Watch Free Radio Stations on Windows and Mac With This App
Several times I wanted to listen to the radio while I was working – because sometimes I get nostalgic about commuting – I found that most radio stations’ websites are terrible. It’s like they’re trying to be a weird combination of a news service, a Tumblr blog, and a suite of sophisticated web-based tools for playing music and videos. Blech.
Instead, I’m glad I found the Odio app, which gives you a simplified way to find and listen to radio stations around the world – from 206 countries at the time of this writing. The app is completely free to download and use and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Open the app and click the Countries section to get started, although you can also search for new radio stations by the languages they speak or by tags provided by the community. I appreciate that Odio takes almost no time to stream when you skip different stations, because nothing will kill the fun of this app faster than having to wait a few seconds for each radio station to load.
After finding what you like, you can view the station profile to find out more about it: what language it is broadcast in, what bitrate and codec the stream uses, etc. You can also add your favorite radio stations to your favorites, which will add them to your personal library. This is a great way to stay organized in the app (in addition to the Recently Viewed section in Odio) as there is a lot to listen to.
If for any reason you are unhappy that the radio station you really want to listen to is not included in the Odio catalog, you can always submit it to the Community Radio Browser website. Odio pulls its list of streaming stations from here, so you’ll want to add your favorites if you want Odio to present them in the app.