The real evidence of our ongoing efforts is in the app itself. Player users will have noticed lots of new content in recent weeks. As public radio stations and programs from across the U.S. submit their streams and podcasts, we add them.

If you’re even tempted to think that “public radio” means just one kind of programming, give a listen to some of our newcomers:

• Radio Arte in Chicago, Illinois – A “Latino-owned, bilingual, youth-driven” public radio station with a mix of Latino alternative music plus news and information
• WKNO in Memphis, Tennessee – This news and classical station offers its HD1 and HD2 channels (yes, the Player has lots of HD Radio streams!)
• Radio Bilingue – Public radio’s only national distributor of Spanish-language programming
• KMRE in Bellingham, Washington – The American Museum of Radio and Electricity’s low-power FM station “broadcasting some of the finest educational, cultural and historically significant recordings ever produced”
• WQXR in New York, NY – “The nation’s first commercial classical radio station” was just acquired by public radio station WNYC (already in the Player), and quickly took advantage of its newfound eligibility to be in the Public Radio Player
• Youth Radio in Oakland, CA – This talented group of young people brings us their All Day Play, “a wide spectrum of musical tastes, news, and commentary”
• WPVM in Asheville, NC – A low-power FM station that’s part of the Mountain Area Information Network, “a nonprofit community network using integrated media technologies to expand the local public sphere”

All of these streams can be found in the Live section of the app. With so much choice, don’t forget to use the Favorites, Local, and Search features to keep it simple.

* Translation: Third-party applications like the Player aren’t allowed to run while you do other things on the device (e.g. play a crossword or use the calculator); you have to exit the app first. Only native apps like iTunes can “run in the background.”

Photo courtesy of the American Museum of Radio & Electricity.

All good reasons. So here it is. (Re-posted on YouTube to be viewable on iPhones and iPods, too.)

After playing with the NPR News app for a few days, I find it to be a great addition to public radio iPhone scene, and fans of the Public Radio Player should give it at try. From one pubradio app to another, consider this a tip ‘o the hat!

You can see the growing list of public radio iPhone apps here.

My involvement with this project has been primarily as an expert in hybrid development techniques for the iPhone. Hybrid apps are a class of apps developed primarily using web standards (HTML, CSS and Javascript), then wrapped around a native Objective C/Cocoa Touch so that they can be conveniently distributed as binary via iTunes App Store. There are several advantages of following this approach to building iPhone apps:

1. Short learning curve: Objective C is not as easy to learn as Javascript
2. Faster development time: no need to compile app to test it as Javascript is interpreted
3. Tapping into a large pool of talent: there are far more web developers than Objective C ones
4. Portability: WebKit, the core engine for Mobile Safari, is also the core engine for other evolved smartphones web browsers such as Android, Palm Pre and Nokia’s Symbian.

WebKit is the fastest web engine on earth. It is also the one with the lightest footprint and, to top it off, it is also open source.

Read more at Giuseppe’s blog.

Another known issue with the upgrade to the Public Radio Player is the loss of saved Favorites lists. Unfortunately, the transition to the new version resulted in the deletion of any saved stations you had in the previous version of the app. This is the part where we say “our bad”, and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. But hey, why not take the opportunity to try out a few new stations as you rebuild your Favorites list?  If you have a moment, please suggest a couple of stations you think fellow Public Radio Player users should sample and add to their Favorites. I’ll get the thread started in the comments. And please keep the feedback coming – your input is a vital part of making the Public Radio Player a great iPhone app!

What’s so different? The Player has the station schedules and on-demand streaming that we’ve promised for months. (Incidentally, in that big survey we recently invited you to take, 75% of Tuner users requested each of those features. Done and done.) Such significant additions required a revamped user experience design. Nor did we let new development distract from the basics: We’ve improved stream performance, too.

As with all major releases, there are some quirks. We are reading your feedback and looking into the issues.

A note to stations: Check the Guide for Stations soon for Web graphics with the new logo and some fun on-air and online promos. Thanks as always for being the force behind the app’s success!

As you can imagine, mobile streaming over an Edge or 3G connection requires that a signal reach your iPhone via the nearest cell tower. When you’re driving around town using your phone for a voice call (using a hands free earpiece, of course), cell networks are able to “pass” the call from one tower to the next without interruption. Right now, the same is not true of data connections. Stream dropouts may be inevitable if you’re on the move and leave the range of one cell tower and pick up the signal of another. At that point, your phone will be issued a new IP address and the stream connection is dropped.

There’s also the issue of the “size” of the stream and the speed of your mobile connection. This is the fun part where we get to talk about bit rates. Bit rate refers to amount of information (bits) that are conveyed or processed per second (”kbps”, or often shortened to “k”). Common bit rates for live audio streams are 32k, 64k, and 128k. A higher bit rate results in a higher sound quality for the stream. But it also means that a larger amount of information needs to be squeezed into the signal to your mobile device. So a slower Edge connection can have trouble processing a high bit rate stream. Too much information is trying to pass to your phone at one time. The result: a dropped stream.

Stations are faced with finding that perfect bit rate: one that provides a decent sound quality, but small enough to provide stable streaming over a variety of internet connections. The challenge is even greater for music stations, which want to provide high sound quality and a stereo stream (which double the bit rate demand to achieve same sound quality as a mono stream).

For streaming to the iPhone, Apple recommends a minimum bit rate of 48k. But during our testing for the Tuner, we found that an EDGE connection can be spotty for any stream above 32k. So, if a station wants to be reliable on all three iPhone connection speeds (EDGE, 3G, and Wi-fi), a 32k stream is your best bet. But that’s not going to provide great sound quality, especially for a music station.

To help users navigate these muddy waters, a new feature in the upcoming version 2.0 will provide some guidance based on a station’s bit rate. When you select a station, the app will display icons informing you which connection speeds best fit that stream. You can see them below the DUQ logo on the screenshot. (click image to enlarge)

• If a stream’s bit rate falls under 48k, the app will show icons for EDGE, 3G, & Wifi
• Above 48k, but under 128k, the app will show only 3G & Wifi
• 128k will show Wifi only

There may be some instances where you are able to stream high bit station on a lower quality connection. There’s no harm in trying a 128k stream over an Edge connection – but now you have a better understanding why it might drop out while listening.

Some stations offer multiple versions of their live stream at different bit rates to allow users to enjoy the best the sound quality available based on the speed their internet connection. We encourage stations to make those multiple streams available via the Public Radio Tuner. Stations who are interested in adding or updating their current stream can do so using Public Interactive’s stream submission page.

That’s just about the right time to ask you to take a survey.

• What kinds of stations do you listen to?
• When do you use the Tuner (exercising? cooking? falling asleep? waking up (we hope)?)
• News or Music or both?
• Live or On Demand or both?
• Chocolate or Vanilla or swirl? (just kidding)

The survey is hosted by NPR. Please give us a few minutes of your time. Not only will it help improve this iPhone app (with version 2.0 due out soon, we promise), it will inform all sorts of public radio mobile efforts, iPhone and otherwise.

Plus, it’s anonymous, so you can tell us what you *really* think.

Take the survey!