Stitcher Radio – an alternative to SiriusXM Satellite Radio

Can Stitcher Radio replace your satellite radio? Stitcher Radio is an app you download from the Playstore for Android or App Store for IOS. It’s free, but its more than that, it will save you money. I have only had SirusXM for a few months as it came free with my car purchase. I found myself sticking mostly with the news channels save a few trips down memory lane with the 80s station. I liked having six or seven news stations (CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, etc.) I could swap to and from. I have a 22 minute ride to work, give or take the time I spend at red lights. During that time I have noticed there will be a couple of commercial breaks that I just don’t want in my short drive. The selection is good, but it seems like they all play their commercials at the same time. I like being able to hit play on my program and at least get a full segment, uninterrupted. I also don’t like to surf as much as I like just playing what I want, when I want it. On-demand isn’t a new concept as we watch the death of live TV over the past few years. Services like Netflix and Hulu PLUS are taking over as we just don’t have the time to wait around for what we really want. The same impulse I have with my TV watching is how I now feel about my listening habits in the car.

The best part about my new listening style is it comes absolutely free with Stitcher. If you have lots of data in your plan you can stream away from their app. There are so many offerings for non-music options in categories like sports, news and finance to name a few. For those that don’t want to use all their data here is the best part, you can download shows to your phone and take them with you to play whenever you want with a feature called “play whenever you want” just kidding, the actual feature name is “Listen Later”. I have a Bluetooth connection in my car as is the case with newer cars and I can just cue up my shows and listen away. Most of my shows don’t even have commercials so I get uninterrupted segments on my work route. You just need to make sure you download the shows before you head on out the door. The extra time it takes to download and hit play is much less than the wasted time of listening to all those morning commercials. Your car’s display screen will display episode information and can help you navigate your recordings.

For longer drives you can loop through your playlist of downloads. I group my news playlists into two groups, my Sunday shows, and my weekday shows. Either downloaded or live streaming, the shows will play in the order you have them. If playing downloads you will hear them in the order you downloaded them. If live, you will hear the most episode for each show as most shows will only list their most recent episode. If you want to save up some episodes that air everyday you will want to check and download each day make sure you have them all.
Not all shows are complete episodes. A show will sometimes use Stitcher to promote their pay services. Some of these include shows like The Laura Ingram Show or Kilmeade and Friends will give you a segment to help whet the appetite and hope you sign up for a subscription. Other shows give you the full experience including most of the CNN shows like Anderson Cooper 360 and Erin Burnett OutFront.

Some shows skip the commercials while others include them. CNN likes to promote other shows in the spots where regular commercial breaks would take place. There is a progress bar that you can use to skip past parts of the show or commercials. However, on small devices like a phone and a long two hour show, accurately skipping ahead will be difficult. You will have better luck with a tablet if this is important to you. If you don’t want to throw your iPad in your car each day, maybe get yourself a cheap backup for use in your car. Amazon’s new 7” budget Fire (get price) or the 2015 Chromo Inc (get price) tablets might fit the bill.

Listen on-line – you don’t have to use a phone or tablet to log in and listen to your favorite shows. You can sign up on-line and find the shows you like best then save your favorites to your “My Stations” list. It may be easier to browse through the different station offerings Online even if the majority of your listening will be on your phone or tablet.

Stitcher Radio might not replace your car’s SirusXM satellite service for music or plethora of stations, but for largely uninterrupted shows you can already find with their selection of stations, Stitcher Radio is a great NO COST alternative to pricey subscriptions.