Radio Companion - Free App Lets You Know Whats Playing On The Radio
A bit back I cam across a really random BlackBerry application and thought I would share it with you. I have to put up the disclaimer that I have never tried it myself since I don’t really listen to the radio since my commute is underground. The application idea is really cool. They have systems that fingerprint all the music playing on all the different radio stations and provide you with the data.
Its one small application at 71Kb and offers to show you the radio lineup for your favorite stations. You can download it by going to http://www.nobexrc.com from your BlackBerry browser. Let me know how it goes.
Description from the press release:
This free, downloadable application — which operates on such popular BlackBerry models as the BlackBerry® Pearl(TM), BlackBerry® Curve(TM) and BlackBerry® 8800 Series smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM) — was developed by mobile application developer, Nobex Technologies, and is powered by Mediaguide, a top provider of airplay data drawn from terrestrial and Internet radio, as well as major peer-to-peer networks.
Through its proprietary fingerprinting technology and network of remote monitoring stations, Mediaguide currently tracks the real-time airplay of more than 2,700 terrestrial radio stations in every state in the U.S. This allows Radio Companion users to see what is playing right now on any of their favorite radio stations with just a few quick clicks on their BlackBerry smartphone. They can then select the music track to have its details sent instantly to their email account, with a direct link to click-through and purchase the song online.
“The BlackBerry platform is ideal for this kind of entertainment offering,” said Steve Lubin, CEO of Mediaguide. “It is the mobile device of choice for millions of Americans and has become a key access point for all types of information and services. Bringing music-oriented applications into the BlackBerry ecosystem is a natural evolution in how consumers are using this smartphone.”
Radio Companion is fast to download and set up. Users simply point their BlackBerry browser to www.nobexrc.com and click the link to download. During the brief set-up process, users are prompted to select their favorite radio stations by scrolling through an alphabetical list of cities and then picking their stations. This list includes more than 2,700 stations from all music formats and genres throughout the country.
Once set-up is complete, users click on a station name to see what is currently playing. Radio Companion displays the song title and artist, as well as a thumbnail graphic of the album cover or artist photo. They can also scroll backwards to view previous songs and artists on the station’s playlist.
“When you’re tuned in live to a station but don’t know the name of the specific song that’s playing, Radio Companion can tell you in an instant,” said Gadi Mazor, CEO of Nobex. “Some people listen to a particular station to get introduced to new music. For them, Radio Companion is a great tool for scrolling recent playlists to discover tracks they may want to check out.”
Lubin added that Radio Companion is also terrific for people who have a strong personal connection to a radio station from their old home town, such as their college station. “They can follow what’s on the air, even though they no longer live in the area,” said Lubin.
Radio Companion does not yet stream audio from radio stations directly to BlackBerry smartphones. Nobex and Mediaguide anticipate adding this feature in late summer of 2008.
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April 3rd, 2008 09:54
Easy install, nice setup. Really impressed how fast I added my two favorite stations for my city. For a compulsive NPR listener like me, this is really great. Thanks!!
April 3rd, 2008 10:56
Doesnt work for Canada….works for Africa, Hong Kong….No Canada….c’mon we listen to radio too
April 3rd, 2008 11:31
Damn no Canada? Maybe they just want to stick it to RIM
April 3rd, 2008 13:07
I take back what I said before. It seems my NPR News station but tells me what Songs/Bands are playing. That can’t be accurate, since I justed turned on the radio and they are interviewing sex workers on getting out of the sex trade. This station doesn’t play song but is News and informational. I wanted to know which show is on, but since it can’t do that, I think I will uninstall this now.
April 3rd, 2008 16:34
I’ve been waiting for a program like this for a long time. It works great!
April 3rd, 2008 16:38
Is a download for vista windows availble for blackberry.
May 16th, 2008 22:33
I downloaded the software but I can’t hear the song that’s playing. I can see the name of the radio station and the name and picture of the song that’s playing but no sound. Can someone please help. Thx.
May 18th, 2008 12:51
Brittney I dont think this software lets you listen to the radio. If you want to do that you need to get something like Dollars5.com’s Media Player or BerryTunes. This only tells you what is playing on the radio.
June 5th, 2008 04:21
Hi there,
We here at Nobex want to thank you for using Nobex Radio Companion and for your comments.
Some specific replies:
1. Canada - working on it…
2. Indeed, no sound (yet). It shows you what song it is, and when you click the song, it sends you the song details to your mailbox, with links to purchase the songs if you like at iTunes or Amazon.
3. the whole thing is completely free, except for the song purchase, of course (at the regular price, no additional cost).
We would love to hear your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to email us at support@nobexinc.com
thanks,
The Nobex Radio Companion team