Post Description

iTunes wants to be your be-all, end-all media player, handling videos, podcasts, music, and even Internet radio. But it's overkill-using iTunes to play an Internet radio stream is like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito, and it's of almost no help in searching for new streams, either. Radium 3 is a cool music utility that lives in your menu bar and offers quick access to thousands of streaming radio stations and services. Feel like classic blues or 90s-era grunge? Just enter your search criteria (name, genre, location) and Radium offers as many streaming radio stations as it can possibly find. 

The app also offers full support for subscription-based services, including CalmRadio, DI Radio + Sky Radio, JazzRadio.com, K-PIG, Live365, SiriusXM Radio USA and SiriusXM Radio Canada. Press Command-3 to see the built-in equalizer. Command-1 shows the album artwork (though not all stations support this) in a floating pop-up window that has links to find the song in the iTunes Store, add it to your wish list (in Radium, not in iTunes), share it on Twitter, love it on Last.fm, or copy a Tune-In link that lets you send that station's URL to a friend also using Radium. The app even makes it easy to send the audio to all your AirPlay and Bluetooth speakers. 

Perhaps the neatest thing about Radium 3 is that while the feature set is dense, the app takes up a bare minimum of screen real estate. It's been rebuilt since version 2.0, and we love the new touches, like the ability to see the currently playing song in the menu bar or in Notification Center. It's annoying that not all stations offer album artwork and iTunes Store links (Radium offers to search for the track name on Google instead), and we encountered occasional crashes.

The bottom line. If you enjoy Internet radio, or you just want another way to rock out without storing a bunch of music on your Mac's hard drive, Radium is a great investment.