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Programming & Music
This essay, My Connected Life: More Streaming, More Problems, was written by Sean Ross for Radio-Info.com's Programming & Music column.
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My Connected Life: More Streaming, More Problems
From time to time, I’ve commented on my streaming experience—particularly since I began, finally, streaming radio in the car on a regular basis in 2009. I haven’t weighed in recently. Until late November, the story would have been only that I wasn’t streaming as much radio in the car as I wanted—a function of wireless service that had only gotten worse over the last two years.From my first, unsuccessful attempts before switching from Blackberry to iPhone, streaming radio in my car had always been an inconsistent experience. Even with the iPhone, only about 20% of the radio I tried to listen to offered a listenable and reasonably uninterrupted stream. More often than not, however, streaming applications took forever to launch and might give me no more than a few seconds of listenable audio. When iHeart Radio’s mobile app was relaunched last fall, I finally got my first consistently usable (although not uninterrupted) streams.
For the most part, I blamed a combination of my rapidly-becoming-antiquated two-year-old iPhone and AT&T service, then the subject of frequent public complaints. The issues didn’t just apply to streaming. Even at a time when all iPhones were AT&T, I often found myself in a public place without a signal but sitting next to somebody with an identical phone who clearly had no such problems.
Toward the end of my initial two-year period, coincidentally around the time that the iPhone 4S rolled out, things got worse. There were few places in my own house where I could receive calls on my own cell phone. If we played phone tag last fall, you probably got a return message from me leaving multiple numbers, because I couldn’t count on the cell working consistently. I also couldn’t count on landing in a new city and having service until I was well out of the airport.
Despite this, when I was finally able to upgrade to iPhone 4S, I stayed with AT&T, partially out of curiosity, but also because I wanted to try and keep my unlimited data plan. There was a night-and-day change. My streaming apps worked. There were fewer interruptions to my listening outside of a few consistent dead spots on my commute. I was finally able to use the ride to work to listen to clients.
Then, about six weeks in, I got a text from AT&T. “Your data use this month places you in the top 5% of users. Use Wi-Fi to help avoid reduced speeds.”
Although I had worried about data usage over the previous two years, I had never come close to the threshold that would have put me over the limit on a typical pay-as-you-go plan. I rarely streamed video—the real bandwidth hog—or e-mailed photos. I listened mostly at the gym and on a half-hour-each-way commute that I made only twice a week. When I got my new phone, my listening habits remained the same. It’s just that I was actually able to stream consistently.
So now I find myself under notice from AT&T that similarly high data use next month will get me bucked down to slower data speeds. Not unlike unused minutes, I feel I should have two years’ worth of accrued preferential speeds to make up for my effective lack of service for two years. The idea that I might be deliberately returned to my old, unusable service as revenge for actually successfully using the product rankles a lot. But I am scrutinizing my data use more closely in other places.
And although the growth of streaming radio in recent years has pretty much quashed the concerns from two years ago that the end of unlimited data for most people would have a chilling effect on streaming radio, I can say that there are more occasions when I ask myself if streaming is really worth it.
None of these are likely concerns for a civilian listener. But if, as somebody in the business, you are trying to control your data usage, it does make you think about whether you really need to listen to “Pumped Up Kicks” or “We Found Love” again (both of which, for the record, I still enjoy hearing), even if you’re hearing it on BBC Radio 1, instead of your local FM station.
If you are trying to control your data usage, it also makes you think about whether you are going to leave on that seven minute stopset, even though chances are excellent that if you stop streaming and resolve to come back in seven minutes, you will somehow just miss the return to music—or whatever moment that somebody in the business might be listening for.
Streaming more has made me very conscious, by the way, that six- and seven-minute stopsets very much still exist. And because some owners have made a greater recent effort to cover them with music (many Clear Channel stations) or at least fill them with real spots (simulcast with the FM signal or otherwise), one becomes very conscious of those streaming stopsets that are still cobbled together from hardsell PSAs, multiple morning show promos, and inducements to buy stream-only advertising.
It often seems to be the case that the longer a station’s stopset, the less likely it will be covered in a listenable way online. It pains me to add that Urban radio now stands out from other major formats as the one where I most often encounter long, unlistenable online stopsets. Improving the online experience would help address multiple other format issues—especially for a format that should maximize TSL in any way possible to make up for its cume challenges in a PPM environment—and yet, you get the impression that the other format issues are keeping managers from addressing the online experience.
Now that the streaming experience is more consistent, I have also had the unusual experience of punching back and forth between streaming radio and AM/FM in the car and thinking that streaming sounds better and fuller. I expect my processing-savvy friends to tell me this is ridiculous. But as MP3 listening shows, it’s what you get used to.
Finally, as major group broadcasters become more protective about keeping their streams to themselves, I do find myself having to plan my listening around Clear Channel stations (and those now available on the iHeart Radio app), CBS/Radio.com stations and everything else that can be streamed through a single aggregator’s app. Since there are nearly 100 stations bookmarked in the latter since November, I still find myself going to the aggregator’s app most often. I’ve already amply weighed in on this topic, but I’m not the only one with concerns.
How are your streaming experiences these days? Leave a comment.
About the Writer
Sean Ross, one of the radio and music industry’s most widely respected writers and programming analysts, is the author of the newsletter Ross On Radio, an extension of his long-running column of the same name.
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Hi Sean, This is the elephant in the room. Both Pandora and IHeart (among others) don't talk about it because it only affects HEAVY users. However, the radio ad model is based on heavy users. So, it's important. Here's the math... Most plans are charging a lot of money per Gb (around $10). For perspective, 1 Gb is only 40 hours of audio. And most new data plans give you between 1 and 3 Gb for between $15 and $30. After that it's $10-$12 per Gb If you are part of an unlimited plan and they can't get you with 'overage', they'll throttle your speed. Either way, the bandwidth bandits (who are making a profit on data of between 40% and 4000% - not a typo) are going to seriously slow the growth of TRUE mobile - where you are in motion (car, etc.) - not tethered to wi-fi access. This isn't going away. Good luck with your streaming!
As long as carriers charge by the gigabyte, you'll always have that ugly ceiling. A couple of solutions: Many online stations like (ahem) GreatBigRadio.com offer lower bandwidth streams in addition to their flagship 128k stream. They use less of your data plan and are easily accessible through the TuneIn app. Also, you can give Sprint's unlimited data plans a try. I've been with them for over 15 years and I have fewer complaints than I'm hearing from friends with the other carriers. Hopefully, carriers' antiquated data plans will vanish once the technology catches up to demand. When that happens, the online playing field will break wide open.
One of the reasons SiriusXM is still relevant: unlimited bandwidth, universal coverage... those 3G/4G data caps aren't getting any more forgiving any time soon. Shameless plug!
If anything is going to put the brakes on mobile being used by radio stations, this is it. I'm thinking about online streams that I use, how they're mistimed and repetitive. A listen to WCBS-FM (which boots a listener out of a stream after about an hour), every ad break had a Trojan ad (somehow I doubt the on-air version did). WLW in Cincinnati overplays "classic promos" from as early as 2004, and WGN fills breaks with what sounds like a bagpipe band on steroids. Not a good experience.
I'm about to upgrade from the original Droid to the forthcoming new Droid 4 when it comes out, and I'm grandfathered in on Verizon's unlimited data plan. It's not perfect, though. For example, the chiropractor I go to is in southern Kentucky, where 3G coverage for Verizon is spotty at best. If I want to check in on Foursquare as being there, I have to pull into the DQ parking lot across the street, hop on their WiFi, and check in from there.
AT&T is trying to nudge you off your unlimited plan to go to tierd data...I just read this article earlier today http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57368590-266/at-t-gives-heavy-data-users-a-not-so-subtle-hint-to-ditch-the-unlimited-plan/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20 that outlines why AT&T is doing it and what the various options are. As Howard Hoffman suggested, give Sprint a try - but wait until they launch LTE in your area later this year (hopefully). As far as sound quality...if you have a powerful dual core PC, your sound can keep up with the best from Omnia, Orban & Vorsis for only a couple hundred dollars. On my stream (JamminOldiesRadio.Com - shameless plug!), I use Breakaway Broadcast with pro grade souncards, WAV source material, and it sounds amazing. Especially using AAC as the codec rather than MP3 - the lack of preemphasis and frequency response out to 22 kHz makes it possible to sound great.
I have to respectfully disagree with John and the overall tenor that bandwidth will be a problem for the growth of audio streaming, specifically for radio stations. Let's use John's figure of 1 GB = 40 hours of radio. According to Arbitron, average national TSL is a little more than 14 hours a week. Even if streaming replaced ALL of your average listener's listening and your broadcast ratings dropped to zero, you'd still only be at about 1.5 GB of data usage, which is about half of the AT&T 3 GB plan. Add to this the fact that we have an increasingly preponderance of free wifi hotspots and home wifi, and I have a very hard time worrying that your average radio user will ever have to worry about data usage caps. Beyond the above, telephone companies realize, specifically with streaming video, that this is a problem they need to solve. They are handling it in a number of ways, primarily through an increase in spectrum and an upgrade in throughput efficiency in that new spectrum. It wasn't that long ago that I walked into a Clear Mobile store to look at a mobile hotspot. The 3G spectrum usage was capped at 3 GB or so, but 4G usage was unlimited. This is really the future, with more upside and accommodation for streaming than limitations and penalties.
And THAT is the reason that phone companies do NOT want to add radios to their phones.
As I also have a grandfathered unlimited data plan, I've been a bit gunshy at moving from AT&T to another carrier with better coverage in my area. I do spend a lot of time listening to internet radio through my Blackberry, be it in the car or on the bicycle during the summer. I haven't seen the dreaded 5% letter yet, but I'm certain that day will come. As I'm approaching upgrade time, I'm pondering whether to sign-on for another 2-years with AT&T or not. or many just hanging on to the Blackberry with no term committment.... Those streaming on the web can better serve their listeners with low bitrate, but high quality AAC+ audio, rather than 128kbps WMA and MP3 streams. Listening to streaming radio has been interesting with AT&T. Some days there's dropouts in places there were not the day prior; sometimes in the process of moving from one cell zone to another, audio isn't always in synch and a song can repeat a section just heard, or jump ahead as if someone hit the needle on a record.
Sean, Assuming your gym time is 1 hour, 3 times per week, 4 times per month= 3x60x4= 720 minutes per month. Your commute is ½ hour each way, twice per week= 2x60x4= 480 minutes per month. 180x4=720 + 120x4=480 Total 1,200 streaming minutes per month 1,200x60=72,000 seconds x 48,000Kb (kilobits) = 3,456,000,000 Gb (gigabits). Now divide the Gb by 8 (8 bits per byte) and you are consuming 432,000,000 bytes/1024 (1024 bytes per M)= 421MB per month. This is way, way below even the minimum ATT data plan of 2GB and clearly you are nowhere near the top 5%, at least based on your radio consumption! Now you might be getting a stream that is 64Kb which simply means your consumption would be 25% higher or approximately 526MB, still way below even the minimum data allotment. Also, you might be listening to MP3 but more likely it is AAC+ and that's going to sound much, much better then MP3. Because radio is audio only it is actually quite difficult to blow through your data plan. This assumes you never consume via WiFi either and most gyms have that now too. I'm not sure what's going on with your service but radio streaming is being pretty gentle to your data use. Rob Green Abacast
Here's what's worked for me. I listen as much as I want to at home on my ROKU box. People think of Roku as that thing that you can watch Netflix and Hulu on your TV with. Yes, it's that. But when it comes to media - including radio - Roku is the way to go. I'm not using a phone's limitations. I'm just using my already paid for Time Warner internet. I'm one of the last remaining people on earth without a cell phone so I listen to pre mixed CDs in the car, or I use that time to sample new music for Wrecking Ball Radio. But even if I had a cell phone, I'd use the phone for internet radio in the car but only use Roku for home or office use. On Roku, there are a few great radio apps. Tune-In Radio and Shoutcaster are my favorites. They're free. The sound quality is awesome. You can get Live 365 stations on there, too, but they charge extra for some reason, so I avoid them. Now, if someone can figure out a way to create a Roku Radio for the car - that'd be sweet.
Back in 2002, Orban and I set out to improve the audio on the Internet, by being first to offer HE-AAC/aacPlus for streaming to replace unreliable, costly, swishy MP3 and WMA. An added bonus, was that it sounds much better as well. After all, it uses the same core codec, AAC, used by Apple iTunes, the most popular music download service. It is a global standard. As a veteran to the broadcast industry since 1971, I have been committed to making all of this work seamlessly for the intended audience. We now provide professional quality HE-AAC streaming encoding software, Orban Opticodec-PC Streaming Encoder, and a professional audio signal processing sound card, Orban Optimod-PC, to the broadcast/netcast providers to such clients as Clear Channel, CBS, and NRJ, just to name a few. More information here: http://www.orban.com/products/streaming/ After watching several mobile phone App developers get their streaming player implementations wrong with incorrect/incomplete HE-AAC decoding (most of which from the major broadcasters), we decided to have Modulation Index, LLC provide a player, StreamS HiFi Radio for iPhone/iPad/iPod touch that gets it right, including a comprehensive HE-AAC ONLY Stream Directory, focused towards quality content. This aims to be one App for all streams, so users don’t need an App for this content provider and another for another, just like the radio model that has worked in our industry for years. This is about the user. It must be made easy for the user, and it is clear that this has been forgotten by most providers. More information here: http://www.streamindex.com As you can see by scrolling down the page here: http://www.indexcom.com/iphone/hfsabasics.html All mobile phone players are not created equal. There is a Stream Calculator here: http://www.indexcom.com/iphone/streamdata.html We have just returned from CES, where we were featured on the back outside cover of the CES Show Directory on the Pioneer AppRadio. http://pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/AppRadio/AppRadio+(SPH-DA01) So StreamS HiFi Radio is now available on the dashboard. We will be working with other vendors in the new future to create one player for all streams, so the audience has an easy way to hear quality entertainment grade streaming, rather than 50,000 Apps for 50,000 different garbage streams! StreamS HiFi Radio uses an HE-AAC Only Stream Directory and advanced stream buffering and correct HE-AAC decoding, which most of the other Apps do not. I can easily drive around Los Angeles listening to London or Amsterdam radio with better audio quality than any local over-the-air radio. This is no joke. Here are the bullet points for the HE-AAC Advantage: 1. There are no streaming royalties. Contrary to popular belief, MP3 streaming requires 2% of revenue for streaming royalties. The only way to avoid this is to not make any money, something many radio stations seem to have mastered lately. http://mp3licensing.com/royalty/ Technicolor will find you, and you will receive an invoice. Licensed HE-AAC includes a one-time license included in the purchase. 2. Lower cost to stream. Streaming Server providers have data plans that are less expensive than MP3 or WMA. 3. Lower cost to listen, especially for mobile data plans. Can be up to 4 times easier on data consumption to the consumer, very important on limited data plans. 4. Higher efficiency. 32kbps can deliver 16kHz audio bandwidth in stereo, compared to requiring 128kbps for swishy MP3 or WMA. MP3 and WMA are 20 year old technology that have outlived their usefulness. They are primitive, less complex algorithms that are not as effective and efficient as HE-AAC. More information here: ftp://ftp.orban.com/1010/Documentation/CodecParameters_AAC_HE-AAC.pdf ftp://ftp.orban.com/1010/Documentation/CodecParameters_MP3.pdf 5. Increased reliability. Today's crowded mobile networks need all the help they can get. Despite the billions of ad dollars spent by the wireless companies telling you they can "hang the moon," none of them can actually "find the hook." 6. Better, newer generation, higher performance audio codec with better sonic audio quality than MP3, WMA, HD Radio and Satellite Radio. MP3 and WMA are 20 year old technologies that have outlived their usefulness. MPEG-4 AAC, the core audio codec for HE-AAC, is the codec of choice for the most popular downloadable music service, Apple iTunes. It is now an MPEG-4 standard supported by Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, and all mobile phones.
