Tag: radio
I come from a different world. A world where, if you wanted to get your own music in your car, you had to buy a CD and put it in your car CD player. Heck, who am I kidding? I come from a world even earlier than that. …
It’s something that we can’t find any mention of on the TuneIn website but, in a recent licensing battle between Sony Music and TuneIn, the result has been a complete removal of international stations for UK TuneIn users. A High Court battle against TuneIn from Sony and Warner …
Despite the growth of DAB and the increasing choice of radio stations, the government here in the UK has reversed plans to close down analogue stations by extending licenses for another 10 years. It means that older car radio equipment will still receive signals until at least 2032. …
I’ve spoken previously about my annoyance with the selection of music available when you’re out and about. In the “old days” we’d perhaps get in the car and have a crummy selection of FM radio stations which all sounded very similar and very dull. Heart FM, Free Radio, …
Some 9 years ago I performed a test of radio streaming over the internet. I was fed up with the slim choice of very “samey” FM radio station so, with the aid of some cabling (or a smartphone FM transmitter) I fed the audio output of my smartphone …
I’ve covered the rather rubbish state of affairs with DAB (digital) radio here in the UK before. In an effort to reduce the “entry price” to stations and to increase the choice, you tend to get a lower bitrate audio stream, which is in mono quite a lot …
Hello again. Now, you may remember, in years past, how I tried to fill the lengthy commute with some music that I’d actually enjoy rather than the bilge that was being offered on my car radio. It was a fair few years ago now, so I had a …
At home I get about 70-odd digital radio stations. I’m quite lucky. Here in the UK there’s now a big range of DAB stations alongside the FM and MW / LW / SW stations. However, this particular radio is a bit different. It’s an internet radio, a Bluetooth …
This one hasn’t even gone fully live on Indigogo as yet but, from what I can see, this is a case, an extra battery for your iPhone and a walkie-talkie, all in one. Cheap data, better coverage and apps like WhatsApp, which has an inbuilt audio recording / …
I mentioned in a post yesterday about my kitchen radio setup. Many years ago, before DAB was ever really a “thing”, I got an internet radio because the choice of FM stations was a bit bland. Now, we’ve got smartphones that can get on-demand content, live radio and …
I used to have an internet radio in our kitchen. In fact, 10 years ago I wrote about it as Orange (the network that us “old people” used before EE) was selling them. It was a good solution, but the system which provided internet stations and their stream …
Morning people. I’ve just aged. I took this one out of the box and asked my son to guess what it is. We’ve not really got a radio in the house. There’s an alarm clock but I use an old Android phone with a Bluetooth speaker in the …
An alarm clock just wakes you up. Right? Well yes, yes it does, but gone are the days of some badly-made alarm clock waking you up with some white-noise. Now we’ve got alarm-clock radios that’ll receive crystal-clear DAB stations and will accept music from your phone, so you …
How do you get your news? For the majority of people reading this, we very much doubt that it’ll be via a newspaper alone. Now people are getting their news updates instantly via smartphone, and the 16 to 34-year-old audience range is proving the most difficult for traditional …
Welcome to the first in a series of articles celebrating apps which are an example to others on how things should be done. I’m probably preaching to the converted, but I wanted to talk about the BBC iPlayer Radio app. It’s available for iPhone,, Android and Kindle. For …
Are you in the market for a stylish designed retro looking DAB radio with some added features? Well come on in and have a read of my review of the VQ MKII Retro DAB radio. Good Points: Fantastic sound quality. Well built retro design. Available in 11 colours. …
For the last few years, if you watched everything on demand using the BBC iPlayer rather than tuning in live, it meant you didn’t have to pay the age-old subscription – the TV Licence fee. The British government and the BBC have wanted to close this so-called “iPlayer …
I’ve been sent an FM transmitter again. It’s one of those ones you’ll find on Amazon with a rather long and confusing name. The full description for this £13 gadget is (wait for it)… “FM Transmitter, Doosl® 3.5mm FM Transmitter Radio Adapter Hands-free Calling Wireless Radio Car Kit, …
Many of you might not have it in your car just yet, but you can now get DAB in a phone if you buy the new LG Stylus 2 with DAB+. Many smartphones already have FM radio capability and, whilst it’s easy to plug your headphones in and …
Unless you’ve got a pretty new car, the world of digital radio is probably beyond your reach right now. You’ll probably be listening to some annoying couple called “Kat and Dan” on some generic local radio station as they fake-laugh through your morning commute. How’s about stepping it …
Trying to find the Ministry of Sound LIVE app on Google Play or the Apple Store? Well, bad news friends, it’s gone. Ministry of Sound LIVE, which fed five curated music streams to your phone, has been playing a very repetitive selection of tunes across their channels lately. …
Want to listen to your favourite stations on an iPhone? It’s going to cost you a monthly fee very soon. We can only assume that money must be a bit tight for the company at the moment, as their ad-supported stations will cost $10 each month after January …
Beyond accessing radio stations through apps on my iPhone, internet radio was a new concept that I had never really considered. So, when I was given to opportunity to test the Grace Digital Mondo Internet Radio, I was keen to see what it offered. Complete with a catalogue …
Last night I stumbled across an old video from 1979 which showed something that was pretty amazing at the time. A truly portable phone. It started me on a bit of a journey into the history of mobile phones, so here’s what I’ve dug out of the archives. …
I’m on the fence with this one, so I’d love to know your thoughts. Called the “Triby” it’s a Bluetooth speaker, Bluetooth speakerphone, notification system, internet radio and communication system. It’ll stick via a magnet to your fridge and then lets you make calls or play music. When …
Tesco have sent me something. I think it’s because I’ve started shopping in Aldi more. Who knows, but they are trying to grab my attention. They own blinkbox music, which is another offering alongside their blinkbox TV and movie streaming service. Considering they’ve not sent the Coolsmartphone team …
The recently refreshed TuneIn Radio app introduced us to a brand new UI and a clean design, however it also brought with it some additional “features” which weren’t well received. First was the lack of an exit button, which had been available before, whilst the second annoyance was …
I’ve got a secret to confess. I don’t buy music. Sure, I listen to it, but I rarely buy it. Call me weird, but that’s me. Most of the time I listen to one internet radio station, but the MixPal.fm app has a bit of a twist – …
Bluetooth is OK, but you might still want FM radio and that utterly rubbish “DAB” system that sometimes decides to work. Now a British-based developer has released a couple of rather beautiful radio systems. They have Bluetooth connectivity, FM radio, DAB and and dual alarm. Not only that, …
Music streaming services are fast becoming all the rage and in particular services that are tailored to the individuals listening preferences. With Google having already entered the fray internationally and services such as Spotify already offering a radio streaming service, Apple are slightly behind the curve. However, this …
Yes. Fair comment, we do review a lot of Bluetooth speakers here at Coolsmartphone. It’s the new thing though. Gone are the days of kitchen radio, CD and tape players. Now it’s a speaker which you pair with your phone or MP3 player. What about FM radio though? …
Back in October I wrote a small piece regarding the launch of iPlayer radio. At the time the app was only available on iOS with an Android version said to be following soon. Well, some 6 months later the Android version has finally launched and it looks quite impressive. Clearly …
The BBC are today launching iPlayer specifically for their range of radio stations on iOS with Android to follow soon. Unfortunately there is no word yet of a version for Windows Phone or Blackberry. Update: The BBC have now confirmed that no version for either Windows Phone or Blackberry …
The BBC have just updated their iOS iPlayer app to support streaming over 3G. An update to the Android version will soon arrive which will also add this capability, meaning that you can finally watch and listen to BBC content on the move. The BBC have been quick …
