Repo Review: Shortwave

by CgBoy

A few years ago, I had already reviewed quite a few of the internet radio players available in the repository, but I thought I'd take the time now to have a look at a new radio player available called Shortwave. Shortwave uses the very large, community driven radio-browser.info database for its lists of internet radio stations, giving you access to over 28,000 radio streams.

Shortwave has a nicer and more modern user interface than a lot of the other internet radio players I've previously tested. The simplicity of Shortwave is good, making it quick and easy to find the radio stations that you're looking for. The main screen that you're presented with when opening Shortwave is the Library page. This is where you can keep all your favorite radio stations for easy access. Clicking on the + button at the top left of the window will take you to the Discover page, where you can find new radio stations to listen to.

The Discover page will show you what all the most popular and trending internet radio stations currently are. If you switch over to the Search tab, you can easily have a look through the many thousands of radio stations available. Once you've found a station you'd wish to listen to, simply click on its play button. Clicking on the station itself will open up a small window displaying information such as the station's language, website, audio codec and tags. Along with this information is also the Add to library button.

Shortwave will automatically record the radio stream that you are listening to, and when a music track has finished playing, it gives you the option to save the recording. This will only work, however, if the radio station stream sends the right metadata for Shortwave to be able to detect the song currently playing.

Summary

Shortwave, in my opinion, is one of the best internet radio players that I've used. It may not have quite as many advanced features as some of the other radio players available, but it makes up for that with its great ease of use. And now would also be the perfect time to use Shortwave for listening to some of your favorite Christmas carols!