Roger Fingas
Radio and podcast service TuneIn on Tuesday launched a new subscription tier, TuneIn Premium, adding things like audiobooks, live sports, and ad-free stations for a monthly fee. [updated]
Premium listeners currently have access to some 40,000 audiobooks. Live play-by-play commentary is limited to Major League Baseball and Barclays Premier League soccer, the latter of which is also limited to the U.S. and Canada. Sports coverage does however include every game, and team-specific stations with content like coaches' shows and analysis.
Another perk is access to a set of language-learning courses.
The service finally strips out most advertising, removing banner ads and offering 600 commercial-free stations. Unusually, TuneIn said it will replace any audio ad spots with music picks and other programming tailored to each individual.
TuneIn Premium is available in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. After a 30-day trial period it costs $8 U.S. per month, whether bought on the Web or through one of the TuneIn mobile apps.
There are two iOS apps, both of which run on iPhones and iPads with iOS 7 or later. The basic app is free, while a $10 Pro version permanently strips out banners, with or without Premium, and supports recording streams.
Update: The article has been corrected to accurately reflect BPL listening options.
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5 Comments
audio books are interesting. would pay $8/month just for audio books service if it included a great library.
Is TuneIn still unable to stream iHeartRadio stations?
Is TuneIn still unable to stream iHeartRadio stations?
cannot answer directly but i use it to stream BBC radio (1 thro 5) but radio 4 extra i like. I found some oddball radio stations stopped streaming, turns out the URL had changed, but apart from that it has for me been a terrific app.
I was hoping "ladies of letters" would be in their (audio) book store but no such luck
Is TuneIn still unable to stream iHeartRadio stations?
Not quite sure what you mean. I use iHeart Radio for....
a) its limited number of terrestrial radio station streams - I see lots of complaints about the Tune-in App on the store reviews, so I just use that as a radio web service in my Mac browser even though Tune-in gets many more stations. (I also find the web interface quirky and confusing so dunno if that would carry over to the app as well.)
b) for algorithmic streams based on artist/song etc - which seem as good as those in iTunes, Google Play and the Rhapsody "unRadio" service T-Mobile's package gives me.
c) for a few of its own "stations" I've accidentally fallen across like "The Vinyl Experience."
I also get some terrestrial radio streams on Rhapsody I don't get on i?Radio - which may (and likely?) overlap some of Tune-in's....
As for the $8/month, seems a bit steep for what's being added. Can't imagine they can be competitive in audiobooks at that price unless they've cut some super deal with Amazon's Audible unit - alternative versions are a lot of work to produce - plus Audible wouldn't include the latest/hottest stuff they sell retail in such a package IMO - and I don't currently have the time for those or language-learning course anyway....
Not sure why Apple isn't exploiting its gigantic podcast collection. It almost seems like Apple doesn't care about them or the creators. I know they were making a new way to monetize. This could be as big and more useful than YouTube.