Easily stream radio and podcasts with UberTalk
On the Web or from your iPhone or Android device, UberTalk gives you one-click access to thousands of radio shows and podcasts.
Perhaps the recent theatrical release of "The Hobbit" will make the following statement sound less dated, but I doubt it. Either way, I'm going to say it: UberTalk is the one audio streaming app (or site) to rule them all. By audio streaming, I mean live radio shows and podcasts. And by all, I mean a great many.
UberTalk lets you listen to 20,000 AM/FM radio shows and podcasts, according to the developer, Michael Robertson of MP3.com fame. Although the selection is large, UberTalk limits radio to terrestrial stations; sorry Stern fans.
On UberTalk.com, the shows are arranged by popularity in the guide, but you can browse by genre from the links in the upper-right corner of the page. Simply browse the guide and click on a show to start playing. If it's a radio show, you'll start streaming the live show as it's being broadcast, though you can pause the proceedings. Robertson says UberTalk can buffer about an hour of a live show. For podcasts, you'll begin each at the beginning with a progress bar to skip around.
As a show or podcast plays, the player at the top of the page displays a Twitter feed related to the show. In the bottom-right corner of the player are buttons to share on Facebook and Twitter, and another that takes you to the Web site where the show or podcast originates.
There is also a record button that lets you enter your e-mail and record the show. You'll then be e-mailed when the show is ready. These e-mail reminders don't arrive on anything resembling a schedule, but they will show up in your in-box, though you may need to fish them out of your spam folder at first. Shows are recorded via DAR.fm, Robertson's TiVo for radio service.
Currently airing radio shows and podcasts are listed alongside one another in the guide. Podcasts are marked with a small, orange RSS button, helping you tell them apart from live radio shows. And for some radio shows, you will see upcoming shows listed to the right. You can record these upcoming shows via DAR.fm as well.
I also tried out the UberTalk iOS app (also available for Android) and found it worked in the same manner as the UberTalk Web site. The guide, however, display only one column, showing you what's currently available but not upcoming shows.