tunein.com
TuneIn Radio is a major player in the online radio streaming war. Since the launch of Beats 1 radio, the industry has become quite cut-throat with every network wanting a piece of the pie. Among all the major radio networks, TuneIn, with its 75 million active users, has been a deceptively quiet player attracting users without creating any noise. It's surely heading in the right direction using the silent approach - evident in its massive amount of traffic. Users find value through TuneIn Radio platform and actively use TuneIn Radio to listen to live radio from across the globe
Why should you stream on TuneIn Radio?
TuneIn offers a variety of live streaming services and offers a platform to discover new music. Whether you are a music lover, audiophile or just want to pass the time, TuneIn has something for everyone.
There are many reasons why you should stream on TuneIn. First of all, it allows you to listen to what you want to hear by browsing local radio, recommended stations, stations for different languages and podcasts. You can pick from categories and have access to radio stations using your location. Apart from that, there are many reasons which rightfully lure you towards the network: TuneIn offers a variety of live streaming services and offers a platform to discover new music. Whether you are a music lover, audiophile or just want to pass the time, TuneIn has something for everyone.
Massive Content Library
TuneIn Radio provides access to a large number of live radio stations. The number of stations that TuneIn offers has been growing rapidly, and there are now over 100,000 stations available to listen to. You can find a variety of content in TuneIn's radio streams - from local podcasts to internationally acclaimed series. TuneIn satisfies the needs of over 60 million active users each month.
Diversified plans
I recommend the premium plan because it offers more access than the free plan. The premium plan includes live NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL games as well as music without any advertisement.
Easy access to stations
TuneIn Radio is an excellent way to access different channels of podcasts. From here, you can add any of your favorite shows to your favorites, and stream them at any time. There are many ways to find stations you're interested in using the tabs on the main screen or the search bar.
Intuitive website & app
TuneIn Radio has a website that is easy to use and has a unique color scheme and layout.
TuneIn radio has an app that allows users to listen to music without any advertisement. This allows for a more engaging listening experience, without the annoyance of popup or pre-roll advertisements.
Unhindered user experience
TuneIn does an excellent job of generating income without disrupting user experience. It generates income through Google-powered display ads and pre-roll audio ads, as well as through its subscription tier - which although under criticism has a great following.
Design
Overall, the website is very well executed.
The TuneIn Radio website's interface will be appealing to you in every sense. It is intuitive and it clicks with you, making you want to cling on to the website. The light color banners and a minimal theme across the website feel truly premium. Right from the header section to the footer there's a design synergy that keeps it all together. Overall, the website is very well executed.
Header
The header, with seven options on the left and one on the right, has a red background and dark blue text.
Hero Section
The website's Hero Section emphasizes creative text and slider options on the left side of the screen, with banners for various news and sports radio networks on the right. The banners change regularly with new texts thatreflect the content of the website as a whole. For example, when I clicked on the red banner for journalism, it switched to blue for NBA and sports radio networks. Both banners have playful colors and creative text that is interesting and engaging. This website is one of my favorites because of how well it conveys its information.
Body
I absolutely love the category design on this website.
The website's body section is where the creative magic happens. As you scroll down, you'll see a massive search bar at the top of the page as you're scrolling. You'll see a text area with "Listen Now?" CTA followed by Premium CTA. Once you're past that, then comes my favorite section on the website - the intuitive categories. These are so brilliantly done that you really feel like stopping and checking out the design. The work is so minimal yet so effective because of the seamless transition between categories - live sports, music, news, podcasts. I absolutely love the category design on this website.
Inner pages
The inner pages can be accessed by clicking any of the options on the home page. For instance, if you click the sports category, you will be directed to a dedicated sports page. I love how the menus become vertical so you can still access them when needed. Upon visiting the sports page, you will find options such as Home, Premium, Local Radio, Recents, Trending, News, Talk, and Podcasts. On the right, you get viewing categories such as Top Sports Events, Schedule, Weekly Top Sports Podcasts, Top Sports talk stations, Top College Football Podcasts and Top NBA, NFL and MLB podcasts. Isn't that everything you look for in a design?
Content Search
There are many ways to find content on the streaming site TuneIn. One way is to use the search bar. If you don't know what you wish to watch, you can rely on tunein's recommendation. Another way to find content is through using the sort feature which allows you to choose "By Location" and "By Language." Thus, if you want to hear a podcast in a specific language from a specific region, you can choose the location and language to get started.
Content
There are over 100,000 radio stations on this platform. This includes local and international stations. You can browse the network for free with displays and pre-roll ads. However, with a premium account, you can access commentaries from the worldâs top leagues such as MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, EPL, and Bundesliga. In addition to these leagues, there are over 40,000 audiobooks on the network along with 600 commercial-free stations. With nearly 200,000 shows including original podcasts available on this platform, you have quality content available 24/7 in a heartbeat.
Desktop/Mobile experience
I really enjoy browsing this website on my desktop. It's a seamless experience and it allows me to stream the best content with utmost convenience. If streaming on the desktop isn't something you love, you should try it on your mobile phone using the app. The app is as good as the desktop version and can sync pretty well so you can tune in wherever you go.
There is no downside to using apps like these. In fact, they actually improve the user experience by providing exclusive content and functionality not found in other apps. For example, I love that I can add channels to my preset list on the station page. It's very visual and appealing and it means that I don't have to scroll through a long list of options each time I want to watch a certain channel. Furthermore, social sharing is easy with Facebook, Twitter, and Email support.
Finally, I would urge you to try the premium version because it adds DVR-like capabilities to your service. You can actually pause, play, rewind and even record the live radio streams. All your recordings are saved in a particular section so you can access them later.
Plans & Pricing
There are only two plans available on TuneIn Radio- a monthly plan for $9.99/month, or a yearly plan for $99.99/year. With either of these plans, you can get access to exclusive sports content, commercial-free music, and DVR features such as streaming recording, playing, pausing, and rewinding.
Suggestions I have for TuneIn Radio
I wasn't impressed with the streaming quality on the premium stations on TuneIn Radio. The bitrate, 64kbps AAC and 128 kbps MP3, is not something you would accept if you paid $9.99/month. These aren't an acceptable bitrate in today's time and that's evident when high-end distorts a lot when listening via headphones or loudspeakers. Thus, I would like the developers to fix this issue.
Conclusion
apart from a few premium station disappointments, there's no denying TuneIn Radio's truly amazing service. It is one of the best streaming radio apps available in the market. Be it local or national radio, you can trust TuneIn for quality content.