TuneIn Radio

Internet radio aggregation service TuneIn has partnered with ESPN Audio to provide TuneIn's users with live play-by-play coverage, shows like SportsCenter, on-demand programs like Fantasy Focus, podcasts and streams of local radio stations from around the country.

The companies say the partnership will begin with live streaming coverage on TuneIn of the college football Bowl Championship Series games in January.

TuneIn is available as an app for most smartphones, web-connected TVs and online here. You can find the companies' press release here.

Web radio aggregator TuneIn has announced the appointment of Kevin Straley as Vice President of Programming.

Straley previously served for eight years as a senior VP at XM Satellite Radio.

TuneIn aggregates more than 50,000 broadcast and web-only radio streams -- in addition to one milion on-demand programs. It offers apps for most mobile devices in addition to its website (here).

All Things Digital reports that in late 2010, Sequoia Capital "secretly invested $6 million" in web radio aggregator service TuneIn Radio and moved the company to California.

TuneIn Radio is a service that aggregates various broadcast and online radio streams from around the world. They also provide web radio directories to devices like the Logitech Squeezebox.

The site also reports that Sequoia helped the company bring in a new CEO: gaming industry veteran John Donham (pictured left). He most recently ran technology and product operations for Disney Interactive Media Group after selling Metaplace, which he co-founded, to the company. 

TuneIn Radio reports that in October it had 30 million active users (compare that to Pandora's just-announced 40 million active users). Those users reportedly listened to 58,000 different stations on TuneIn Radio.

CBS Radio and Clear Channel stations are not included in TuneIn Radio's directory due to licensing issues (RAIN coverage here). 

Earlier this month, data management company Onavo found that more users tried TuneIn Radio's iPhone and Android apps than used Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker or other web radio services (RAIN coverage here).

Finally, TuneIn Radio also recently unveild an in-app donation service that allows users to contribute to listener-supported stations. NPR member station KQED is the first to use the new feature (find more from TuneIn Radio here).

You can find All Things Digital's coverage here.

Last week Amazon made big news when the latest version of its Kindle e-book reader, the Kindle Fire, shipped. Actually, all the new functionality of the Kindle Fire makes it more like a tablet computer than a mere e-reader. And apparently, it's a really good Internet radio device.

"The Kindle Fire is almost perfect for my favorite kind of media: Internet radio," wrote industry observer Matthew Lasar in Radio Survivor. "Its relatively small size, nice WiFi interface, attractive display, and simple speaker outlet make it a great dedicated broadband radio device."

The device is built on a "forked" version of the Android mobile OS, and as such, can run various Android apps (available in the Amazon Appstore). It can stream video, and offers a full-function web browser and built-in e-mail application. 

Taking advantage of the Kindle Fire's smaller size and lower price-point, it's more logical to use it for a dedicated, specialized purpose like Internet radio than, say, and Apple iPad, reasons Lasar. Internet radio Android apps also apparently work well, and look good, on the device.

"Pandora looks much classier on the device than it does on either my Droid X or my desktop screen. Leaning the Kindle horizontally against a paper book (oh the irony) just above my keyboard gives me easy access to the standard Pandora choices: like, dislike, skip, pause, and next. There’s plenty of blank space across the screen—no visual crowding, even with the ads... Ditto for TuneIn Radio... (It) looks and sounds great on the Kindle Fire. For me, TuneIn’s desktop interface is too big and its smart phone interface is too small. But on Kindle Fire it looks just right—just like an Internet radio interface ought to display."

Our own AccuRadio, by the way, worked and sounded great when we accessed it through the Kindle Fire's web browser (AccuRadio does not yet offer a dedicated Android app). What works even better is the beta version of our new AccuRadio user interface, available at new.accuradio.com. 

And, if you're a fan of on-demand streaming service Rdio: You can access it through the Kindle Fire. Or, might want to pick up the new Kobo Vox tablet, as it comes preloaded on that device (read more here).

Lasar, who wrote the Radio Survivor piece, teaches U.S. history and broadcasting/telecommunications policy at the UC Santa Cruz. He's written two books about Pacifica Radio, and also writes for Arstechnica.com. Read his column in Radio Survivor here.

Data from mobile data management company Onavo indicates that TuneIn Radio's iPhone and Android apps attracted more users in October than Pandora, Slacker or Spotify.

Onavo says that 6.6% of its iPhone users accessed TuneIn Radio at some point during October, compared to 5.8% that accessed Pandora and 3.6% for Spotify. On Android the percentages drop to 4.9%, 4.6% and 3.2%, respectively (due to the popularity of cloud music services from Google and Amazon).

Keep in mind that TuneIn Radio is a service which aggregates streams of more than 50,000 radio stations and 120,000 shows; the other services that appear in this chart are themselves providers of unique content and programming. By the same token, it should be pointed out that the top two U.S. broadcasters, Clear Channel Radio and CBS Radio, have both pulled their streams from TuneIn's service.

On the iPhone, iHeartRadio came in fourth in usage and Slacker was #6. Slacker held the #6 spot for Android but iHeartRadio ranked #7 (see chart at right for more).

However, Pandora topped TuneIn Radio and Spotify in terms of 3G data usage during October. That could mean that Pandora users are listening more, or it could be Pandora subscribers receiving a higher bitrate, or that users listen to other services via Wi-Fi more.

Onavo used anonymous data from more than 100,000 users.

"Now take this all with a grain of salt," comments GigaOM (here), pointing out that "Onavo isn't a seasoned market research firm" and that its users "lean more toward early adopters."

That said, "it’s still interesting to see how popular TuneIn Radio is with Onavo’s users...It shows that there’s still a lot of appeal in tapping traditional radio, which has a wide diversity of programmed content."

TuneIn Radio has added access to over 3,000 police and fire scanners to its iPhone and Android apps.

"It's not the most obvious or pleasant way to stay updated on the latest news," writes CNet, "but if you want real-time information as incidents are developing, the new feature is an easy way to eavesdrop on the local police."

TuneIn Radio is also reportedly "testing in-app donations...to public radio, starting with KQED in San Francisco."

CNet has more coverage here.