This app is mainly just one stream of music that you can’t control very much about what you hear, run by two people (that’s right 2!!) where you can comment and rate music. It may not sound like it is something worth writing about, but obvious with this review I beg to differ.
Radio Paradise – comments and play controls
Open the app and it entices you to click the play button as otherwise it is mostly blank. The music buffers fairly quickly and you get the song information in the lower right and a beautiful image. The images are uploaded by listeners (although not possible in the app at this point). You can choose lower quality music as well should your connection not support the highest quality. The songs in general are in the alternative style (but not entirely, some classical, jazz and world music among other styles you may hear) including the occasional DJ talking just like days gone by – but NO ads. It fits me perfectly I must say. The songs are artfully blended into each other even if different styles of music and stays playing in the background.
I’m not sure what the quality of the stream is as it doesn’t specify in the app description, but if you stream via their website I believe it is 128k, which is terrific quality for internet radio. The lowest setting should be 16 or 32k. You can enjoy the app without registering (which is free). It is encouraged that you contribute to help support this free service and that mechanism is available at the website – www.radioparadise.com. Registering, and of course paying will allow you not only to comment and rate music but you can use the “PSD” or “Play Something Different” button. It is a shuffle icon since basically that is what it does. If you don’t care for the current song, hit this button and you’ll get a different song from the current playlist. All songs include a link to either buy the CD or just the one song from Amazon.
Radio Paradise – lyrics and hidden controls
You can see the lyrics as well on many of the songs played, just one click away. As you’ll notice above the controls are hidden. The album art and song info box though never disappears, so no matter what you will always have something blocking part of the images. Clicking on the song information will bring up the comments/lyrics box when the controls are hidden. The comments/lyrics box will not change when the song changes. Helpful I guess if you are using it at the time the song changes, so simply click on the song info or the info button to cause it to change. Commenting is a little odd as you click “Post Comment” but there is another “Post Comment” box that appears inside to actual post your comment. I had to scroll to find it, poorly designed there.
Charms
Search and Share are not supported at this time. Settings – just has one, a button to bring up the login box for those who have registered.
Snap
Snapped view is supported for playing in the column view. It was not there originally but is now (2/7/13) so nice to have it available. You can’t see the images in all their glory in that smaller view, but what you do see, still provides a decent effect. If you want to see comments, lyrics or rate the song it opens to two-thirds view.
Radio Paradise – live tile
Tile
The live tile is vary a little but mainly shows the current image with the artist and song title, though at times it just said the name of the app. Nothing extravagant but a proper live tile.
Summary
If this is your style of music (generally absence of rap, hip hop, country or opera), this app is for you. You should find many enjoyable songs and often ones you may never have heard before that you wish to add to your collection. You can get into a discussion about that song or rate it. I cannot see that the rating affects what is played directly, but the 2 DJ’s definitely keep users interest in mind when choosing songs. You can request songs, though it won’t work like a regular station due to the playlists usually created in advance. I can’t say I’m crazy about the design. It seems disjointed when you have sections open, it lacks cohesiveness. It is definitely worth it for free to listen to the selections blend together, but it would be proper if you can to support them financially in some way to help pay for the enjoyment provided. (rating for app not for the content itself).
Rating
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Category: Music & Video > Music |
Download size: 427 KB |
Age: 12+ |
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Publisher: Crazy Appy |
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Hello there,
Thanks for the kind review. I’m the developer of Radio Paradise and I really liked your objective review!
I would like to clarify a few points:
1) The stream quality was deliberately left out as requested by Bill. But the stream quality for “High Quality” is at 128 kbps, the “Medium Quality” at 64 kbps, and the “Low Quality” being 32 kbps. The Windows Store App version runs on AAC encoding instead of MP3. For your information
2) To make use of the PSD (Play Something Different) service, you will need to register for an account. But you do not need to contribute anything in order to make use of the service. The reason for needing a registered account is to keep track of your listening preference. The system keeps track of your ratings to different song, and will try its best to play songs that you have previously rated highly, or play songs that are similar to those that you have rated highly. Registration is free, and you are welcomed to try it out!
3) The posting of comments is indeed an issue. The problem here is that the posting page is essentially a web page that is embedded within the app, I will talk to Bill and see if we can provide a better design on this portion.
Thanks again for your review, this is a very detailed, objective, and sincere piece of article. I have gone through some of your reviews on other apps, and they are all very nice and original. Keep up the good work!
Best regards,
VT @ Crazy Appy
Really cool app, could we implement this on our site for rate music?
I’m not sure, you’d have to ask the developer for assistance in developing your own app.