Beyond Recording

Today Peter Svensson an AP Technology writer published a short review of three competitive “radio recorder” software products.

Peter appreciated a few of our strengths, but he gave the nod to a competitor called Replay-Radio. He felt RadioTime was more confusing. Congratulations to the good folks at Replay-Radio.

The short review covered recording streaming programs. We’ll argue why our recording is best. But radio is also great live. This post responds to a few points then outlines some our our unique advantages as a consumer service.

Our rich service is not yet simple. Replay-Radio is a simple desktop utility.

We hope readers will judge for themselves. Many switch to RadioTime for a consumer service over a simple utility. Still, we’ve heard the message and will keep making the service smarter and simpler.

The writer found a problem with one of our BBC schedules. We took a bad draw. Because we constantly sample and compare we know our guide is the most accurate available. Even with a better rate, more info means more mistakes. Delivering current and reliable information is our #1 goal.

RadioTime does not offer the Replay-Radio “URL finder” the writer appreciated. But typical users can’t (or don’t want to) grab cryptic streaming URLs that constantly change. Instead, we maintain reliable access so users can avoid the technical details.

Magix extracts song names from MP3 files. Replay-Music does the same. We have no plans to offer this feature. The RadioTime guide is the best for finding music and talented DJs to listen live. But our recording features are not for making a music collection. There are many sources for tracks, legal or otherwise. We avoid this application to prevent economic harm to musicians and to stay clear of ambiguity with DMCA law.

The rest of this entry lists unique competitive features that many consumers find valuable:

Global radio

• 37,000 stations from 140 countries.
• Replay-Radio has a few hundred mostly US/English

Local radio

• All local stations in the US

Big program guide (mentioned, but with an old count)

• 50K daily programs

Daily program guide

• Tracking particular days and often individual topics
• Tagging recordings with a particular topics

Live program schedules

• Smart record pick from broadcast time, streams available, and location

Archived programs

• For example, listen or record last week’s Fresh Air
• Podcasts are downloadable archives

Sports games

• MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA Football & M Basketball

Browse and Search

• Nicely organized and searchable

Recommendations

• Help finding better radio from lots of listener plus real-world information

Favorites

• Easily organize and use radio stations and programs

Popular, featured, and channels

• Features to explore new radio

Reliable recordings

• Dynamic source assignment from daily testing
• Backup sources

1-click recording

• Record Once or All episodes without any hassle

Recording naming

• Automatic tagging from the daily guide

AM/FM tuning and recording (was mentioned)

• Because lots of great radio is not streamed, or is not free
• FM is usually better quality and always more reliable
• Support for dozens of devices including the radioSHARK mentioned

Macintosh (was mentioned)

• Watch as our RadioTime Mac software gets better fast

Multiple recordings (mistake in the article)

• RadioTime supports up to 8 simultaneous recordings of any type
• Magix is only for MP3 streams (WMP & Real are >90% of all radio)

Wake for record (article implied PCs can’t be asleep)

• Both RadioTime and Replay have the feature, ours is more reliable

Background recording

• RadioTime non-invasive quietly capturing only the audio feed

Podcasts

• RadioTime can also download podcast (more coming soon)

Live Listening, Pause, Recording

• The RadioTime player best emulates the rich TiVo experience
• We integrate guide information, live listening, and recording

Web based service (mentioned)

• Nearly the entire service is available from any browser
• Consumers love it, but the design is critical for broad device and service partnerships
• RadioTime can become “the place” for radio information and automatic device setup

Free guide (mentioned)

• The radio time guide and live listening are free
• Our 9 day recording trial is also free and doesn’t have any other restrictions

Great support (mentioned)

• We have advanced support tools
• And, a real person to call: 972-364-9797