Radio is a straightforward, free and open-source “radio” app for Linux. In fact, the app is a GUI for the radio-browser.info website. What is radio-browser.info, you ask?
To quote the official website, radio-browser “[…] is a community driven effort (like Wikipedia) with the aim of collecting as many internet radio and TV stations as possible.”
The biggest advantage of Radio is, as expected, the impressive number of free radio stations it brings to one’s desktop.
You’re provided with a quick way of searching for stations, with the option of adding favorite stations to favorites, as well as with the a simple way of recording radio streams to MP3 format, and that’s about it.
As far as functionality goes, the app is not exactly stellar, but that’s to be expected (since it’s a very young project).
The biggest drawback of the app is the lack of playback controls. For example, you don’t even get a volume controller. This forces you to rely on the system’s volume levels, which can be somewhat cumbersome in some situations.
Sadly, the app also doesn’t provide users with a way of organizing content or filtering out radio stations. We also have to point out that the app is not particularly stable, since searching for stations can sometimes make the app freeze or crash altogether.
Radio is a decent little radio application that gets the job done. It’s not particularly stylish and it definitely doesn’t impress when it comes to features, but if you’re not picky when it comes to controls, then Radio might be worth a chance.
