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Corus Radio for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Corus Radio (iTunes Canada)

Continuing the online radio apps that I’ve been reviewing lately, I’ve decided to focus on an app for us Canadians and that’s not jazz since I’m sure many of you aren’t into jazz. Today, I’ll be reviewing a radio streaming app that offers multiple stations, however, they are limited to those owned by a particular corporation, Corus, specifically. Today’s review will be on the Corus Radio app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, which offers a number of radio station streams of stations that Corus owns in Canada.

If you’re into some of the radio stations that are owned by the Corus Radio Network, you are in luck as the Corus Radio app will provide you with an online stream of the 37 radio stations they own across the country. If you’re like me and enjoy listening to radio stations from your home town and you’re no longer living there, this is a great app that will allow you to listen to and enjoy those stations you normally can’t listen to. For me, it’s being able to listen to CFOX, from Vancouver. With this Corus Radio app, I can listen to that and many others from the Corus Radio network, simply by launching the app and tapping on the station I wish to listen to. Very cool.

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The Corus Radio app offers 37 radio stations to choose ranging from stations in Vancouver and across to Toronto. There’s a mix of talk radio stations to classic rock, adult contemporary, traffic, country and others.

Upon launching the app, it will load the main screen which shows a list of radio stations. At the top left corner, you can choose how the stations are arranged and displayed. There’s Sort by name, which will sort and display the radio stations by their call sign (eg. CFOX) alphabetically. Sort by city will display the city and then the call sign alphabetically. So Barrie Ontario is displayed first with the various call signs also sorted and displayed in alphabetical order. Sort by nearest will display the stations nearest you by accessing your location via the location services settings for the app. It will prompt and ask you whether you’d like to allow the app to access your location before doing so. If you allow it, the app will display those stations closest to your location.

There are two tabs at the bottom. By default, the Stations tab is selected, which is the listing of stations. You can view the entire listing simply by swiping or flicking up or down and the listing will scroll like a dial.

To listen to a particular station, simply tap on the station name. You’ll be taken to the listen screen. At the top, there’s the Stations button at the top left corner and the Favorite button, designated as a star button on the top right corner. There’s the name of the station with its logo and the city and province where it’s located. You’ll also notice there’s three buttons at the bottom: Listen (default), Last 10 songs, Station Website. Underneath the logo there’s also a volume slider (I like!) allowing you to control the volume level of the station. Underneath the volume slider bar is the Play/Pause button. Tap on that button to either toggle between play or pause/stop. As well, you can bookmark or favorite a station simply by tapping on the “star” button at the top right corner. If favorited, the button will display a white star on a blue background or go back to white star on black if not favorited. All stations you’ve starred will be displayed in the order you added them under the Bookmarks.

Depending on the station, you may be able to view a listing of the last 10 songs played. If it’s supported, for example, for CFOX, the Last 10 songs will be available for selecting. Tap on that button at the bottom to view a list of songs previously played, not just 10. The last button at the bottom is the Station Website. Tapping on that will open up a browser right from within the app, loading the station’s official website. Very nice.

Corus Entertainment is a leader in Canadian radio, with 37 stations clustered predominately in major Canadian markets. Offering a mix of the best new rock, news-talk, classic rock, adult contemporary and country, Corus Radio’s 37 stations are committed to serving and staying connected to our communities. Featuring the industry’s best brands, 102.1 the Edge, Q107, 630 CHED, CJOB 68 and Country 105, along with a roster of the best Canadian on-air talent, Corus Radio is all about personality — engaging and connecting with listeners and communities across the country.

StreamTheWorld helps broadcasters and media groups leverage their online presence through a proprietary streaming solution. Its core business is to bring audio and video content online while providing optimum user experiences. Trusted by such industry leaders as Corus Entertainment, CBS and Multimedios, StreamTheWorld teams with the world’s most innovative and reputable broadcasters to entertain a growing number of viewers and listeners worldwide.

StreamTheWorld and Corus Entertainment have united to create this application allowing you to listen to your favourite Corus Radio stations on your iPhone and iPod Touch. By leveraging the AAC+ codec, StreamTheWorld and Corus have enhanced the listening experience for the consumer and their favourite stations. With this application you can now enjoy all your favourite Corus Radio stations anytime and in anyplace.

StreamTheWorld is an official licensee under the MPEG-4 Audio Patent License Agreement (PLA).

Features:
• Access to 37 radio stations on your iPhone (EDGE,3G,WiFi) or iPod touch (WiFi)
• AAC+ high quality streaming, providing the best quality and the lowest data consumption
• “Shake to shuffle” feature which allows the consumer to just shake the device and be provided with a random station.
• Ability to search for stations either by station call letters (ex: CFNY) or by city (ex: Toronto)
• Music continues to play when device is locked
• Settings Panel: Automatic Play & Power Management.

What’s New in Version 2.2.2303

Bug fixes

Slideshow of Corus Radio for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Video of Corus Radio for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Video review of Corus Radio for iPhone and iPod Touch, and iPad at YouTube

Here are my observations:

I Liked:

Easy to use

This is quite simple to use and figure out. Tap on the buttons to select the various actions.

Listen to a live radio stream

The app streams the on air radio across the internet to your iPhone in real time allowing you to listen to the radio without needing an AM/FM radio.

Artist and title info when playing live program stream

Depending on the station and whether it’s supported, some radio stations will display the artist and song title info but so won’t. It’s too bad that even though they’re all Corus radio stations that they don’t all offer the same support that other stations do.

Bookmarks

Although there’s only 37 stations, it’s still nice to be able to bookmark or favorite those you want quick and easy access to.

sort by alpha, city or nearest

I like that the listing of stations can be sorted by alphabetical order, by city or by the nearest to you.

Station Website

I find that the button to the station’s website is a nice feature as the app contains a browser inside. So, you can view the website right from within the app without needing to have Safari open.

Purchase currently playing song

For many of the streams that display the artist and song info, there’s also an iTunes icon. Tapping on it will load the iTunes music store where you can buy the song in iTunes. Very nice.

Volume slider available

Yes! The app offers a volume slider right in the listen/play screen.

FREE

I like free and it’s great that I get to listen to the radio without needing to pay for it.

I Didn’t Like:

No landscape mode support

Unfortunately, this app doesn’t support landscape mode.

No Facebook and Twitter integration

There is no Facebook or Twitter link or connection anywhere in the app. That’s unfortunate.

no bug submit feature

The app crashed on me a few times and obviously, this is something that I would like to have, a bug submit feature. While I was playing a live radio stream, if I tap on the bookmark or something, the app will crash. I guess I have to remind myself to stop the stream first before I do anything.

No contact link or About screen

Especially when there is no bug submit feature, having an About screen or a contact link or form would be especially helpful to contact the developers. Unfortunately, there isn’t any.

No record feature

I would like to be able to record the live stream of the music so that I can listen to it later.

No Sleep feature

Unfortunately, there’s no sleep feature which is too bad, because I tend to listen to music before I go to bed. This would really make the app much better.

No offline support

As this is mainly a radio streaming app, it’s not surprising that it doesn’t offer offline support. However, if there is a record feature in conjunction with the alarm as mentioned previously, this could easily be a radio PVR allowing you to listen to the programs in your own time without the need for an internet connection. This is another suggestion.

No full screen mode

For some stations that offer the album cover image with the artist and title info, I would like to be able to view a bigger image of the album cover. Unfortunately, I am stuck viewing a thumbnail image.

Review Summary

Corus Radio for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad offers 37 different radio stations from the Corus Radio network. Enjoy and listen to your favorite stations even when the phone is locked and anywhere and everywhere where’s there’s an internet connection. Buy the currently playing song on iTunes directly from within the app as well as loading the station’s website without opening up Safari. All for the unbeatable price of FREE. Check it out!

Corus Radio (iTunes Canada)

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