radio.net
Radio.net is a successful project that was created by a team to provide better radio streaming services to the world. Radio.net offers a unique take on radio streaming by making it essential part of our daily lives. The dedicated team at Radio.net caters to not only national but international audiences by providing them with access to their favorite stations.
What is Radio.net?
Radio.net is a multichannel radio site that has over 30,000 stations.Users access over 30,000 stations and podcasts through the website, which is heard by over 31 million visitors per month. It is one of the 20 most popular streaming radio websites in the world, thanks to its app downloads.
History
Radio.net is a website and network that was started in 2007, originally under the name radio.de GmbH. Since its launch, it has allowed users to browse through its website and listen to their favorite stations from all over the world. In just 3 years, the channel added 3000 additional stations which brought the tally up to 4000. 10 years after its launch, Radio.net now has over 30,000 stations available for users to listen to!
After 4000+ stations joined the network, the network introduced their own premium service called Prime which allowed listeners to stream ad-free. This affordable way of using the app and getting Chromecast support appealed to a growing number of users. The network is trying to make radio.net more compatible and accessible for users in order to increase its popularity.
Why should you stream on Radio.net?
Radio.net has over 600,000 podcasts which you can access from the website. The content isn't just restricted to local German stations - it offers international coverage of leading stations such as Magic Radio, KCRW Music, and Hot 108 Jamz. If you don't have something specific in mind, you can rely on quality recommendations from Radio.net's editorial staff.
User-intuitive website
There is no need to search for the station's name as it is listed in the main menu at the top of the page.
The website's interface is very clean and clearly laid out with categories and an intuitive search function. This makes finding your favorite station a breeze - there is no need to search through each category or scroll through a long list of stations. The main menu at the top of the page lists all of the stations in one place, making it easy to find whatever you're looking for.
Personalized Experience
With the effective use of machine learning in streaming apps, we've seen how the app learns about our taste and preferences. Similar is the case with radio.net which allows us to save our favorites, allows us to listen to selected radio broadcasts again, and offers clear search options so we can find related stations and songs that we like.
Great Podcast functions
If you're someone who likes to explore different types of podcasts and find something new every time, Radio.net has everything you need. There's a wide variety of different shows to choose from, and the features that make it stand out are the skipping of breaks and episodes, as well as the ability to subscribe. All of this is synced so you can stay up-to-date with your favorite shows without having to remember multiple account passwords or URLs.
Offline Viewing
While many radio streaming sites have yet to expand their service enough to provide this feature, Radio.net truly stands out as a provider of podcasts. You can search for podcasts and choose whether you would like to download episodes. Once downloaded, you can listen to these podcasts offline. I often find myself downloading Crime Junkie and listening to it in my spare time.
How to access Radio.net?
You can access Radio.net in a variety of ways. You can use the website browser to visit the website, or you can download a dedicated app to make use of the premium features. One of my favorite aspects about this service is that you don't need to go premium to enjoy most of the content and podcast features.
Design
Radio.net has a sleek design that makes it look high-quality right from the start. The dark grey background with white text and green accents gives it a luxurious feel. The developers have maintained a consistent color scheme throughout the website and thus everything flows well together.
Header
When you visit radio.net, the first thing that catches your eye is the beautiful homepage banner and header section. Instead of left-right placement, radio.net has everything in the center, which makes it more user-friendly. There are nine key options - Home, About Us, Broadcasters, Advertising, Press, Jobs, Blog, Contact and Language. Each option has a dedicated inner page to provide detail about the subject matter.
Hero Section
The text is lengthy, but concise. It goes into depth about the site?s services, how they can help your business, and what the membership opportunities are. There is also a large social media section with links to all of the major social media platforms so that you can continue promoting your brand on an even wider scale.
The headline of the hero section of radio.net is ?Welcome to Radio.net.? The text under this headline goes into more detail about what radio.net has to offer its members. This section includes a description of the services offered by radio.net as well as information about how these services can be used to help businesses grow. Additionally, there is a section dedicated to social media which includes links to all of the major social media platforms. This makes it easy for members to keep up with their branding and marketing goals on a wider scale
Body
On the left side of the radio.net website, there are banners highlighting the web and in-app services. The banner relating to the browser is on the left, and the banner for app support suggests that the app is available on App Store, Google Play Store, Windows Store and even on Blackberry.
As you scroll further on radio.net, you'll find current events that haven't been updated since September 2019. Two illustrations are presented: 1. Your station on the radio network and 2. Advertising on the radio network. This is for stations who want to get their station on the network or for advertisers who want to spread brand awareness through the radio network.
Inner pages
Each of the Category Pages on the website has dark grey, white, and green colors with options such as Top Stations, Near You, Genres, News, Comedy, Culture, and More Topics. If you click on any of these titles, you?ll be given content in a similar format. As you go over each category page, you?ll find ten square thumbnails with their channel names.
For example, I clicked on the top stations and found Hot 107.9, WTOP 103.5 Top News, and ESPN Radio among many other options. The format is similar for all the other categories except More Topics. If you hover on that option, you'll find different niches such as Sports, DJ, Politics, Science, Society, Knowledge, Religion, Economy, Language, Interview, Region, People Music, and Children.
Footer
The footer section of Radio.net has five different menus - Company, Legal, Service, apps and social. Under the company, you can learn about the brand, press releases, blogs, advertising opportunities, and broadcasting opportunities. Under Legal there is a standard terms of use, Privacy Policy and Legal notice option. Under service are Contact, Apps, FAQ option and under apps it has iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry. Lastly under social there are six social media networks - Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube and Zing.
Content
I've been listening to a lot of podcasts recently and I really enjoy the massive content library offered by radio.net. Apart from podcasts, I like their collection of sports radio stations, smooth jazz and classic rock stations. I just mentioned three buckets, but can you believe there are nearly 30,000 stations from which you can choose? After a couple of weeks, I saw my homepage adapting to my taste and thus usually all my favorite podcasts and stations would be present on the homepage itself.
Desktop/Mobile experience
I have a premium version of Radio.net on my iPhone XR and I have to say that it's one of the most amazing apps on my phone. Its airplay feature allows me to use this app on external speakers. If you're an Android user, you can make use of the Chromecast and thus stream best podcasts on your smart home devices without any hassle.
Another key feature I like on this app is the offline feature, which allows you to play music even when you're not connected to the internet. The sleep timer allows you to set a time limit after which the music will stop playing automatically. You can use the same tool to set up an alarm to wake you up in the morning.
Plans & Pricing
Radio.net is free to use, but if you want to upgrade, you can download the app for $6.99 which will allow you to stream ad-free.
Suggestions I have for Radio.net
Sometimes updates cause discrepancies when playing favorite channels. For instance, I was listening to WHTZ z100 radio channel, and it kept crashing after every five seconds. Though the issue was resolved later, I would like the developers to look into the issue.
Conclusion
Every Radio.net user is able to access a variety of channels that cover different genres of music. There are channels for rock, pop, hip hop, classical, blues, alternative rock, jazz, electro and house which are all easily accessible through the website and through the app.