Let Your Radio Scream

very good
key review info
application features
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The history of radio goes way back before I was born, and with the spread of the Internet it seems like it has been re-invented. The web is an adequate conductor for the streaming and radios have fit perfectly into the trend right from the beginning.

Listening to radio over the web offers the user the comfort of quick-jumping from one station to another, just like in the digital radio players. Screamer Radio makes listening to live streams a straightforward, comfortable process. The application brings to the table a plethora of streams plus a recording feature, which codes the sound directly to MP3 files. In exchange for these options, the developer asks absolutely no money for it and there is also a portable version for the program you can run without installation from a portable device.

It may seem like other radio stream managers on the market, but the truth is that Screamer Radio is unlike all of them. The mess of radio stations available is simply overwhelming and would satisfy absolutely any of the users, regardless of their taste in music. The huge stack of radios available cover every genre or region of the world.

Screamer Radio brings a tiny interface that is, by no means, adequate for the set of functions and options it has to offer. The main application window allows you to play the current radio station, mute the sound of the application only, adjust the volume, as well as initiate a recording session or view the details on the current radio play (name of the radio, web address, bitrate, and the type of the stream).

But the powers of Screamer Radio are not visible at a first glance of the interface. The Menu bar hides much more features designed to make radio listening as pleasurable as possible. The Settings menu, for instance, shelters stereo separation options, as well as sound effects (compressor and reverse stereo). While under the File menu, you can easily open the URL you want, even if it is not available in the Presets list, and if you like it, add it in the Favorites section.

For the geek in us that likes to do things different (and sometimes the hard way), Screamer Radio allows manual configuration of the software or the Favourites file by altering the parameters in a Notepad file. This is definitely not what the average Joe may want, but advanced computer users can easily customize the application this way.

The door to the milder way of setting Screamer Radio up is found in the Preferences panel accessible under the Settings menu. Here, you benefit from an interface and customization is done with a check (or uncheck) of a box. It can be configured to stay on top of other windows, minimize it to system tray, enable balloon tooltips, enable presets auto-update, change the background color, set a different value for maximum history length or the file editor, or edit the string that appears in the messenger's status.

These are just the general options available in the application, but there are also recording settings, which let you select the path to the recording folder, file pattern, or buffer size. Encoding options permit you to adjust the encoding bitrate and how the encoding should be made (encode OGG Vorbis as MP3, or Continuous Encoding). Each of these options are briefly explained.

Moving to the Advanced section of the Preferences window, you'll find the means to change the buffer size for a continuous play of the radio and reconnection settings (set the number of retries per source and the number of retries from scratch).

Although it is small, easy to use and brings a superfluity of radio streams by default, there is a downside that mainly affects the Presets list and its configuration. Some of the presets are not working, and, from what we've seen, there are plenty of them, and there is no easy way for an average user to edit the list just like in the case of manual configuration of the application's parameters.

Also, in the case of favorite stations, there is no option in the interface to group them in a personal structure. They all come together under the same menu with no sort of organization whatsoever. The same lack of customization is available in the Presets section, which does not offer the possibility of managing yourself the list of stations and eliminate those that don't work or you just do not want to include.

However, if you are an advanced user, you can edit yourself the Presets and Favourites XMLs in the installation folder. It's more like a workaround that requires some skills, but it will get the job done in both cases.

Recording is one of the features in Screamer Radio that you do not get to see in many such programs. And the best part is that it can encode the sound directly into MP3. All you have to do is press the Rec button to start the process, and then again to stop it. In order to make a difference between the two states of the button, you'll have to remember that when recording is in progress, the button will spell “rec” in capital letters. It would be great if there was a more obvious way to spot the difference.

One of the best things in Screamer Radio is that one radio station can have more than one stream source. This way, if one does not work, the application will move to playing the next one. Unfortunately, this goes only for preset streams (again, editing the files can get you that).

The application does a great job at playing the streams and it also permits recording with encoding straight to MP3. Also, the Presets list is fantastically huge and radios are constantly added. But its flexibility is rather limited, as it does not offer an easy way to organize your favorite stations in groups or enrich the Presets list yourself.


The Good

It brings an enormous radio station list, which covers everybody's music tastes. The Recording option is also one of the advantages of Screamer Radio, just like its portability mode and support for multiple sources of the same station.

The application can be handled from the main interface, as well as from the icon in the system tray with the same ease. It offers the possibility of opening a URL of a radio and add it to the favorites for later use.

The Bad

The interface is not exactly an advantage for the software, but as you can handle the playing and everything else from the system tray icon, this is not the worst side of the application.

You cannot modify the Presets list yourself and the Favourites section does not offer an easy way to organize your preferences in groups.

There is a great number of radios the application cannot connect to and you don't have a comfortable, effortless option to remove them (also, when updating the presets, you'll get back to square one).

It needs a more clear distinction between the recording and the playing state, not just capitalizing “rec” and showing the status in the lower part of the interface, under the spectrum.

The Truth

Screamer Radio is a breath of fresh air, however it comes with its share of flaws that should be fixed in order to become a fully-fledged, radio-playing application.

Flexibility in managing the list of preset radio streams is not something a regular user can do, as it involves the editing of the settings file. The Favorites section lacks a fast way to create your own radio groups. Recording, on the other hand, is handled with marvelous ease and the result is of very good quality.

All in all, the app makes for a good radio manager, with the exceptions expressed above. It is free of charge and has a portable version as well.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 3
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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Photo Gallery (2 Images)

Main application window of Screamer Radio
Myriads of radio streams at your disposal