New Update & New iTunes Store Location

Posted: April 20th, 2009 | Author: Josh from Public Radio Player | Filed under: Uncategorized | 19 Comments »

Update: The new Public Radio Tuner is available in the PRX iTunes store!

Good news! We have submitted the connection performance update and it will show up in the iTunes App Store as soon as Apple approves it. Testing took a couple weeks longer than planned, so we want to thank you for your patience. This update will bring some real improvements to the way the Tuner handles stream connections. In beta testing of the updated Tuner, we’ve been able to hold a stream as we transitioned from Edge to 3G to WiFi connections without missing a beat.

Also, with this update, we are moving locations in the iTunes App Store. The Tuner will move from the American Public Media store to the Public Radio Exchange store. This will allow the PRX-based development team to more efficiently manage the app, and streamline the process for future updates to the Public Radio Tuner.

The new app location means we won’t be able to automatically “push” an update to current users. Instead, you will need to download what’s effectively a new app in a new store. We have worked to make this small extra step as easy as possible. Here’s how it will work: 

  1. If you currently have the Public Radio Tuner on your iPhone, you will receive the standard notice to update to the app. 
  2. Once updated, your current Tuner will direct you to download the new version and provide a link to the PRX iTunes Store
  3. Once there, you just download the updated Public Radio Tuner and get your stream on. All done!

The desktop icon of the “old” Tuner on your iPhone will be grayed out, so you won’t get the two versions mixed up. Next time you’re in iTunes doing housekeeping on your iPhone, you can toss the old version.

The “old” version of the Tuner will continue to function just fine, but it will no longer be supported and will not receive any further updates. So be sure to make the switch over to the new Public Radio Tuner. You’ll enjoy the improved performance, and we’ve got big plans for future updates.

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19 Comments on “New Update & New iTunes Store Location”

  1. Cris said at 12:35 am on May 13th, 2009:

    1.1.1 was much better. It hardly ever dropped for me. 1.1.2 and 1.2 really bum me out. This app was one of my favorites, but this is painful. I agree – practically unusable. I would revert back to 1.1.1 if I could. you should put 1.1.1 back up.

    KQED and KALW do not work well at all now.
    :(

  2. J niss said at 12:25 am on May 12th, 2009:

    Whhops I mean 1.1.2 is fine. Upgrade after that ran down battery. Please don’t overengineer this app either. It’s nice in its simplicity & reminds me of my old transister radio but with an amazing range!!!

  3. J niss said at 12:20 am on May 12th, 2009:

    I LOVE!!! Prt & listen to it on my iphone over wireless. But the new version totally ran down my battery even tho it was plugged in. I had been listening to it for quite a while though. That never happens on prt 1.2 so I trashed the upgrade. FYI

  4. Daniel from Brazil said at 7:04 pm on May 10th, 2009:

    I am having the same problem here in Brazil. Not only does the 1.2 version does not work, but it seems like the update has also altered the 1.1.2 version, which also drops more than before. The 1.2 version also seems to stop looking for a reconnection after a short time. Is this true? If so, what is the point of this feature? HELP!!!

  5. Wayne Sharpe said at 3:28 pm on May 8th, 2009:

    Noticed that when you download the latest version of the PRT it leaves the old one. It does give an message that there is a newer version but looks the same at first glance.

  6. jon said at 7:36 am on May 6th, 2009:

    My Pbs channel KANU Kansas keeps defaulting to the same stations hi def/BBC channel. Can’t bookmark, always defaults. Frustrating but not life changing. Can yu fix? Great job otherwise. Love this program!

  7. Josh from Public Radio Tuner said at 8:43 am on May 5th, 2009:

    Also – the update to the current Tuner went live yesterday, and you should now have a notice to update. Drop us a line if you have any trouble getting set up with the new version.

  8. Josh from Public Radio Tuner said at 8:33 am on May 5th, 2009:

    Sorry about the continued trouble, folks. If you are having connection issues, please specify which stations are dropping out so we can do some testing. Thanks to Sarah Laureen & Tom for passing along your info.

  9. Sarah said at 11:22 pm on May 4th, 2009:

    I’m in Oakland and have the same trouble as Tom with KQED. It won’t connect for more than a second or two. Bummer. I might try to see if I can download the older PRT again, KQED came in great on it and the stream lasted a long time!

  10. Laureen said at 11:41 am on May 4th, 2009:

    I was excited about the update but unfortunately I am also experiencing more frequent drops with Version 1.2. I listen to KCRW and after listening for a few minutes it will shut down, saying the audio stream bandwidth is too great for the network. That never happened with the old version. Help?

  11. Tom said at 11:17 am on May 3rd, 2009:

    I have variable results depending on what station that I am listening to. My local station KQED here in San Francisco seems to be the worst. Often it won’t connect for more than a second or two. I don’t even try anymore.

    The Hawaii station is great it always connects and never drops. There is also a station in Seattle that connects with almost no drops. The problem may be more in the station feeds than the app.

  12. Marc said at 9:12 pm on April 30th, 2009:

    The auto reconnect feature makes this version of PRT workable. Stream still drops every few minutes for me, but it auto restarts a couple seconds later. Thanks to the dev team.

  13. jon said at 10:25 am on April 30th, 2009:

    Never got an update notice. My wish for a new version is to be able to keep listening to PRT while using other apps on my iPhone.

  14. Michele said at 10:35 pm on April 28th, 2009:

    I have the app installed but have not received the standard notification to update. Has it been working as described above for others?

  15. Bob said at 10:45 am on April 28th, 2009:

    Rekha,
    Thanks for posting reply and passing it on to your engineers. Please feel free to have them contact me. I tried the app earlier ths morning and still have same problem.
    THANKS AGAIN!!!!

  16. Rekha from Public Radio Tuner said at 10:37 am on April 28th, 2009:

    Bob,
    Thank you for the detail – sorry you’re having problems. I’ve passed this along to our engineers and they’ll look into it.

  17. Bob Welch said at 10:13 pm on April 27th, 2009:

    See previous post. While listening to. WMOT it restarted audio / music at 9:48 pm, 9:50 pm, &
    9:51 pm. Switched to Jazz24 restarted audio it happened at 9:53 pm (2 times), 9:54 pm, & 9:55 pm. Switched to WBGO it happened at 9:56 pm and 9:57 – 3 times it did not go pass the intro / pledge request!!!! I have DSL service from Centurytel and live in Jacksonville, AR. When I listen to the above stations on my laptop using wifi I have no problem.

  18. Bob Welch said at 9:39 pm on April 27th, 2009:

    I have an Ipod Touch. Version 1.2 drops audio stream in less than 1 minute. The screen states playing, then in less than a minute lost stream, restarting. I had better luck with older versions…sometimes the audio stream would last 15 – 30 minutes. Any help would be appericated. Contact me if you need more information.

  19. iApps: ‘Public Radio Tuner’ streams NPR-type stations from around the country to your iDevice : Boilr said at 11:16 am on April 20th, 2009:

    [...] to over 200 public radio stations from across the country. Not to mention, the latest version (pending approval) will apparently be able to maintain a stream as users switch between networks, i.e. EDGE > 3G > [...]