As Far As I Can Tell


Tivo on the Radio

I’ve had a low opinion of Real Player for a long time. Their software tends to be bloated and annoying, with lots of preferences to change if you don’t want pop-ups and resource bloat. Regardless, I use it to listen to the radio streams that NPR provides and it works okay.

Recently I got a new laptop at work and had to re-install the latest version of Real Player. This update adds a great new feature called Live Pause. It works by continuing to download and cache your live audio stream when you press the pause button. This way you can pick up where you left off and not have to miss anything. You can also go back and re-listen to a segment you’ve just heard, sort of a radio rewind. This is prefect for me since I listen at work and I’m interrupted all the time by meetings and, well, work.

Real makes it a little confusing to get the free version of their software. Luckily they’ve struck a deal with the BBC, which provides clear and easy download links. Bookmark the BBC download page; it’ll come in handy later.


 

Comments

My eldest brother works for Real Audio.

Posted by: Brendan on May 22, 2004 12:13 AM

Haha. Yeah I have become so spoiled by Tivo, that when I am listening to NPR in the car I get really irritated that I can’t rewind if I missed something or couldn’t hear it or whatever. I no longer watch programs on television live because I can’t fast forward thru commercials. :-) And I don’t listen to any radio stations except for NPR because of the commercials also… and all of the cincy radio stations suck azzzzz.

Posted by: celine on May 26, 2004 12:07 PM


As far as who can tell?


Chicago, IL

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