I need tons of apps to meet my music needs. I'm sure, however, that I'm in the minority on that one.

I also remember Jacapps used to charge a flat setup fee plus around $50 for each support issue. That’s pretty economical, though a support issue will almost always come up at least every few months. TuneIn is free to be listed, but they have the right to air a preroll add in front of your stream, which some users find annoying. Plus, if you play a song someone doesn’t like, that person can just hit the “recommended” button and tune to an out of area station that wouldn’t be an option on a single station app. Plus, as you've mentioned, TuneIn is increasingly using local stations to get people to buy into their premium service. However, in an era when nobody's buying new radios, free is a tough price for a small station to beat, even with the irritations of TuneIn.

Most of the former CBS stations I'm aware of still aren't on TuneIn.

I have no problem with the pre-roll ads. Overall, TuneIn does a decent job of making it easy to find content, particularly syndicated shows that don't clear in my market.

umfan said:

Most of the former CBS stations I'm aware of still aren't on TuneIn.

Click to expand...

Unless something’s changed in the last week or you’re outside the US, every one of them is on TuneIn and has been for at least three years. Working at a university, I stream them in my office all-the-time. I'm on Spring Break this week, or I'd probably be streaming one of them right now. The only issue I've noticed is that the pre-merger Entercom stations no longer work on TuneIn's website, though they were still working on the iPhone app. I reached out to someone I know at Entercom, and he indicated they wanted TuneIn to start popping up Radio.com on the website but expected they'd continue being available on the app.

I have no problem with the pre-roll ads. Overall, TuneIn does a decent job of making it easy to find content, particularly syndicated shows that don't clear in my market.

Click to expand...

Personally, I'll deal with one or two of them, but I do get irritated when I tune to a station and find it in the middle of a stopset. I know I'm not the only one who tends to channel surf during commercials. If I've heard a couple of songs and the station goes into a stopset, I’ll usually listen through it, but I generally won’t sit through a stopset when I first tune in. My wife tends to hit the button as soon as she hears a commercial. She relies a lot more on satellite radio and on artist-based channels on iHeartRadio, Pandora, and Spotify, though she’s definitely noticed an uptick in Pandora’s spotload in the last year or so.

I wish the i-Heart stations were on Tune-In. Right now I'm unemployed so I can't upgrade my really cheap LG Android phone that has limited memory and I don't have the space for both Tune-In and i-Heart. Since I listen to more stations on Tune-In than on i-Heart, Tune-In is the app I have. I don't even have that many apps on my phone, but Android makes you have all this crap on your phone whether you use it or not and it takes up a lot of memory.

And my Mom doesn't like me using the built-in i-Heart app on our Smart TV, which is also available on DirecTV.

Kent said:

Most of the former CBS stations I'm aware of still aren't on TuneIn.

Unless something’s changed in the last week or you’re outside the US, every one of them is on TuneIn and has been for at least three years.

Click to expand...

Isn't WINS a (former) CBS station? I went looking for it tonight..and couldn't find it. I ended up listening on Radio.com

I searched it out both on my iPad app and by going to New York City, and every ex-CBS station in NYC came up.

I will say that I have TuneIn Pro (bought it in 2010 when it was only available as a paid app), not the standard TuneIn app. Given how TuneIn can nickel and dime, it’s possible those ex-CBS stations could only be available for pro and premium users.

That may well be it. Since I rarely listen by phone, and can go to the station website to listen, it wouldn't be worth upgrading for me.