 RAIN 7/8: RAIN Review: Radium low-profile Shoutcast player for the Mac ·Jul 8, 10:32 AM NET RADIO PLAYER DOES ONE THING AND DOES IT WELLIf you’re a Mac owner, you probably use iTunes to listen to Shoutcast Internet radio streams, but that’s using a large, memory-hungry application for a relatively simple process. Enter Radium, a low-profile application that runs in your menu bar. It does one thing and does it well: play Internet radio.
Most of the application’s functionality is contained in the drop-down menu of the menubar icon. You can search through a large, constantly-updated database of online streams, select favorites for quick and easy access and add your own stream URLs. The application scores extra points for Growl support (providing non-obtrusive notifications for new songs) and Last.fm integration. But really, the point is that Radium stays out of your way, doesn’t slow your Mac down and leaves your Dock uncluttered — perfect for trying to organize a busy workday. The Mac application Radium costs $16 but you can test-drive it free for 30 days. Highly recommended. — MS STUDY: 20% OF SMARTPHONE OWNERS USE DEVICE TO LISTEN TO MUSIC IN CARS According to a new study from J.D. Power and Associates, around 20% of smartphone owners use their devices to listen to music in cars. An additional 40% would like to do so in the future, according to Jennifer Lane’s Audio4Cast. Plus, 77% of smartphone users would be interested in systems that connect cars to the Internet. You can read more here.
Meanwhile, a new Pew study is out about the increasing use of mobile devices to access the Internet. Find coverage of that study at The New York Times here. NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO NOW OFFICIALLY “NPR”National Public Radio has officially changed its name to simply NPR because, as the Washington Post reports, “it’s more than radio these days.” It’s an online news source, music taste-maker and mobile app juggernaut. Read more here.
SAN FRAN CLASSICAL STATION POINTS TO STRONG ONLINE LISTENERSHIPBill Lueth, PD of classical station KDFC in San Francisco, pointed out recently to Tom Taylor that while other classical stations may be struggling, KDFC is going strong — especially online. He says the station attracts 60,000 uniques online “including a good chunk in Silicon Valley where the May Book showed a 1.0 share 25-54 for the kdfc.com stream.” Taylor reports, “That stream has consistently made the San Jose Arbitron PPMs since last September.”
SIRIUS XM GROWS SUBSCRIBER BASE BY 6%Sirius XM subscribers now number 19.5 million, a 6% increase from last year for the satellite radio broadcaster. Sirius XM added 583,249 net subscribers in the second quarter after a net loss of 185,999 last year. As a result, the company has raised its 2010 forecast for subscriber growth by almost 50%. For more, read The Wall Street Journal’s coverage here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
Have you actually done any audio tests on this player. The latest iTunes player for windows has a huge drop at 200hz the sweet spot for Bass with their HE-AAC decoder. Functionality doesn’t mean much if you sound like crap.
— John F Schaab · Jul 8, 03:57 PM · #