Do You listen to the Internet radio in the car?

[UnrealizedPotential]

I was just curious how many forum members do this. I have pretty much given up on over the air radio. I do get the Los Angeles stations and I am still not happy. But the internet radio is a whole new ballgame. In short it is awesome. If I was not so cheap I would get a smart phone so I can do this. I just might do it anyways. Who else is interested in this or is currently taking advantage of it?

 

[2017ish]

I like our local station. When on long road trips through areas that lack broadcasts of similar style of music, I will often stream it through my car via my smart phone and Tuned In Radio App.; we also use Pandora.

edit to add app.

 

[Mo Money]

We use and enjoy two different services, both free (but which have periodic advertisements): Pandora and AccuRadio. We broadcast them over a Bose Sound Dock which we rigged with a small bluetooth device we bought on eBay for, like, $5. Works well. We also swear by our Mini Jam Box, which is a bluetooth speaker that has great sound and fits in your pocket -- and has an 8-hour charge.

 

[mpeirce]

If there are certain radio stations you enjoy and want to listen to when you are on the road away from home, both iheartradio and Tunein are good apps for this. Many stations are only on iheartradio, so you need it to listen to them, while TuneIn picks almost all the rest, plus international stations. I sometimes enjoy listening to talk radio in the UK or South Africa or Australia (I'm English language only).

For music there are so so many choices. It's more a matter of taste and habit which you like. I've been using iTunes Radio lately and have enjoyed it.

Also consider podcasts. This is really what I listen when one the road. There are so many interesting and informative podcasts our there to choose from. It's also a good fallback when way out in the boonies with no cell coverage.

 

[donheff]

When driving fro a DC to Florida I will occasionally stream NPR or Radio Paradise. RP plays an eclectic mix from the 60s thru the present.

 

[Janet H]

I regularly stream folk alley - they have an awesome app. NPR is another fave but frankly their app is almost useless. I keep hoping for improvement.

Have you checked out amazons echo? Amazon Echo review - CNET

 

[Lsbcal]

How much data do you use when running internet radio? I'm assuming we are talking about non-wifi use.

Here is one article I found that estimated 1.7 GB of data if used for 1hr/day over 30 days: How Much Of Your Broadband Allowance Does Internet Radio Consume? - hypebot

 

[kcowan]

We connect the iPhone for iTunes when travelling long distances. We like local stations but do not drive a lot anymore.

 

[MichaelB]

I just bought a Bluetooth speaker for the iPhone and can see the advantage of streaming while on the road. We will try it next trip.

How much data do you use when running internet radio? I'm assuming we are talking about non-wifi use.

Here is one article I found that estimated 1.7 GB of data if used for 1hr/day over 30 days: How Much Of Your Broadband Allowance Does Internet Radio Consume? - hypebot

The Verizon data calculator says 30 hours is 1.8 GB, AT&T's calculator says 1.0 GB. Based on our last road trip the Verizon calculator overestimates data usage.

 

[marko]

Listen to Pandora in the car most of my drive time

 

[imoldernu]

NPR radio home and car. 4 broadcasting stations cover about 150 miles here in IL. In FL, couldn't get even one station in central Fl. Music - 8 gig on my mp3 player.

 

[6miths]

Two recently new cars we bought both had 3 month trials and while we enjoyed it, I didn't think that the expense was worth it. I liked the BBC and a few of the hits channels but with the ability to stream bluetooth from the phones it's hard to justify.

 

[mike143]

I only pay $20 for unlimited everything on a smart phone. This is through Cricket Wireless and we have five users so it brings the rate down to $20 per line on the 1gb unlimited plan. For one line its $35 with auto pay on the 1gb unlimited plan. You get 1gb of high speed then you are throttled to 128k afterward. This is still enough to stream music. Even when throttled I run GPS and stream talk radio at the same time.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Lifetime sirius/xm in 3 cars. $250 total. I doubt they offer this anymore.


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[34rlsa]

Spotify

 

[Car-Guy]

Do You listen to the Internet radio in the car?

No since it uses to much of my bandwidth and slows down my streaming videos that I watch while driving.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Spotify is my favorite. In the car, at home, and at work. Love my own playlists, and also following the playlists of some of my favorite artists.


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[Major Tom]

I bought a standalone internet radio a few years ago. This model was being cleared out and I got it cheap - around $30 IIRC. I bought one for my SO too and we both use them on a very regular basis. I listen mainly to the BBC on mine, and it's much more convenient than listening on the computer. I can switch it on, push the preset for the station I want and bingo - it's there!

EDIT - I just realized that the title of this thread asks about listening in the car. My mistake - sorry about that. I'm afraid I don't listen in the car because I don't have a car

 

[audreyh1]

I was just curious how many forum members do this. I have pretty much given up on over the air radio. I do get the Los Angeles stations and I am still not happy. But the internet radio is a whole new ballgame. In short it is awesome. If I was not so cheap I would get a smart phone so I can do this. I just might do it anyways. Who else is interested in this or is currently taking advantage of it?

Yeah we started using Apple radio this last car trip and I'm going to drop out satellite radio subscription.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

I bought a standalone internet radio a few years ago. This model was being cleared out and I got it cheap - around $30 IIRC. I bought one for my SO too and we both use them on a very regular basis. I listen mainly to the BBC on mine, and it's much more convenient than listening on the computer. I can switch it on, push the preset for the station I want and bingo - it's there!

EDIT - I just realized that the title of this thread asks about listening in the car. My mistake - sorry about that. I'm afraid I don't listen in the car because I don't have a car

Major Tom, what kind of a connection allows the internet radio to play on this standalone radio?

 

[Major Tom]

Major Tom, what kind of a connection allows the internet radio to play on this standalone radio?

You can either plug a network cable into the back, or it can connect to a WiFi signal. Not good for in-car use, obviously, but great for the home.

 

[Goonie]

I listen almost exclusively to SiriusXM in my car. There are several channels that I really like. I spend quite a bit if time in my car, and always have it on. Plus it's great on long trips, because I don't have to constantly hunt for new stations all of the time.....just 'set it & forget it'. (I also have a Sirius 'BoomBox' out in my workshop, with an externally mounted antenna, that is on whenever I'm out there. And we have the SiriusXM music channels with DishNetwork in the house.)

In my pickup truck, I listen to our local AM and FM stations, as well as WSM 650-AM out of Nashville in the evenings (although Nashville is 500 miles away from here, WSM comes in crystal clear from about 5:00pm to about 6:00am).

On a few occasions I'll plug a patch cord into my iPhone, and listen to my downloaded music in both the car and truck.

 

[Meadbh]

SiriusXM was preinstalled in my car when I bought it but after one year I cancelled the subscription because I am too cheap to pay for it. I reckon there are enough options without having to fiddle with internet radio.

 

[mike143]

Do You listen to the Internet radio in the car?

No since it uses to much of my bandwidth and slows down my streaming videos that I watch while driving.

Not funny. I have a buddy that does this and we call him out and he refuses to change. We were going on a camping trip and he asked if I mind if he watched Netflix while he drove. I said that I did mind and I would drive for him if he wanted to watch Netflix that bad, so I drove. He has dual citizenship and he had a buddy with him that didn't have a US drivers license and when we all hung out he brought up the watching video while driving. We told him we though he was better off driving without a license then riding with someone not fully paying attention to driving.

 

[jimnjana]

We bought a used LEXUS SUV last Feb, that happened to have a SIRIUS radio in it. We never turned it on as we assumed the service had been disconnected. In the fall we heard about a two week free promo with SIRIUS so we turned it on and enjoyed it. Well about 4 months later we still are enjoying it. We can only figure that the previous owner had paid for the life time of the vehicle service plan.