Listening to radio on phone - data use?

Mulberry

I've gotten into a terrible habit / rut of always running WITH people. Lately I do my two club sessions a week but the only other runs I do are if I find someone to run with - and this doesn't always happen - in which case I just don't go. How stupid is that.

I have to get into the habit of running alone, at least some of the time. One big motivator would be to be able to listen to the radio on the run. I have an iPhone 4 and a belt for around my waist which works really well.

BUT - can I listen to the radio without using up all my data? I have an album or two on the phone but would prefer radio, at least some of the time. Of course I'm paranoid about using data and working up a big bill. I don't even know how to listen to the radio either actually - do the radio stations have an app I should download? What about podcasts? Do they download to my phone or again am I using my data?

Any guidance or pointers most welcome. Thanks.

sconhome

Download a podcast player and same some podasts to your phone. They won't use data unless you download away from wifi network.

Krusty_Clown

Yep, I'd agree. pick a odcast app, browse a few podcasts and subscribe to them. Have the saubscriptions set to only download over Wifi and away you go. Some of the podcasts that keep me company (to get you started):

Marathontalk
This American Life
No such thing as a fish
BBC Radio 5 live - Kermode and Mayo's Film Review
Stuff you should know
The Magness & Marcus Podcast

ThisRegard

Or buy a cheap small FM radio and clip it to your shorts

Peregrinus

Listening to live streaming radio uses your data. No idea at what rate, but my guess is that it's significant.

As others have said, podcasts that you download using wifi and then reply while running don't use your data. But if you listen to music radio, you won't be able to replace that with podcasts - the radio stations performing rights licences to broadcast recorded music don't allow them to distribute it by podcast.

So if you want music, you'll have to download digital music and then replay it as you run. Just like we all did ten years ago before there was any of this 3G nonsense.

The Muppet

I use the Tune In radio app If I want to listen to radio on my runs , I have unlimited data on my plan though so thats not an issue. You can get small pll radios suitable for carrying on a run I think Lidl and Aldi both have them for around €5 when they have their specials on running gear.

Mulberry

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Thanks for clearing that up about the radio music/podcast rights and also, as I had suspected, that Tune In radio does use data.

I will keep an eye out for a small radio in Lidl etc and in the meantime I have my Podcast App downloaded and podcasts ready to go - Marathon Talk, This American Life, Kermode & Mayo Film Reviews and also TED Talks - all looking appealing.

I think I prefer to listen to chat when running (I get the odd song that propels me from my usual 9mm pace to 7mm!) but apart from that I think chat is best.

Thanks again

lgk

A 128Kbps stream will use ~56MB per hour.

The small SanDisk clip MP3/FM players work well and are cheap enough.

There are tools available online that will create playlists from your music. You can choose the tempo to match your pace.

johnk123

Good list here for chat podcasts!

I personally have a small ipod shuffle which works perfectly for my podcasts and I always keep a playlist or two on it with about 50 songs that are there for emergency motivation! Or sometimes I just don't want to listen to spoken word! I also download the occasional tiesto or armin van buren podcasts that are always in the charts on iTunes. Not sure about the music but it's good upbeat backround noise when needed.

uvox

If you're connected you'll use data. Download podcast versions or offline variants if available beforehand.