Seems no one wins here

[bobdavcav]

That's the impression I get from reading the reviews on TuneIn and IHeart Radio. On the TuneIn reviews in the app store, you get the average consumer type that probably has not heard of the agreement in place between Cumulus and Clear Channel, and complain that there favorite stations have dissappeared from TuneIn. I did see one that actually made some sense, he said he couldn't listen to WLS because it has dissappeared from TuneIn. He adds that WLS is not a Clear Channel station, so it won't be on IHeart Radio. Hello, have you checked under Chicago on your app? On the other side, people, a lot of times listening to 1310 the Ticket, complain that they can't record, pause, or rewind now that they have to use IHeart Radio. Can anyone win with this situation?

 

[Mike Phillips]

The problem I have with iHeart and other online station-operated services is their ad insertions. They're filling the voids with the same worn out PSAs for drug addicts, and they play them four times per hour. Initially I was excited to hear Fred Winston back on WLS, but the stream is not listenable for more than an hour.

 

[DToTheJ]

In addition, way too many spots for Progressive and that annoying Flo... certainly, no winners in this situation at all!

 

[scanman1]

Flo needs to go! Fortunately, I live in the Chicago MSA so I can listen to WLS-FM on FM (when I use Iheartradio to listen to other stations I like, however, I still gotta put up with Flo and all the other audio doodoo).

 

[Casey]

I don't think anyone wins with the separation of TuneIn and iHeart. It creates a hassle for people to switch between the two apps to hear their favorite stations. The best idea would be to allow streaming on both platforms, but Clear Channel won't play that way. It must be exclusive. Throw in CBS and you have a third app to switch between to hear stations all available on the same radio dial. It actually makes things less convenient for listeners, not more.

TuneIn is a neutral party. I see no reason why stations would want to jump on iHeart, even with the Clear Channel bribes. Banking on a competitors product exclusively for the long term just does not make sense.

 

[Kent]

I don't think anyone wins with the separation of TuneIn and iHeart. It creates a hassle for people to switch between the two apps to hear their favorite stations. The best idea would be to allow streaming on both platforms, but Clear Channel won't play that way. It must be exclusive.

Not entirely true. Clear Channel doesn't require exclusivity. Only Univision and Cumulus (and, of course, the Clear Channel stations) are exclusively available on iHeartRadio. Greater Media, Cox, Emmis, Beasley, Salem and Federated Media are available on multiple platforms. Several of those groups have partnership deals with both TuneIn and iHeartRadio.

TuneIn is a neutral party. I see no reason why stations would want to jump on iHeart, even with the Clear Channel bribes. Banking on a competitors product exclusively for the long term just does not make sense.

I would certainly have some concerns over getting into bed with a competitor, especially one with Clear Channel's reputation. However, I can understand why they're doing it. iHeartRadio is available everywhere, and, if you've ever developed an Android app, you know how tough it is to get your app working on the many different Android systems. Getting a more standard system that works across devices is part of why Google's buying Motorola. Also, your typical app makers are fairly cheap up front, but they charge you everytime there's a "support issue." Depending on the "support issue," it can cost anywhere from a few dollars to as much as the original app. You're also almost guaranteed at least one "support issue" a year. The support costs are much cheaper and more predictable when you're on a platform like iHeartRadio.

TuneIn doesn't do a bad job. I used to gripe about how its app would still deplete my battery if I minimized it and unplugged my headphones or would suddenly start playing a random station in the middle of a phone call if someone called while I was listening to it. However, they've fixed both of those problems. It still doesn't always play nicely with other audio apps, but it's much better than what it used to be. Many of the complaints I have about the actual look and feel of the app are the same ones I have about the other aggregators. However, the flip side with TuneIn is that it's largely community supported. That has its advantages, but it also has its problems.

 

[bobdavcav]

I don't think anyone wins with the separation of TuneIn and iHeart. It creates a hassle for people to switch between the two apps to hear their favorite stations. The best idea would be to allow streaming on both platforms, but Clear Channel won't play that way. It must be exclusive. Throw in CBS and you have a third app to switch between to hear stations all available on the same radio dial. It actually makes things less convenient for listeners, not more.

TuneIn is a neutral party. I see no reason why stations would want to jump on iHeart, even with the Clear Channel bribes. Banking on a competitors product exclusively for the long term just does not make sense.

You forget also about Townsquare, they won't even allow there stations to be listed in the directory on the app. For some reason, I have been having problems with STW streams on that app. Since they are the largest streaming provider in the country, why are there streams listed as only being 75% reliable?

 

[xmusicmatt]

Clear Channel does not demand exclusivity but that all depends on the deal between the broadcaster and clear channel... There a lot of requirements to have an i Heart deal. [Tune In is not as picky].

StreamTheWorld [ Triton Digital ] it's not the streams are not reliable its that Triton stations want to sandbox you in a specific interface [if you notice any group streaming via them have a custom player with banner ads, flash video ads etc.]... These are how these clusters are trying to recoup money from the cost to stream online.. [There are backdoors out there known for STW though unlike the Clear Channel Token system they use with Akamai that pretty much locks you into the iHeart Web Site or Mobile player]. This makes it more a challenge for folks like Tune In to have "working" stream links.. a lot of the links on Tune In are "guesses" or "submissions" by listeners.

 

[bobdavcav]

Clear Channel does not demand exclusivity but that all depends on the deal between the broadcaster and clear channel... There a lot of requirements to have an i Heart deal. [Tune In is not as picky].

StreamTheWorld [ Triton Digital ] it's not the streams are not reliable its that Triton stations want to sandbox you in a specific interface [if you notice any group streaming via them have a custom player with banner ads, flash video ads etc.]... These are how these clusters are trying to recoup money from the cost to stream online.. [There are backdoors out there known for STW though unlike the Clear Channel Token system they use with Akamai that pretty much locks you into the iHeart Web Site or Mobile player]. This makes it more a challenge for folks like Tune In to have "working" stream links.. a lot of the links on Tune In are "guesses" or "submissions" by listeners.

Yes, I have updated a stream link, though it was not for an STW station. Most of the time, they are right on. However, the reliability of the streams is not up with the ones of Liquidcompass or Abacast or Crystal Media Networks. Despite this, I would go with STW if I were setting up a stream, because the links are easy to find. I always use the STW basic player for Townsquare Media because I don't like the player they have, and I always use the Citadel player for those stations because up until recently when my screen reader isn't reading flash anymore, I liked to look at the last played list, and I would have one similar to that. Plus, the audio quality is better than the basic STW player. CBS seems to put the AAC on the basic player, and I'm thinking of starting to just use that since they change radio.com so often. I would use Abacast as they are a northwest-based company, but I don't like the stream links they provide. They are something like this, v5.player.abacast.com/mediaplayer?uid=4855. The callsign is nowhere in that link at all. Makes it kind of annoying when you are trying to find a stream that you are not sure exists, but you haven't been able to find. So you say just go to the website, but the company in question makes the listen live link nearly impossible to find using a screen reader. Plus, they don't seem to have a universal mp3 link. I haven't looked at Crystal Media Networks much, but I think they are the same. In my experience with Liquidcompass, I was only able to get 3 of the mp3 streams there to work, even though the other 4 stations that use Liquidcompass have mp3 streams. What would you do if you were setting up a stream for an fm station?

 

[spunker88]

The problem I have with iHeart and other online station-operated services is their ad insertions. They're filling the voids with the same worn out PSAs for drug addicts, and they play them four times per hour. Initially I was excited to hear Fred Winston back on WLS, but the stream is not listenable for more than an hour.

I agree, its part of the reason I don't stream many US stations is because of those annoying online stream commercials. I imagine most of the online listening for a station is by locals inside a building with bad reception or traveling outside the station's area which makes me wonder why you wouldn't want to run local advertising on the stream. Canadian stations run local ads on their streams and I find it much more bearable.

 

[bobdavcav]

Some stations do, especially in smaller markets.

 

[Casey]

The problem I have with iHeart and other online station-operated services is their ad insertions. They're filling the voids with the same worn out PSAs for drug addicts, and they play them four times per hour. Initially I was excited to hear Fred Winston back on WLS, but the stream is not listenable for more than an hour.

I agree, its part of the reason I don't stream many US stations is because of those annoying online stream commercials. I imagine most of the online listening for a station is by locals inside a building with bad reception or traveling outside the station's area which makes me wonder why you wouldn't want to run local advertising on the stream. Canadian stations run local ads on their streams and I find it much more bearable.

Saga decided to ditch online-only ads. Apparently the reason they did separate ads in the first place was due to AFTRA.

http://www.kurthanson.com/news/saga-no-longer-sees-need-cover-air-ads-when-streaming

 

[JohnnyElectron]

the iHeart programming on the Grace Internet Radio is flaky. I go to Chicago, it gives me only one station to choose from, but when I do a regular search by genre, oldies, WLS-FM is there only...hmmm