RadioSHARK for Mac

User Reviews

• good product does what its supposed to do

  themanovideoOctober 30, 2010

  Pros

  the timeshift works for AM-FM radio you can watch a national sporting event and listen to your local broadcast instead without the 7-10 second delays.

  Cons

  reception was a bit spotty sometimes

  Summary

  bought this product for one reason. watch the world series with the Fox broadcast muted so i could listen to local radio broadcast without that delay. the radio can timeshift . I never have to listen to that insipid Tim Macarver or biased and dull Joe Buck or the self-indulgent Joe Morgan ever again. Radioshark works great right out of the box. If only we could control what the TV director wants to show us. great product

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• Totally buggy. Not ready for public release. Should...

  drboxerOctober 12, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  ...be BETA.<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Since you can't truly separate the software from the hardware. I'll address both. The reception is weak. Adding an external antenna does little to help. My system... 20 " G5 iMac 1.8 Ghz 2GB RAM Mac OS 10.4.8 RadioShark 2.0.1 There is a known issue with G5 iMacs and ACC recordings. The RadioShark will get "stuck" after recording as ACC and saving to iTunes. Works ok with AIFF. But then I have to go convert those AIFF files to ACC so they'll fit on my iPod. That take a fair amount of time. I have to do this every day. It's been replicated by Griffin. This is Griffin's response: From a 6/20/06 email. "Actually, we are still trying to figure this one out...... It has us totally baffled. " RadioShark will often freeze looping 1-2 seconds of audio until you unplug and re-plug in the USB cable. This causes show not to be recorded. RadioShark often will not quit after recording. Sometimes it does, most times it doesn't. The recording/scheduling interface is crappy. It's like a bad VCR. As you fill in the info for a schedule it jumps around as you tab leaving you in a different recording than the one you just created causing you to mistakenly edit other schedules. Previously, when changing RadioShark from 106.7 FM, (or anything from 105.3 and above) to 570 AM, no audio would play until you manually re-tuned it to a higher AM station. It's too bad. The idea is great just poorly executed. I guess I'll have to pay Audible for all those shows I like after all.

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• Give me back version 1.x

  emccainazOctober 2, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I cannot use the TimeShift function anymore. Version 2 acts like it is storing the radio, but when I try to move back to previous time, nothing is there. I liked the old interface better. It was cleaner and more user friendly.

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• Using Since 1st Release

  chevyorange--2008June 11, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is by far the best release, finally allowing my expensive 23" HD Apple Cinema Display to sleep while recording - that was a thorn in my side. And then sometimes RS didn't quit after recording so it would leave the display on even longer. This seems to be fixed - but I'm back to an original problem with the RS - SKIPPING. 1 out of every 4 shows I record when I go to play them back are skipping like a broken record. I cannot for the life of me determine what makes this happen and it is quite annoying.

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• Disappointed

  tweaklyJune 10, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />v1.05 could record AAC from 64kbs to 320kbs; v2.01 AAC goes only to 160kbps - have to do AIF to get better. v1.05 wouldn't recognize a scheduled session in progress if you booted into it's time period. v1.05 would record back-to-back sessions as just one session. 2.01 seems to have fixed those. v2.01 disappointed in reduced quality settings; also don't like 2's interface as well as v1.05's

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• Same Problems Experienced

  kdwashburnFebruary 6, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />The previously posted reviews outline the problems with this upgrade. I have replaced this upgrade with the previous version. An upgrade that reduces functionality and user friendliness can only be considered an upgrade by its numeric suffix. This is probably the worst software "upgrade" I've seen.

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• Does not quit and keeps Mac from sleeping

  wealthychefJanuary 3, 2006

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />There is a long-standing bug here, in that radioShark keeps your Mac from going to sleep or reporting itself as "inactive." My mac is on 24-7 and I need it to go to sleep when possible. I have automatic recordings scheduled, and radioShark works as advertised, recording what it needs to and stopping on time, but it does not quit afterwards, which means my Mac does not go to sleep. I have to use cronjobs and shell scripts to make things work the way I want to. The software is pretty good though right now. I just find that Griffin does not have the resources to work on this software so it is what it is, which is about 3 stars. It works; interface could use LOTS of improvement, no sign that it will actually get any. Some of my grumpiness stems from the fact that it never actually even worked for me for about 6 months after I bought it. Only recently started working.

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• Works but not Mac-like.

  chevyorange--2008December 26, 2005

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I have been using the beta for a long time so this version 2.0 is not a shock. First and importantly, it works. I'm happy with it but if I were a programmer and able to change it I'd change the following: 1. Size of the display. I have a 23" Cinema Display and the window is so small I can hardly read/press the right buttons on it. 2. Write the app so the display can sleep while listening/recording. iTunes plays while my display sleeps, QuickTime will play audio/video and my display can sleep - but the RadioShark demands that my not so cheap display must be on for the whole 4 or 5 hours my radio program is recording even if I'm not sitting in front of it.. this wastes electricity and surely shortens the life of my display. Please, let it dim to black. 3. Make the scheduler more simple to view and edit. It would be nice to save each program as one set of instructions rather than seeing your program listed 5 times for each week with the same info every listing except for the day. Also, when editing the schedule, while I'm typing in the changes often times I see that my entry has moved places and I'm half way through editing a program that has already been saved? Why do programs "jump" while I'm editing them? 4. This matches #1, but while you're at it making the window/radio bigger - please make it look more "standard" to the Mac GUI. The very first version was horrific, the latest one is a bit better, but how about the unified look of iChat or iTunes and draggable to make the display bigger or smaller depending on the eyes of those who are using it. 5. Please allow us to purchase an antenna to plug into the back of the radio shark. I know I'm stymied by its inability to pick up some close stations very well and then the next one down the aisle picks up static like crazy. I think a longer extension USB cord as well as a "pro cut" external antenna (maybe even amplified) would be a godsend. 6. This is a long shot but make it work friendly with my Sirius receiver? :P Overall, please keep up the hard work. This is the best FUNCTIONING RadioShark ever but I think it can be made better.

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• Terrible

  HiRezDecember 26, 2005

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I reviewed version 1.05, this one is because I want to be on record for how bad 2.0 is, and I want the star ratings to reflect this.

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• 1.05 Works well, steer clewar of 2.0!

  HiRezDecember 26, 2005

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I agree with Mcgroar, install 1.05 if you can and skip 2.0, 2.0 is absolute garbage, one of the worst Mac applications I've ever seen. After I used it for a few days, it crashed, and then I could not restart the app without it immediately crashing ever again, even after restarting, unplugging the RadioSHARK hardware, etc. Fortunately I had a disk image of the old 1.05 software, so I reinstalled that and it's working great under Tiger 10.4.3. Much better interface than 2.0, and you can record without having the app open. Griffin should be ashamed of the 2.0 software, it is truly awful. I don't know if they lost some developers or something, that's definitely what it feels like to me. Not even sure what the whole point of a 2.0 version was in the first place, it doesn't seem to do anything that 1.05 doesn't and is worst in every way. Thus, my four stars are for the 1.05 version, not 2.0.

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