NPR App & NPR News Updated With Fresh Look & New Features
For Americans both home and abroad and those "in the know" around the globe, National Public Radio has the kind of sterling reputation that the BBC World News enjoys abroad.
NPR produces radio and television content which is innovative and free from influence by corporations or lobbyists. As such, the content tends to be fresh, original and thought-provoking. Funded by donations by individuals, foundations, charities and other assorted donors, this allows for a more independence voice than other corporate owned big V networks and radio station conglomerates can afford.
Because of this independent spirit NPR remains popular with an educated populace that enjoys smart programming instead of the overly saturated reality TV programming shown elsewhere.
NPR One app
For Android owners, the NPR One app is ideal to keep up to date with all the latest NPR programming as well as search for previously produced media. Content can be read, viewed or accessed in a stream over the internet.
Stories can be read and marked for later consumption when you have more time. The live streams from a NPR station can be switched around, paused, jumped forward or rewound if you just missed what someone said too quietly.
The NPR One app goes further by being able to connect to any public radio station in the United States. Curation is added where possible to made the audio stream more interactive.
Your own stream can be personalized to just provide the stories that will be of special interest to you. Top news stories will also be included. The news is global rather than being completely US-centric which is nice.
NPR One also saw a release for the iPhone too.
NPR One App User Interface Improvements
The user interface has seen some modernizing to more closely mirror the designs of other popular Droid apps. The search feature is easier to access, there is a refresh button to pull in new stories and simple menu buttons to access other parts of the app. There is plenty of white space and the design looks equally good on a Droid tablet or a smaller smartphone.
It is also now possible to browse around and find what you're looking for due to the cleaner look. Play sound bites or listen to whole NPR programs directly from the main screen rather than having to hunt around inside the app to do so.
NPR News and Music apps
There are NPR News apps for Android and iPhone. Also NPR have previously released an NPR Music app for iPhone and iPad which hasn't reached the Android platform just yet. NPR One has also been released for the iPhone too.
NPR.org
The NPR site has also recently had an overhaul to deliver a more modern browsing experience. 24 hour streaming is available direct from the top navigation menu and it's easy to find their mobile apps to download. The menu slides open in a sleek manner to reveal more specific options.
Each news story is given a large enough excerpt and photo to make it faster to decide what content to view or skip. The site redesign complements the NPR One app very well.
