MeFi Radio pre 1.0 beta testers needed March 12, 2014 5:35 PM Subscribe
Want to beta test out MeFi Radio, a new iOS 7.x app?
A few months ago, MeFi user and musician scottandrew mentioned he was learning to build iOS apps and asked how we could work together, so I mentioned that an app for MeFi Music would be a good idea. It could just pull down the recent playlists or your own custom playlists and play them over the network. A couple months ago Scott showed me the first version and I've been playing with it ever since.
Here's a screenshot of what it looks like in action.
Before he adds it to the App Store, he's looking for testers. If you'd like to try it out, send a MeFi Mail to scottandrew with your email address and UDID (how to get it from your phone) and Scott will add you to the TestFlight demo list, giving you download access to it. Feel free to send feedback directly to him, or if you want to ask questions here I can answer them too.
A few months ago, MeFi user and musician scottandrew mentioned he was learning to build iOS apps and asked how we could work together, so I mentioned that an app for MeFi Music would be a good idea. It could just pull down the recent playlists or your own custom playlists and play them over the network. A couple months ago Scott showed me the first version and I've been playing with it ever since.
Here's a screenshot of what it looks like in action.
Before he adds it to the App Store, he's looking for testers. If you'd like to try it out, send a MeFi Mail to scottandrew with your email address and UDID (how to get it from your phone) and Scott will add you to the TestFlight demo list, giving you download access to it. Feel free to send feedback directly to him, or if you want to ask questions here I can answer them too.
This will be great. I get a work iPhone for the first time next week (bye bye BB) and am supposed to beta test it before Corporate roll out, so this will be perfect!
posted by arcticseal at 6:07 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by arcticseal at 6:07 PM on March 12, 2014
I have volunteered to beta the test. I will report back on my findings.
posted by slogger at 7:09 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by slogger at 7:09 PM on March 12, 2014
I'll just be sitting here in the corner with my HTC One, alone and unloved.
posted by double block and bleed at 10:37 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by double block and bleed at 10:37 PM on March 12, 2014
Note: this will be limited to at most the first 99 people who reply, due to Apple's wonderful provisioning profile limitations. So don't procrastinate.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:09 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:09 PM on March 12, 2014
Also: great idea. I will put it next to the NPR Music App and Spotify.
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:09 PM on March 12, 2014
posted by jeffamaphone at 11:09 PM on March 12, 2014
Want!
posted by wenestvedt at 7:10 AM on March 13, 2014
posted by wenestvedt at 7:10 AM on March 13, 2014
Will this app punch people in the dick for me?
posted by desjardins at 7:43 AM on March 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by desjardins at 7:43 AM on March 13, 2014 [3 favorites]
I want to, but I know that I just want to listen to music and will not actually be good at being a tester. So here I am, waiting for the real deal. Yay!
posted by Night_owl at 8:47 AM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Night_owl at 8:47 AM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm in! Nifty TestFlight app and MeFi Radio beta app installation was a breeze.
posted by emelenjr at 10:04 AM on March 13, 2014
posted by emelenjr at 10:04 AM on March 13, 2014
Will testflight work on my jailbroken phone running ios6?
posted by cj_ at 12:10 PM on March 13, 2014
posted by cj_ at 12:10 PM on March 13, 2014
I sent out 9 memails so that I can make a fortune scalping MeFi Radio beta iPhones on eBay like Flappy Bird.
posted by oceanjesse at 12:11 PM on March 13, 2014
posted by oceanjesse at 12:11 PM on March 13, 2014
Oops, I just saw it says ios 7 in the post.
(Kind of surprised, nothing I use requires 7 -- even plex, which is notorious for dropping support as soon as a new ios version drops.)
posted by cj_ at 12:15 PM on March 13, 2014
(Kind of surprised, nothing I use requires 7 -- even plex, which is notorious for dropping support as soon as a new ios version drops.)
posted by cj_ at 12:15 PM on March 13, 2014
Still using iOS 4. Don't want to dispose of my old phone (where will the heavy metals go?). Wish more apps were developed for earlier iOS versions. Taking an Android development class and understanding the appeal of just developing for the latest version. Ugh.
posted by amtho at 8:52 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by amtho at 8:52 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think that may be down to App Store rules. They approve apps that work with the latest OS rev. And it's easier for devs to work with newer, more feature-laden APIs, instead of reinventing the wheel for older OSes. Progress has a cost, I guess.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:18 PM on March 13, 2014
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:18 PM on March 13, 2014
Hey all, thanks for volunteering. There's still plenty of room for more testers if you want in!
posted by scottandrew at 10:39 PM on March 13, 2014
posted by scottandrew at 10:39 PM on March 13, 2014
iOS developer here: Apple will now only accept apps built against the iOS 7 SDK, but these apps can still be compatible with older iOS versions as well. However, supporting older versions adds a bit of work—you can't use some of the new APIs, you need special-case code to handle differences in older versions, there are some major appearance changes in iOS 7…. It also adds work for testing, as supporting one or two old versions doubles or triples the number of devices you need to test on. Since Apple won't let you downgrade your devices, getting out-of-date devices to test on can be a pain (if you didn't plan ahead before the latest version came out).
So unless you need to support older versions (e.g. something like Whatsapp or many social networking apps that need everyone to be able to install them), it can be tempting to drop support for an older version of iOS once the newest has significant uptake (iOS 7 is up to 83% now). If you're creating a new app now, it's definitely much more appealing to just support the latest iOS version. It looks like there's a correlation between people who have the latest version and people who will buy apps, so why not target the larger, growing, and more likely to purchase segment of the market that's also easier to develop for?
posted by JiBB at 12:14 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
So unless you need to support older versions (e.g. something like Whatsapp or many social networking apps that need everyone to be able to install them), it can be tempting to drop support for an older version of iOS once the newest has significant uptake (iOS 7 is up to 83% now). If you're creating a new app now, it's definitely much more appealing to just support the latest iOS version. It looks like there's a correlation between people who have the latest version and people who will buy apps, so why not target the larger, growing, and more likely to purchase segment of the market that's also easier to develop for?
posted by JiBB at 12:14 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yeah, what JiBB said. For me, NSURLSession has been a big driver.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:17 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:17 AM on March 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
I also have not jumped to iOS 7.
Btw almost any number you see about OS version uptake is based on the numbers of devices visiting the relevant app store recently. This is probably going to be significantly skewed in favor of newer devices because of people visiting much more often early on in their device ownership, and because people with older devices know there won't be much new stuff available for them anyway.
posted by philipy at 11:30 AM on March 14, 2014
Btw almost any number you see about OS version uptake is based on the numbers of devices visiting the relevant app store recently. This is probably going to be significantly skewed in favor of newer devices because of people visiting much more often early on in their device ownership, and because people with older devices know there won't be much new stuff available for them anyway.
posted by philipy at 11:30 AM on March 14, 2014
Of course there's a correlation between having the latest version and buying apps. It's nearly impossible to buy apps if you _don't_ have the latest version.
I've _tried_ to buy apps. It doesn't seem possible.
posted by amtho at 11:36 AM on March 14, 2014
I've _tried_ to buy apps. It doesn't seem possible.
posted by amtho at 11:36 AM on March 14, 2014
This is totally cool. Working great on my iPad right now. I will have to put it through a few tests to see if I can break it, but right now... wow!
Nice work, scottandrew!
posted by hippybear at 7:34 AM on March 15, 2014
Nice work, scottandrew!
posted by hippybear at 7:34 AM on March 15, 2014
This is great! Installed on my iPhone & my iPad. I love that there's a link to my playlists & all the podcasts, too. So many wonderful songs I'd forgotten! Love love love it!
posted by goshling at 10:54 PM on March 18, 2014
posted by goshling at 10:54 PM on March 18, 2014
I hardly ever visit MeFiMusic anymore, I just sort of forget it's there, but I reckon this app will make it so easy to tune in when I'm driving. Really looking forward to being able to keep up with what the Music contributors are up to, the talented bastards.
posted by goshling at 11:04 PM on March 18, 2014
posted by goshling at 11:04 PM on March 18, 2014
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posted by iamkimiam at 5:53 PM on March 12, 2014