Macworld 2010: Rogue Amoeba shows off RadioShift 1.5
Leading indie Mac software shop Rogue Amoeba had a piece of prime real estate on the front wall of the Moscone expo floor, and CEO Paul Kafasis gave us the latest news on RA's product line. Overall, Paul expressed satisfaction with the traffic level at the show, and he was pleased with the investment he made to exhibit on the floor.
The recent RadioShift 1.5.x refresh (first introduced at the very end of 2009; the latest version, 1.5.3, came out February 3) now features thousands of additional streaming sources, including many in the Windows Media and Real Media formats that are inaccessible to iTunes users, and several sources previously only playable via the station websites. The web radio tuner & recording app received a thorough UI facelift, improved compatibility with RA's Airfoil audio distribution utility, better third-party player installs, and more sophisticated fallback logic to handle stream dropouts and hiccups. RadioShift 1.5 requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and costs US$32.
Speaking of Airfoil, the most recent update (3.5 on 12/16) added support for both EyeTV synchronized playback and VMWare Fusion/Parallels Desktop audio. Airfoil can send your Mac's audio to any networked Mac, PC, AppleTV, iPhone/iPod touch, or Linux workstation. The app is $25, or you can get a bundle of both Mac and Windows version for $40. The company's Pulsar client for Sirius/XM satellite streaming radio was also recently updated; it runs $15 for browserless playback of the radio services (with a separate Sirius/XM online account).
It's definitely a good sign that independent Mac developers like RA, Boinx and Omnigroup are maintaining their high profile at Macworld Expo. We look forward to seeing the blue unicellular beastie with the eyepatch sunglasses and the automatic rifle back next year.
