Stitcher is an on-demand internet radio service that focuses on news and information radio and podcasts. It provides free online streaming through the website and also using native mobile applications such as the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Palm webOS. The company was founded in 2008 and is privately held and venture backed.[1]
Stitcher aggregates content from thousands of content providers and organizes the content into "stations" that listeners can browse and listen to. Audio content is delivered from large media providers such as NPR, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, BBC, AP, TechCrunch and Air America Media and thousands of smaller providers.[2] Content is kept continually up to date via Stitcher's proprietary back-end application, allowing listeners to have access to fresh content while on the go without having to sync their mobile device.
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Stitcher simplifies the consumption of podcasts by eliminating the need to synchronize content to a device. Content is instead streamed to listener's phones on-demand. Stitcher 3.0 for the iPhone (released in December 2009) introduced live streaming to the app, which allowed users to select on-demand shows and live streamed talk-radio programming.
A user can add shows to their favorites station using the “Add to Favorites” button.
iPhone users can choose to receive SMS updates when their favorite shows are updated. When new content becomes available, Stitcher will send a text message to a user alerting them that the show was updated along with a direct-play link.[3]
Stitcher offers an Editor's Picks station that provides listeners access to the content editor’s favorite shows.[4]
Stitcher offers stations targeted to specific local audiences.[5]
The application provides personalization via a "favoriting" scheme, where listeners can favorite content they like; Stitcher will then aggregate this content in the listener's favorite station.[6] Stitcher also uses a proprietary customization algorithm to order stations according to a user's listening habits.
The personalization algorithm influences which audio shows are recommended to the user. It draws on data such as listening patterns to personalize the content of each station according to the listener's interests and gains more knowledge about the listener over time. Listeners can also "stitch" together a personalized list of their favorite shows.
The customization has been compared to Pandora by CNET, who wrote that Stitcher "is to news and information what Pandora is to music."[7]
At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally announced a partnership between Ford, Stitcher, Pandora and a Twitter client called OpenBeak[8] that would bring internet radio into Ford vehicles.
Following this announcement, General Motors has also announced partnerships with Stitcher and Pandora[9]
Stitcher has received numerous awards for its services:
Stitcher has been featured several times by Apple in the App Store and has been designated as an Apple Staff Pick. It was featured once by Palm in the App Catalog.
Stitcher is currently available on the iPhone, Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, Android devices running at least version 1.5 of the Android operating system, BlackBerry Tour 9630, Storm 9530, Storm 9500, Bold 9000, Curve 8900, 8830, 8820, 8800, 8330 8320 8300 and 8310; the app can also be downloaded at www.stitcher.com/dl. It is not available for Windows Mobile smartphone platforms.[11] In addition to mobile clients, Stitcher is also available on the Sonos platform.
Stitcher was first introduced to Apple App Store in August 2008, as Stitcher made the native app available in private beta to 100 testers.[12] The native app provided the same interface as the web application along with features such as automatic updates and "interrupt handling" during phone calls.