Version 2.0: The Home Stretch

Posted: June 1st, 2009 | Author: Josh from Public Radio Player | Filed under: Version 2.0 | 23 Comments »

Remember back in college pulling all nighters leading up to finals? Lately, that’s been the vibe around the PRX headquarters in Cambridge as the development team works on completing Version 2.0 of the Public Radio Tuner. Sometimes that’s what it takes to get our best work done. The payoff is that we’re closing in on submitting the new version to iTunes for approval and public release in the App Store. The new release will be called the Public Radio Player – and it will take the mobile enjoyment of public radio to the next level. The team, pictured above left to right, consists of Bill Heyman, Giuseppe Taibi, Andrew Kuklewicz, project manager Matt MacDonald, and Eric Sagalyn (not pictured). In addition to adding new features, the team is also addressing your feedback about streaming troubles in the latest version and is working on a fix. We’ll keep you all up to date on when 2.0 is submitted, approved, and ready for download to your iPhone and iPod Touch.

23 Comments on “Version 2.0: The Home Stretch”

  1. 1 Rhonda said at 7:57 am on June 5th, 2009:

    Hurry! The constant drop outs are driving me nuts and they seem to come in the midst of the most interesting interviews!

  2. 2 Jerry B said at 8:46 pm on June 5th, 2009:

    The constant dropping of the stream is beyond annoying! I hope Ver 2.0 solves this!

  3. 3 L Hunt said at 6:41 pm on June 6th, 2009:

    So now 2.0 is here, and I’m having more trouble with the repetative fundraising than I ever had with the stream dropping. Hoping it’s temporary.

  4. 4 Regis said at 11:37 pm on June 6th, 2009:

    Weird problem: if I try to favorite KNHC, it doesn’t favorite it. Instead, the next time I launch the app, some station from Florida’s space coast is favorited instead. Possible station database problem within the app?

  5. 5 Mike said at 10:26 pm on June 8th, 2009:

    Just loaded this app today and have already had several drop-outs with the warning of excessive bandwidth. This seems to be more likely to happen with hd broadcasts. I love the potential of this app though – turning my iPod touch into an Internet radio devoted to public radio.

  6. 6 Rekha from Public Radio Tuner said at 3:29 pm on June 9th, 2009:

    Hi everyone,

    Hang in there – the new version is really great, and we have spent significant time working on the streaming problems.

    If you’d like to get a preview of version 2.0 and help us beta-test it, please join our Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/public-radio-player

    Once you join the Group, you’ll see instructions for getting the preview version in the thread called ‘2.0 BETA 1 is now available’. You can load it to your iPhone or iPod Touch, and email your findings to the Group.

  7. 7 David said at 12:24 pm on June 15th, 2009:

    Having the same problem as regis above. KNHC of Seattle is a favorite, but upon restart of the app it swaps with KHIT of Florida.

  8. 8 rob said at 8:43 pm on June 19th, 2009:

    I downloaded the exchange version and the same crap… Total freeze when you hit the stop button on a station… Can’t you guys get it together BEFORE you tell people about this…. A complete waste if time… Just don’t listen to any of this hype, which actually is the one thing that CAN be heard, even if the radio doesn’t work!

  9. 9 Jonathan D said at 12:35 am on June 24th, 2009:

    Public Radio Tuner is a better name.

  10. 10 Jim f said at 11:33 pm on June 28th, 2009:

    Hi guys well it seems to work ok my only comment would be is to add a sleep timmer !

  11. 11 Greg Robinson said at 3:15 pm on June 30th, 2009:

    This is absolutely one of my favorite iPhone apps. Congratulations and thanks to the development team. I look forward to further improvements and even more stations. However, there are still too many stream interruptions and drops, especially over 3G connections (and forget about using the tuner over Edge networks) and I hope this issue is addressed in a soon-to-be-released update.

  12. 12 Greg Robinson said at 3:17 pm on June 30th, 2009:

    Also, I would like background functionality so we can listen to public radio while we do other things on our iPhones.

  13. 13 Ed said at 8:11 am on July 2nd, 2009:

    I want to listen on the go but I can’t on the e network. Help.

  14. 14 Deepak said at 10:46 am on July 2nd, 2009:

    Great app, kudos to the dev team. Looking forward to version 2! I second the request to background the app. It would be great to listen to NPR while doing other things on the phone.

  15. 15 Mark said at 4:13 pm on July 3rd, 2009:

    I love the NPR APP Public Radio Tuner, but it quits when I need to use other apps and I miss part of the broadcast. It should continue to run unless I am using the phone to make a call or some other app that requires sound

  16. 16 Phoebe J said at 7:39 am on July 7th, 2009:

    We really need this to function in background!

  17. 17 Rekha from Public Radio Tuner said at 8:46 am on July 7th, 2009:

    Deepak, Mark, and Phoebe J:
    Glad you’re enjoying the app. Apple restricts third party apps from running in the background the way iTunes does. We would love to be able to add that functionality, but right now it’s not allowed.

  18. 18 Valerian said at 6:35 pm on July 7th, 2009:

    While i’ve had the occasional love stream drop, my experience with the Edge network – at least in the metro Portland OR area – has been good. I listen on my bicycle, so I’m moving between cell sites – slowly. Maybe others are hitting limitations of their coverage area, and available streams from their NPR station?

    Thanks for an app!

  19. 19 Pat Curry said at 7:09 am on July 9th, 2009:

    Two requests. First: Background! I need to play mindless games or search the web or check out written news APPs while listening to “Tuner.” Second: Phone & voicemail don’t work when I’m tuned into “Tuner.” Not even a record of missed calls. PLEASE fix these two issues.

  20. 20 Pat Curry said at 7:40 am on July 9th, 2009:

    Rehka:
    Just checked out NPR Mobile. I was able to listen to an NPR story while I opened other APPs. (AP for example) — just like listening to iPod! (Perhaps because NPR Mobile sends us to Safari to listen to the story?)
    If “Mobile” can do this, why can’t “Tuner”?
    I do love this APP. I carry my iPhone with me all morning while I perform mindless household tasks.

  21. 21 Public Radio Tuner » Blog Archive » Bit rates and ballyhoo said at 10:19 am on July 9th, 2009:

    [...] been able to improve streaming on the Tuner with each new release (and will do so again with the upcoming version 2.0). But that’s only part of the story. There are many variable that impact mobile streaming: [...]

  22. 22 Anon said at 8:44 pm on July 12th, 2009:

    I wish I could search program schedules through the app. Without having to go to each stations sites. I may miss a program from my favorites and would love to see if it is playing somewhere else so I don’t have to wait until the podcast is available.

  23. 23 KDasari said at 1:17 pm on July 23rd, 2009:

    It would be great to be able to play this app in the background

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