Skip to main content

RadioTime – Listen To & Record FM Radio Online


listen to radio onlineI have nothing against Internet radio stations. In fact, I love to listen to radio online, and here at MakeUseOf, writers have covered a multitude of awesome applications you can use to listen to and even broadcast Internet radio stations. Travis reviewed FilterMusic, Sandra covered Screamer, Musicovery and RhythmBox, and Grant covered Pandora. Jason even showed you how to make your own radio station with Shoutcast.
All of these are fantastic apps for Internet radio, but what do you do when you have a bunch of local FM radio stations that you love, and you’re working at a computer where there’s no access to a regular AM/FM radio?
The answer is RadioTime. These days the majority of FM radio stations stream their broadcasts over the Internet. It’s very difficult (if even possible) with most Internet radio players to find your local FM streams amid the huge collection of Irish folk music or FM radio stations from Bangladesh. I’ve nothing against Irish folk music or Bangladesh, but there has to be an easier way to get easy, organized access to FM radio stations when you want to listen to radio online. This is exactly what RadioTime does.

Use Your Browser to Listen to FM Radio Online

The simplicity, yet effectiveness, of this website and application is what attracted me to it immediately. It offers a directory of over 10,000 worldwide FM radio stations to choose from, so I’ll bet the odds are pretty good that they have your local favorite in their directory.
listen to radio online
Once you register (for free) and provide your local area, the system automatically offers links for all of the local stations near you.
listen to radio online
I was pretty psyched to see my favorite local station that I listen to when I drive in to work – 93.1 WMGX! So I clicked on the “Listen” button and fired up the player app while finishing the rest of this article.
online radio listen live
While the browser-based player is great, and you can click on the “Presets” menu option to review your preset stations from any computer in the world with an Internet connection, Radiotime also offers a very cool free app called RedButton that lets you not only listen to your favorite radio stations, but you can also record them! The record option isn’t free, but listening to your favorite stations and managing your favorites is unlimited and free.

Use RedButton To Listen To FM Radio Online

Once you install RedButton you’ll see that the interface is well laid out and easy to use. It provides a simple navigation bar on the left with a large center display and the controls and presets at the top.
online radio listen live
Clicking on the radio guide, I wanted to see if I could listen to the popular paranormal radio show “Coast to Coast AM,” and sure enough, it popped up at the very top of the list with the option to either listen, schedule a recording of the show (yes!), or add the station to your list of presets. This means that it no longer matters whether or not a particular show is available in your area, you can listen to that FM radio station anywhere in the world.
Do you have a friend who’s a DJ at a local radio station in Denver, but you live in New York? Now you can tune in over the Internet and listen in to his show!
online radio listen live
The controls are very simple and easy to use, with the current station name and information at the top and the volume and controls just beneath it.
online free radio
If you like the station that you’ve found, just click and hold the preset button on the upper right of the player and you’ll never have to remember the station again!
online free radio
The coolest part of the app (which is, unfortunately also the feature you have to pay for) is the recording option. When you first install the app, you get 14 days of station recording for free. After that you have to pay to enable the feature. With recording, you can configure your recorded MP3 files to get stored in whatever folder or location that you like.
If you want all of the computers on your home network to have access to the music, I would suggest using something like Sugarsync to do so. If you want to access your recordings over the Internet at locations other than your house, then you can upload the recordings to a network like Maestro, which Tim covered earlier.
online free radio
The one drawback with the system is that even though it organizes and collects all AM and FM radio stations into one spot where you can access them, not all stations stream their broadcasts online. In order to still access all of your favorite local stations through this app, you can purchase a USB radio antenna, hook it up, and then configure it in the RedButton app as shown above. Once you have RedButton set up, you’ll never use another application to listen to the radio online. This software really does have it all.
Do you listen to the radio while you’re online? What are your favorite applications to do so? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How To Hide Text In Microsoft Word 2007, Reveal It & Protect It

Sometimes what we hide is more important than what we reveal. Especially, documents with sensitive information, some things are supposed to be ‘for some eyes only’. Such scenarios are quite common, even for the more un-secretive among us. You want to show someone a letter composed in MS Word, but want to keep some of the content private; or it’s an official letter with some part of it having critical data. As important as these two are, the most common use could involve a normal printing job. Many a time we have to print different versions of a document, one copy for one set of eyes and others for other sets. Rather than creating multiple copies and therefore multiple printing jobs, what if we could just do it from the same document?  That too, without the hassle of repeated cut and paste. We can, with a simple feature in MS Word – it’s just called Hidden and let me show you how to use it to hide text in Microsoft Word 2007. It’s a simple single click process. Open the docum...
1 comment
Read more

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fun Tools to Translate Your Name into Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is an artistic writing style of the Japanese language. Its Chinese origins can be traced back to the twenty-eighth century BCE. Calligraphy found its way into Japanese culture in 600 CE and is known as the karayo tradition. For Westerners, calligraphy is forever fascinating. However, it takes years to learn how to properly draw the signs. Two basic principles must be known to understand Japanese writing: there are different writing styles and different alphabets. Kaisho for example, is a writing style most commonly used in print media. Tensho on the other hand is used in signatures. Other writing styles are Reisho, Gyosho and Sousho. The alphabets include Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Katakana is used for writing foreign words. It can also serve to highlight words, in analogy to capital letters as we know them from the Roman / Latin alphabet (Romaji in Japanese). Each Kanji character has a meaning of its own, while Hiragana or Katakana characters merely repres...
Post a Comment
Read more