VintageRadio

Latest

  • Daily iPhone App: Vintage Radio

    by 
    Mike Schramm
    Mike Schramm
    01.26.2012

    Vintage Radio is an interesting idea for an iPhone app: It's a ton of various old-time radio recordings (more than 34,000 mystery, horror, comedy, and other old 1930s and 1940s radio shows), all accessible to stream on demand. The app allows you to browse and search shows, set up and save playlists or even share shows on Facebook and Twitter. The selection is really amazing. I like a lot of old-time radio, and this app does have pretty much everything you need. If you have a lot of long car trips or plane rides, it can really help fill the time. Unfortunately, Vintage Radio's biggest problem might be a dealbreaker. The app uses a very confusing subscription model to make money. Basically, you buy the app for $3.99, and get access to a certain amount of the shows for that price. After that, you have to pay a subscription to listen to more shows -- about $1.99 a month, or a little cheaper if you subscribe for a longer period. I also ran into some issue with the app where I only got a certain number of plays on it, and it's not entirely clear when you browse which shows are paid or free. Even paying the subcription is probably cheaper than actually buying all of these shows. Even if you have to pay the subscription fee, if you actually spend a year listening to these recordings, it's probably worth it. Vintage Radio is a nice idea that's not implemented well, but if you're a fan of old-time radio, it's definitely worth a look.