Stitcher And TalkBack: The World In My Ears

Shortwave Radio --- and DXing was one my hobbies growingup--- I spent many hours listening to far-off radio stations---and in the process developed a love for languages. Fastforward to the late 90's, and one could now listen to radiostations from all around the world on the Internet --- but thistime without the hiss and static of shortwave propogation. But there was acatch --- you needed to be at your computer to listen to thesestations. At home, I solved this problem by setting up a set ofliving room speakers connected to the computer in myoffice-bedroom; with a wireless keyboard, this brought Internet radio to my living room.

Fast-forward to the next decade, and I now have the Internetin my pocket in the form of a smart phone. I recently discoveredStitcher on the Android Market --- and it got me the final mile tohaving ubiquitous access to Internet Radio!

Using Stitcher With TalkBack

There is little more to say other than try it out!.Stitcher on Android is a simple Android application thatworksout of the box with TalkBack. Once you install stitcherfromMarket, use the arrow keys or trackball on your phone tobrowse through the various categories. Clicking on stations launchesplayback immediately. Note that for now, the stop buttonin the player is not navigable by the trackball --- Ihave gotten used to hitting it by dead-reckoning since it alwaysappears in afixed position. In the last few weeks, stitcher hasreplaced StreamFuriously, my previous Internet Radio solution on Android.

So here's to happy listening!A brief note on the title of thispost --- The World In My Ears was also the title of abook on DXing by Arthur Cushen fromNew Zealand --- I remember hearing his voice in the 80's on the BBC's World Service.