IHeartRadio

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Been playing with the IHeartRadio app on android. Its pretty neat.

 

There is a feature "create custom station" where you can type in an artist name, then it will play one song from that artist, then afterwards wander afield "in the same ballpark" occasionally returning to play a tune by the selected artist.

 

I don't like ANY kind of top 40 radio. Can't stand to listen to it. Discovered that if you start from any particular artist and leave the thing alone, it eventually starts playing a top 40 set somewhat related to the starting point. But there are "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" buttons, so if it plays something too far afield or just sucky in general, you can click the thumbs down button and it will promise to try better with its selection.

 

Dunno if the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons really do anything. Perhaps it is placebo. There are old recording studio stories about setting up a big dummy "doesn't suck" knob and giving the big knob to the artist to play with during mix down, so the artist thinks he has control of the process. Maybe the up/down preference buttons are merely dummy "doesn't suck" buttons.

 

I spent a couple of days creating several "custom radio stations" based on artists, then jumping on the up/down buttons every time it tried to turn into top 40 radio. It is frustrating how hard the algorithm keeps trying to go into top 40 mode. But today I turned it on, and it is wandering fairly far afield, but generally selecting songs that don't suck, so maybe it is luck of the draw or maybe it has learned.

 

It also seems possibly to be taking into account the entire universe of "custom radio" set-up. For instance I had trained a funk set based on a starting point of The Meters. But the last couple of days was training a list based on Sea Train, and lo and behold it played a few funk/blues numbers including a Meters piece. It is a pretty far jump to go from Sea Train to Meters if it didn't also take into account the funk set I'd made. The Sea Train set also included classic Quicksilver, Spirit, and such, which makes logical sense. It also played Birdland by Weather Report, which fit my tastes fine, but seems a fair large jump afield from Sea Train.

[2.ooohhh]

"Pandora" and "TuneIn Radio" are worth checking out as well. I find myself bouncing through the 3 of them throughout the workday. I've found that Pandora does particularly well with some genres that the other two don't have enough variety of. 

Edited May 6, 2013 by 2.ooohhh

[daddyo]

I have had a subscription to Pandora for about 3 years now. Don't know what I'd do without it.

[Guest Razz]

Pandora really is great. If you make sure to use the thumbs up/thumbs down feature, the stations get really good.

I never cared for IheartRadio's U/I. I think I'm getting old and less likely to accept change...lol.

[Guest sL1k]

I have a subscription to spotify
I'm really liking it. There have only been a couple off the wall songs I couldn't find. And you can download your playlist.

[Romad7]

Pandora is my primary music source. Wife likes Rhapsody since she can build her own playlists.

[Patton]

I get so frustrated with iheartradio, on overcast days it cuts out every few minutes. Pandora is what I listen to a lot.

[bigwakes]

I use Iheart Radio for streaming talk radio when I can't get the station I want.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Iheart is how I listen to Quinn and Rose in the mornings. I'm beginning to think I am in Pittsburgh more and more.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks for the suggestions re spotify, pandora, tunein radio.

 

Years ago played with Pandora when it was labeled a beta test site, and wasn't impressed, but that was many moons ago.

 

Also in the past looked at Rhapsody when I would get "free sample subscriptions" along with hardware, but for whatever reason didn't rattle my cage at the time.

 

 

Pandora really is great. If you make sure to use the thumbs up/thumbs down feature, the stations get really good.

I never cared for IheartRadio's U/I. I think I'm getting old and less likely to accept change...lol.

 

One noticeable on IHeartRadio's UI is that (at least on the android version) there seems no menu option or button to random-access jump around into different views of the program. Apparently have to use the back button to climb the tree back to the top, to go somewhere else. Which means "there is a way to navigate the program" but not what I'd consider the most convenient or intuitive method.

 

A couple of times it seemed not to want to pop-up a menu including "delete this station" when clicking and holding on the bad station, but the last couple of times it worked as advertised so perhaps that can be blamed on pilot error.

 

I get so frustrated with iheartradio, on overcast days it cuts out every few minutes. Pandora is what I listen to a lot.

 

Is that with a mobile version or a desktop version? Hardwire, wifi, or 3G/4G?

 

I don't get out much and it seems reliable enough wifi on the home network.

 

One issue I noticed using android on sprint network-- Dunno if I have this issue properly diagnosed, and if so, dunno whether the misbehavior is the fault of Sprint, Android OS, or the fault of individual applications. It could potentially be very annoying and I haven't web-searched the issue or done much testing.

 

I don't recall having tested this with the Sirius android application, but noticed the issue a couple of times with IHeartRadio and another radio app dedicated to a single talking head personality. If I'm listening on the home wifi network then put the phone in pocket, get in the truck and drive out. Shortly after getting on the road, as soon as the home wifi drops and the phone switches to 3G/4G, reception goes dead. The app doesn't just automatically switch over to streaming from the cellular digital service.

 

In fact, dunno if ALWAYS, but it seems most reliable to not only stop playback and quit the radio app, but also launch a utility to low-level kill the app process. And then when I re-launch the app, it will happily stream off 3G/4G. Of course in the interests of safety I don't mess with the phone at all while driving, so basically the app is silent dead in the water unless I care enough to pull off the road and restart the app.

 

So when I went out today I tried to fool the radio app into not misbehaving-- Before leaving the house, I stopped, quit, and killed the app, then disabled wifi on the phone (the phone has a convenient dedicated front-screen app for enabling/disabling location, wifi, etc). Then got in the truck, relaunched the app and had it streaming from 3G/4G before backing out the driveway.

 

However, it played fine all the way down dayton blvd then cut out dead as a doorknob the rest of the way to brainerd and back. Am guessing that as soon as the phone dropped the northchatt/redbank tower and acquired possibly a downtown tower, the change in network addresses killed off the streaming, and presumably I'd have had to pull off the road and futz with the phone to get it to start streaming off another tower.

 

Does anyone know whether this is a problem which only affects poorly-programmed streaming apps, or an unfortunate "feature" of the android OS, or a bug in Sprint's network, or possibly "just the way 3G/4G behaves"???

Edited May 6, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[robin48]

Thanks for the suggestions re spotify, pandora, tunein radio.

Years ago played with Pandora when it was labeled a beta test site, and wasn't impressed, but that was many moons ago.

Also in the past looked at Rhapsody when I would get "free sample subscriptions" along with hardware, but for whatever reason didn't rattle my cage at the time.

Pandora really is great. If you make sure to use the thumbs up/thumbs down feature, the stations get really good.


I never cared for IheartRadio's U/I. I think I'm getting old and less likely to accept change...lol.

One noticeable on IHeartRadio's UI is that (at least on the android version) there seems no menu option or button to random-access jump around into different views of the program. Apparently have to use the back button to climb the tree back to the top, to go somewhere else. Which means "there is a way to navigate the program" but not what I'd consider the most convenient or intuitive method.

A couple of times it seemed not to want to pop-up a menu including "delete this station" when clicking and holding on the bad station, but the last couple of times it worked as advertised so perhaps that can be blamed on pilot error.

I get so frustrated with iheartradio, on overcast days it cuts out every few minutes. Pandora is what I listen to a lot.

Is that with a mobile version or a desktop version? Hardwire, wifi, or 3G/4G?

I don't get out much and it seems reliable enough wifi on the home network.

One issue I noticed using android on sprint network-- Dunno if I have this issue properly diagnosed, and if so, dunno whether the misbehavior is the fault of Sprint, Android OS, or the fault of individual applications. It could potentially be very annoying and I haven't web-searched the issue or done much testing.

I don't recall having tested this with the Sirius android application, but noticed the issue a couple of times with IHeartRadio and another radio app dedicated to a single talking head personality. If I'm listening on the home wifi network then put the phone in pocket, get in the truck and drive out. Shortly after getting on the road, as soon as the home wifi drops and the phone switches to 3G/4G, reception goes dead. The app doesn't just automatically switch over to streaming from the cellular digital service.

In fact, dunno if ALWAYS, but it seems most reliable to not only stop playback and quit the radio app, but also launch a utility to low-level kill the app process. And then when I re-launch the app, it will happily stream off 3G/4G. Of course in the interests of safety I don't mess with the phone at all while driving, so basically the app is silent dead in the water unless I care enough to pull off the road and restart the app.

So when I went out today I tried to fool the radio app into not misbehaving-- Before leaving the house, I stopped, quit, and killed the app, then disabled wifi on the phone (the phone has a convenient dedicated front-screen app for enabling/disabling location, wifi, etc). Then got in the truck, relaunched the app and had it streaming from 3G/4G before backing out the driveway.

However, it played fine all the way dayton blvd then cut out dead as a doorknob the rest of the way to brainerd and back. Am guessing that as soon as the phone dropped the northchatt/redbank tower and acquired possibly a downtown tower, the change in network addresses killed off the streaming, and presumably I'd have had to pull off the road and futz with the phone to get it to start streaming off another tower.

Does anyone know whether this is a problem which only affects poorly-programmed streaming apps, or an unfortunate "feature" of the android OS, or a bug in Sprint's network, or possibly "just the way 3G/4G behaves"???

Is your phone rooted? Shouldn't make a difference though. I haven't had that happen on ATT

I am an Oath Keeper. One of the 3%

[Chadastrophic]

Check out Slacker, one of the few, if not only one, that uses DJs to program stations. Really good for free and the subscription adds a lot more cool features.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[mikegideon]

My company owns iHeart. I've never gone there, but hear that it's pretty popular.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Is your phone rooted? Shouldn't make a difference though. I haven't had that happen on ATT

I am an Oath Keeper. One of the 3%

 

Thanks Robin48. Nope, not rooted. Haven't studied the issue in detail and maybe I have it completely misdiagnosed, but at least initially seems somehow related to changing internet connection methods.

[Wiljo05]

Try tuneIn radio. You can even pick your fav morning show. Made my day since Bob &Tom left Nashville air.

[Murgatroy]

I have been using IHeart non stop for the last six months. It has turned me onto A LOT of good music.

[smithra89]

spotify is what i use....radio feature works really well on spotify

[npgunner]

Personally use pandora. My bro uses spotify and Im considering the switch, but to use the mobile version you must be a paying customer. I've got some really good stations on pandora though. I've thumbs up/down so much that now I just get mostly up'd songs on my stations. It does seem to "cross station" some like you mention (will bring in up'd songs from another station in an unrelated station).

With regards to your sprint issue. My phone does the same. Regardless whether I'm in the middle of Nashville or Atlanta. iHeart just doesn't stream well for some reason on mobile data (does fine on wifi or land line at home). It does no good on 3G spots or LTE for me. It'll stream a few minutes and then cut out. I can't tell you how many times the phone has almost joined the road rubbish on I40 because it cuts out during the best parts of talk radio. Ugh. Anyway. I stick to pandora or podcasts for driving, but do like iHeart at home.

[Chadastrophic]

Sprints data network is pretty much the worst out of the carriers.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Personally use pandora. My bro uses spotify and Im considering the switch, but to use the mobile version you must be a paying customer. I've got some really good stations on pandora though. I've thumbs up/down so much that now I just get mostly up'd songs on my stations. It does seem to "cross station" some like you mention (will bring in up'd songs from another station in an unrelated station).

With regards to your sprint issue. My phone does the same. Regardless whether I'm in the middle of Nashville or Atlanta. iHeart just doesn't stream well for some reason on mobile data (does fine on wifi or land line at home). It does no good on 3G spots or LTE for me. It'll stream a few minutes and then cut out. I can't tell you how many times the phone has almost joined the road rubbish on I40 because it cuts out during the best parts of talk radio. Ugh. Anyway. I stick to pandora or podcasts for driving, but do like iHeart at home.

 

Do you think it is just flakiness of 3G/4G IHeartRadio app+servers on sprint, or does your experience jibe with my theory that it MIGHT be dropping when your phone switches towers? I'll test "at home" today on sprint rather than wifi, to see if it streams fine if staying in the same location, same tower. I've streamed another radio app just fine on sprint, sitting in one location, but that radio app dropped when I'd start driving somewhere else.

[npgunner]

I think it's likely Sprint data as I have the problem even sitting in one tower zone. As mentioned above Sprint network isn't known for excellent data speeds. Also, I never had this problem on AT&T service, and I have a friend who uses Verizon. It's really frustrating driving around and being like "hey uh, my phone sucks can we use yours to listen to music?"

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I think it's likely Sprint data as I have the problem even sitting in one tower zone. As mentioned above Sprint network isn't known for excellent data speeds. Also, I never had this problem on AT&T service, and I have a friend who uses Verizon. It's really frustrating driving around and being like "hey uh, my phone sucks can we use yours to listen to music?"

 

Thanks npgunner. So do you think pandora streams better on sprint than IHeartRadio? IOW, that this issue may be at least somewhat app and provider-server dependent?

[npgunner]

I think so. For some reason Pandora will buffer pretty well for me (Sprint iPhone 5) where as a lot of other apps won't (iHeart and YouTube for instance). Everything has been deleted, updated, reinstalled, and even a trip to Sprint store to see why and no answer. It kind of embarrassed the Sprint guy when the phone wouldn't load IN the sprint store.

Needless to say I'm just waiting out the end of my contract now ...

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Thanks, npgunner.

[canadienmike]

 

One issue I noticed using android on sprint network-- Dunno if I have this issue properly diagnosed, and if so, dunno whether the misbehavior is the fault of Sprint, Android OS, or the fault of individual applications. It could potentially be very annoying and I haven't web-searched the issue or done much testing.

 

I don't recall having tested this with the Sirius android application, but noticed the issue a couple of times with IHeartRadio and another radio app dedicated to a single talking head personality. If I'm listening on the home wifi network then put the phone in pocket, get in the truck and drive out. Shortly after getting on the road, as soon as the home wifi drops and the phone switches to 3G/4G, reception goes dead. The app doesn't just automatically switch over to streaming from the cellular digital service.

 

 

 

I'm using an iPhone 5 on Sprint and when the wifi drops and switches to 3G/4G the app does switch with it, it might take a few seconds or so but it does keep playing without me having to do anything on the phone.  The reception has been spotty for me at times.  Some days it will be fine for most of my drive into work but other days it will drop/restart several times.  Usually doesn't drop for a long period of time but it can still be annoying.

 

Try tuneIn radio. You can even pick your fav morning show. Made my day since Bob &Tom left Nashville air.

 

Can I ask what station you use to listen to Bob and Tom?  I use iHeartRadio to listen to them but would like to try tunein.