NPR Music on Your iPad

NPR Music has a new app for iPads that delivers a whole boatload of content very slickly.  I don’t have an iPad, so I’m just repeating the report by Christopher Breen at Macworld.

The app contains a lot of archived material — audio, video, and text — and it also has radio.  NPR has underserved classical listeners for years now, but the new app brings oodles of classical radio back under the NPR wing, even if it’s not their own content.

… the right side of the screen displays at least one featured station along with a list of all of NPR’s stations associated with that genre. For example, tap Classical, and Classical MPR and Q2: Living Music, Living Composers appear under Featured Stations. There are 41 additional stations that appear in the All Classical Stations area. Tap the heart icon next to any station and that station now appears below the Favorite Stations entry at the top of the screen (until you’ve chosen at least one favorite, you won’t see that entry). Tap the Favorites button at the top of the window and you’ll also see your favorite stations.

NPR has some pretty amazing archives, so tapping around in the classical area you should be able to find great stuff in the way of interviews, stories, live studio performances, etc.

It’s actually pretty brilliant for NPR’s bottom line: you listen to Performance Today, which is produced by American Public Media or Q2, which is produced by WQXR, and because NPR offers it to you through their app, you think you’re listening to NPR.  That’s always been a company strength. They get credit for all public radio shows, even when the shows belong to other production houses.  People often donate to NPR thinking they are supporting those shows, and this will cement the perception even more.  NPR Music does have a partnership with those stations and is now going to reap increased rewards from that partnership.  Wonder how much benefit will go the other direction?