The MBRadio app for both Android and iOS has been recently changed to provide easy mobile access to the paid radio archive service. This is offered for free to those who have memberships in the paid archive. It is a significant improvement in the service that makes archive listening much easier and makes the membership a much better value.

The following is a brief description of how the native archive support in the MBRadio app works:

Every archive member login has a mobile playlist associated with it on the archive server. Selections can be added to this playlist from either the archive website or from within the app itself. Any device accessing your account will see the same playlist.

The playlist is downloaded to your device when you enter the archive section from the app startup screen. If you make changes from a different place such as your desktop computer, you will not see those changes on your device unless you exit the archives and then reenter them from the home screen.

The mobile app archive player always starts at the beginning of the first playlist item that is marked as unlistened. It then sequences from one unlistened track to the next, marking each as listened when they are completed. You do nothing to move to the next track; the app does that automatically.

The editing features of the app vary slightly with platform support.

For iOS devices:

The archive screen has three buttons: Start Playlist, Edit Playlist, and Add to Playlist.

The Start Playlist button functions the same way as the Play button on the daily radio show player.

The Edit Playlist allows you to view the playlist. Items that have been listened to are dimmed. Items can be deleted from the playlist either by swiping from right to left and tapping delete, or through the Edit mode accessed by tapping the Edit button at the top of the screen. The Edit screen also allow reordering of the playlist by dragging the scrubber on the right side of the list item to the location in the list that you want to move it to. The Done button exits the Edit mode. Tapping on any item takes you to the detailed description, where there is a button at the bottom of the screen which allows you to toggle the listened state.

The Add to Playlist button allows searches for words contained in the track descriptions. Tapping on search return items takes you to a detailed description, with a button at the bottom of the screen that allow you to add this item to your playlist. Tapping on this button takes you directly back to the selection screen, with the selected item removed from the list and added to the end of your playlist. If you do not want to add this item, you just tap the back arrow at the top of the screen. Tapping on Date Search at the top of the screen takes you to a set of date selectors that allow you to define a date range. Upon clicking Select at the bottom of the screen, you will be presented with the results in the same way as with the word search.

For Android devices:

The archive screen has four buttons: Listen to Playlist, Edit Playlist, Keyword Search, and Date Search.

The Listen to Playlist button functions the same way as the Play button on the daily radio show player.

The Edit Playlist button takes you to a screen showing your playlist. Items that have been listened to are dimmed. You can change the order of items by tapping and holding an item for several seconds. The item will then move as you drag it to the desired place in the list. Tapping on any item takes you to a detailed description screen, where the button at the buttons at the bottom can either toggle the listened state or remove the item from your playlist.

The Keyword Search function allows you to search descriptions. By tapping on an item, you are taken to a detailed description screen, with a button at the bottom for adding this item to your playlist. If you tap this button, the item will be added to the end of your playlist, and you will be returned to the item selection screen with the selected item removed. If you do not want to add the item, just tap the back button to return to the item selection screen.

The Date Search function displays two calendars that allow you to define a date range. Tapping on the Select button will take you to the same item selection screen as in a keyword search, but with the items available based upon the chosen date range.

If you have any questions about making all of this work for you, you can post the question here and I will reply.

Thank you, MrEureka!!

I am grateful to the forum moderation staff for allowing me to start an app technical discussion thread. I am a regular radio program listener who has used my own experience as a listener to come up with a design paradigm for the app. Unfortunately, I am also an engineer and so I don�t always think about things in a way that others can easily follow. When the radio program crashes while I am listening to it, my thoughts go to the possible causes and I can get it restarted pretty quickly. For other users, it is just plain frustrating. Add to events like that all of other possible problems originating in the plethora of different Android devices with all their individual quirks, and it becomes really difficult to keep up with it all. It is not like there are limitless resources to bring to bear on this. The apps are a volunteer effort, and as such whatever feedback users have is really valuable in determining what to work on next.

Back to the archives in particular, let me describe why the app archive listening function works the way it does, and then maybe the rest of you can tell me what to do to improve it. I wanted a design that provides hands-free archive listening for use when one is driving or otherwise occupied. This is the origin of the idea of having a playlist. One can set up the playlist, then start it and it will play from beginning to end. I wanted a design that required minimal interaction on my phone, since the screen is small and I don�t like sitting in the car fooling with my playlist before I start driving. So, we made the playlist server-based. You can set up the playlist at your desktop computer or from an iPad or other device, and it will just automagically appear on your phone, ready to play when you are ready to listen.

There is one bug that some Android devices have. The login fields for username and password have a hint text that some devices do not show. If you put your archive account email in the first text field, and your archive password in the second field, it will work.

I have found in my personal testing that this design works great for me. But, does it work for you?

Thanks so much mrEureka I love it. Is there not a select all or select what I want from the particular date range option so I may add a list of selected clips? Or do I just need to try it from my PC?

I have not spent much time with the PC interface, because that was built by the website people. Whether the PC interface supports it or not, the critique of the app interface is valid none the less. Selecting items at present requires tapping on the item in the search result screen, and then when you select the item in the detail screen, it returns you to the search result screen with the selected item removed from the list.

How about this?: There could be a check box on each item of the search result screen that lets you select the item from there. Then a select all button could permit deselecting the items you may not want by toggling the check box after you do a select all. The search result screen could also show more detail about the item. The only problem with more detail is that it makes the list longer because each item then takes of more space, but I think the detail screen has it's own annoying characteristics. I think making you go between two screens to select a track is kind of clumsy, too.

I like the check box for each item idea. That would make it more convenient. Thanks for making the app so much better.

First off I want to say thank you, I love that we can have an app to listen the radio everyday, anywhere, anytime!!

I have just one suggestion, and is not even about accesing the archives, just my two cents

I would like to be able to see a running icon (don't have an idea of thename) of the app when the cell phone is locked. Don't know if it makes sense, but something to be able to pause it really quick. Right now, if I need to pause it for whatever reason, I need to unlock the cellphone, open the app and pause it.

I assume we are talking about the Android app, because the iOS app already supports pausing from the lock screen.

In order to do what you are asking, I would need to employ a lock screen widget. Lock screen widgets are a new feature of Android 5.0 Lollypop. The only issue is that Lollypop has a low deployment rate right now; only 10%. So, even if I made the change immediately, it is 90% likely not to help you.

But, it is a great idea! I will factor it into my future plans.

How do you re-enter username / password info? I'm using IOS (trying to on iPhone and iPad). I put in my username and password for the forum, not realizing that I need to sign up separately for the radio access. Now I can't find out how I would re-enter the proper credentials.

Help?

What happens when you click "archives" on the app? When I do, the log in screen comes up and I just enter my password information for the radio archives.

Just an error message that my username and password are wrong. No option re-enter new info.

Why not just delete the app and reinstall it? You do know the password to the archives is different than the forum password, right? [unless you specifically made them the same]

Do you have the correct password to the archives? Have you practiced it on the website on a computer?

I just tried entering the wrong password and you are right, it wouldn't let me go back and fix it. SO, I completely deleted and reinstalled and it worked!

ok, thanks - haven't signed up for access yet but will. And hopefully that gets fixed in a future release:)

Ok, but you have to have a subscription to listen to the archives. That is why it didn't work.

What ML is saying is correct. The username and password are the ones you set up when you subscribe to the archives. Your forum login has nothing to do with this. If you haven't signed up for the archives, the server is not going to authenticate you. The app is working. You don't have an account.

Right, I get all that... I just couldn't figure out how I would re-enter new login information after signing up for access. Now I know I will need to delete and re-install the app, after I buy archive access, and enter the new login info.

In the iOS app, you can go to the device's Settings app and change the login information there. The Android app is supposed to take you back to the sign in screen when it can not successfully log in, but there is a bug that is preventing that from happening.