14 DAY TRIAL // Google returned me no less and no more than 412 million results for "internet radio" this morning. So you can easily imagine (or at least try to imagine) the extent of all this modern "institution"("institution " as sociology calls it, while being a mass and its presence and existence being also socially and widely accepted). I'd be curious to know some approximate numbers...how many internet radio stations are "out there"? Certainly, over 2 billion websites, so I really don't know what to think...anyway this number is huge, I can vouch for that. And if so, many online stations, software to ease people's access to them was needed and nowadays we have also a ton of such code, ready and just waiting to be used.
From freeware (and sometimes lousy) code, up to radio players being sold for serious money (and sometime lousy as well), many players state their offers, alluring with either looks or features, ease or size, notoriety or advanced audio technology. Among them, there is also Kaboom Desktop Player, one free piece of code and a nice one as well.
The Looks
It is not in vain that the creators of Kaboom have also put "desktop" in its commercial name: it really is a fullscreen window, acting rather like some sort of desktop browser or navigator, but much simpler and easier to use.
Its GUI is divided in two areas, each with its own function: the largest part of the screen is dedicated to listing the multiple radio stations, while the remaining space is intended for playback (Play/Pause/Stop) controls, rating of stations and linking to the various and multiple radios. Indeed, nothing groundbreaking in what graphical design might be concerned, but the appearance is very pleasant and neat, with a very tidy room-administration, so you can instantly get very good visual data with just one peek.
No skins and no color-schemes as there are also no menus at all. The station list is very readable and below the names of the radios, info on the currently playing track is also displayed. In line with these, there is also info on the user-rating, genre and bitrate, so you can easily decide what you will listen to. You can also check for the newest additions in that list, or random the stations' playback. Besides these areas, accessible by handy and intuitive tabs, there is a search area but it is not functional yet. In the rightmost side of the screen, the playback and rating controls are very easy to spot and even easier to use.
Down, at the bottom of the page, a quick-jump number-list is present, so you can freely browse the station list and jump between pages in instants. Overall, even if the GUI of Kaboom Desktop Player isn't at all something to write too much about, as it is rather dead-simple, I must admit that it is also extremely functional, especially as it is in the 1.0 (beta) version so far. Despite the free attribute (which in some cases almost automatically triggers lousiness) and the early version, the Kaboom Desktop Player's interface is a very promising one, maybe exactly because of the neatness and "aired" feeling it emits; without being too "flashy" it retains sobriety and a professional look-a-like for which it will get a high mark from me.
The Works
Everybody who has ever worked with a similar software before knows that there is not much to the workings of an internet radio-browser; first of all, the program must be stable. Kaboom Desktop Player has had no crashes at least as far as I've tested it, therefore I can really say that this beta can definitely have a very good-working final release. The basics of operation are pretty easy and all you need to do is click a link after navigating and seeing something that aroused your interest; Kaboom Desktop Player will immediately buffer the data stream and playback will start in just seconds (of course depending on you internet connection).
You can stop or pause the playback by simply clicking on the correspondent button in the right pane and you can rate a station with the same easy moves as well. Operating the Kaboom Desktop Player is really an extremely easy set of simple tasks, so it is well-suited for any age and definitely any skill-level of PC-operation.
While still in the beta version, I would just add some of my comments in this article and hope (for the program's best) that the developers will heed my advice: generic operation would be much easier and even quicker, should the stations be visually arranged in the "tracklist", according to some criteria such as rating, name, genre (MOST IMPORTANT) and bitrate, exactly the way other softwares do. Thus, reaching the web content users are looking for will be a lot easier and automated, consequently improving the Kaboom Desktop Player experience.
Moreover, Kaboom Desktop Player will gain a lot of further appreciation, if playback of various stations is not stopped, as users navigate away from the page where radio plays: the new playback should begin only when a new link is clicked and not when simply focusing on other pages. I am definitely looking forward for the search utility as the number of stations must really grow if the developers want to "make a statement". For a free radio software, Kaboom Desktop Player has a decent amount of stations, but to grow professional, some more work is needed.
Finally, Kaboom Desktop Player can (and will) go to the system tray so it will just play without occupying space in your (always) precious taskbar. A very good start from the devs of Kaboom, which gets a supportive ranking from me, thus ending this article.
The Good
The good things in Kaboom Desktop Player are about everything it consists of: freeware, neat and orderly design, crash-free operation, an incredibly small size of only 24 KB and a very easy operation.
The Bad
Nothing is bad in this beta version of the Kaboom Desktop Player and should the developers pay attention to my suggestions, things will be far from bad for a looong time.
The Truth
I really enjoyed working with Kaboom Desktop Player during this cold morning and I advise you to give it a spin, being confident you'll like it as well.
Check the screenshots below, while enjoying the music of Kaboom Desktop Player:
