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NPR One

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Re: NPR One

#81

Post by myko »

joekrill wrote: post #48
ruytlm wrote: post #43

This is all well and good, but why does everyone need to have their own damn app? This is the biggest problem with audio apps these days - you get everyone trying to make a similar thing, and because they're all competing they all try and lock each other out of their own products. What would be so much better is a content-agnostic platform, that'll let you play whatever the hell you want - whether it's music, talk ra…

I agree totally. The problem is, I haven't been able to find one single content-agnostic app that does any of this very well. Either it's iPhone only. Or Android only. Or iPhone and Android but no web app. Or it doesn't sync my last listening position, or sometimes even what I've listened to at all. Or any other number of very basic things I'd expect an app like this to have.

> Or iPhone and Android but no web app

Pocket Casts is awesome but there have been times when I really wanted a web version. Lately though I use Chromecast from the app when I'd normally want the PC to play the track.

Re: NPR One

#83

Post by adrusi »

tomphoolery wrote: post #73
ruytlm wrote: post #43

This is all well and good, but why does everyone need to have their own damn app? This is the biggest problem with audio apps these days - you get everyone trying to make a similar thing, and because they're all competing they all try and lock each other out of their own products. What would be so much better is a content-agnostic platform, that'll let you play whatever the hell you want - whether it's music, talk ra…

Sometimes it's helpful. For example, I do listen to a bunch of podcasts and I follow some DJs on Soundcloud. But every once in a while, there's just NOTHING good being posted. So it's good to have a fallback to a radio station of some kind, one that I can just open the app, hit the "big triangle", and just get music immediately. That instant gratification is the real value of the app. I have Rinse.FM's app for this p…

I think what ruytlm meant was why is NPR One not delivered as just an internet radio stream that any Shoutcast client can connect to. There's a good reason of course: Shoutcast's protocol doesn't allow for an kind of user input, which prevents NPR One from implementing any kind of voting system so that it can curate its selection. Such functionality would be useful for traditional internet radio stations. Many stations take feedback about the current song on their main site, take requests, etc. and it would be great if the Shoutcast protocol allowed stations to display some kind of form to provide interactivity.

Re: NPR One

#84

Post by sanketdasgupta »

minivan wrote: post #27

Cool, hopefully it will replace the All Songs Considered audio stream (which is great). Side note: Is it just me, or this "scroll to reveal stuff in steps" is a bit frustrating? It seems to be used more and more often and I am sometimes puzzled by the fact that I'm missing the scrolling step. I try scrolling and get either too far (which shows half an image coming from above) or don't get anywhere (which makes me scr…

+1

Its just not smooth enough.

Re: NPR One

#85

Post by mmanfrin »

I really appreciate NPR. They truly try to embetter their offerings. It's nice that we have a source of news that is not beholden to advertisers or corporate interests (although the number of 'This content was made possible by donations from...' I hear at the end of the larger shows is a bit worrying).

I just wish Says You would release their episodes as a podcast.

Re: NPR One

#86

Post by giarc »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #69

Every corporate/large organization Web site wants me to use their app. I already have an app! It's the Web browser. It already plays video and audio.

Can a mobile browser continue to play audio when your phone is in your pocket? For example, YouTube stops playing when I put my iPhone to sleep.

Re: NPR One

#87

Post by wlesieutre »

adrusi wrote: post #83
tomphoolery wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes it's helpful. For example, I do listen to a bunch of podcasts and I follow some DJs on Soundcloud. But every once in a while, there's just NOTHING good being posted. So it's good to have a fallback to a radio station of some kind, one that I can just open the app, hit the "big triangle", and just get music immediately. That instant gratification is the real value of the app. I have Rinse.FM's app for this p…

I think what ruytlm meant was why is NPR One not delivered as just an internet radio stream that any Shoutcast client can connect to. There's a good reason of course: Shoutcast's protocol doesn't allow for an kind of user input, which prevents NPR One from implementing any kind of voting system so that it can curate its selection. Such functionality would be useful for traditional internet radio stations. Many statio…

Not only that, NPR's shows are available in other ways on standard protocols. I listen to a couple of shows regularly through my phone's built in podcast client.

They're adding a new way to access their media because it does things that the generic clients can't. That doesn't mean the other distribution channels are going away.

Re: NPR One

#89

Post by subpixel »

sehrope wrote: post #59
ruytlm wrote: post #43

This is all well and good, but why does everyone need to have their own damn app? This is the biggest problem with audio apps these days - you get everyone trying to make a similar thing, and because they're all competing they all try and lock each other out of their own products. What would be so much better is a content-agnostic platform, that'll let you play whatever the hell you want - whether it's music, talk ra…

> This is all well and good, but why does everyone need to have their own damn app? I can't comment on this new app yet but I'm a near daily user of the regular NPR app ( which I think is officially called "NPR news" ). It's way better than any generic radio app I've tried. Besides listening to the individual local stations, you can also get the latest news ( the ~4-minute hourly blurb ), can create playlists of enti…

I agree with your sentiment when it comes to e-commerce and print publishing, but for radio, I'm already a big app-consumer.

Why? So I can escape the soul-crushing drudgery of Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion. They're good shows, but they're essentially the same show, repeated thousands of times. And no matter where I am, they seem to be what's on the local NPR station.

So I already have apps (or streams in the Radium app) for the CBC, BBC, Deutsche Welle, etc. If this new NPR app lets me listen without needing to constantly fiddle with my phone and select stories, I'll use it a lot.

Re: NPR One

#90

Post by gress »

javaun wrote: post #63
gress wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The alternative you suggest would be better for a tiny number of highly sophisticated users, and a lot worse for most people. Also, I see no reason both shouldn't exist. Why not make the thing you want?

Both can. Every service that runs under the hood (recommenders, raters, story fetching, login, etc.) is an agnostic API that can be used elsewhere. Some of the auto manufacturers and TV apps were already using a scaled down version, albeit without all the features and services of NPR One

Where are these agnostic APIs?
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