Audio apps are a great way to kill time while on mobile devices. Podcasts are the new media consumption platform that is thriving in the digital age and everyone is jumping on board this train. Audials Play offers a new app for listening, but it’s more than just a podcasting app.
Remember radio?
Radio used to be king for listening to audio while on the go. It’s honestly the progression that led to podcasts. But with more and more people using their smartphones, radio has fallen by the wayside a bit. Audials has implemented internet radio within the app and it’s a welcome addition.
From Audials Play, you can access over 36,000 local radio stations around the United States. Want to drop in on international channels? That’s there too. Audials has 100,000 stations that can be sorted by region, state, or genre.
What makes it different from what your car antenna picks up? Well, since these stations are being streamed, Audials offers the great ability to record shows and songs. This makes the app a unique hybrid of traditional broadcast radio and on-demand content like podcasts.
Podcasts are the new wave
Radio is cool and all, but let’s be honest, podcasts are addicting for a reason. The on-demand audio files can be enjoyed whenever and wherever your schedule allows. Audial knows this as well and has implemented podcasts into the Play app.
Audials Play utilizes this in a familiar fashion. You can search or browse podcasts to find your preferred streams. Once you’ve found your favorite show, you can stream it on-demand or download the episodes for true offline listening.
You can also “follow” your best shows by adding them to the Audial’s Style menu. Style is basically your favorites pinned to the podcast landing page. This allows you easy access to those handfuls of shows you always want to be updated quickly without searching the app each time.
Web sync
Another good thing about Audials Play is the sync. Once you create a login, you can pick up where you left off on the web or desktop apps. This allows users to have a robust option for listening playback regardless of platform or device.
Busy UI
My only complaint about the Audials Play app would be the interface. It’s a little overwhelming. While it’s nice that it offers so many ways and stations to listen to great audio content, navigating this UI is challenging at times.
The way to subscribe to podcasts to the Style and that terminology is so different from other podcasting apps is disjointed as well. It took me several minutes to even figure it out. This makes for a very unintuitive interaction.
My first thought was it simply wasn’t possible and I then discovered a long-press on the show would give me the pop-up menu. Even then, I still had to guess and assume that “add to Style” was what I was looking for to add to Favorites.
Conclusion
Despite these few pitfalls, Audials Play is an interesting app for those that enjoy the spoken word content. With both traditional broadcast radio via the web and podcasts, you have a massive selection that just isn’t possible in most other podcasting apps.
Add this to you can treat the local stations much like podcasts with downloads and subscribing, and Audials really has a truly unique app worth the download on Android. You can snag the app from the Play Store now for free.
