TuneIn launches new recommendation engine

TuneIn Live creates a customized experience for the individual user based on their listening habits

I used to listen to the radio a lot when I was younger, before I just got so sick of listening to the same stuff over and over and over again that I couldn't stand it anymore. Seriously, I love Springsteen, but there are only so many times you can hear Born to Run without wanting to rip your hair out. Without any way to easily find new music to listen to, I just turned the thing off and never turned it back on.

Now, Popular radio app TuneIn is attempting to solve that problem by launching a new engine called TuneIn Live, which provides users with personalized recommendations, it was announced Thursday.

The new engine attempts to make it easier for users to find the content that they want, be it music, sports, talk and news, by creating a customized experience for the individual user based on their listening habits and interests.

The service is being combined with a new Trending feature, recently launched by TuneIn, which shares the most popular radio from around the world. 

"Every day, there are thousands of live events on the radio, from concerts to interviews to sports to a DJ playing a set of songs and, until now, there has never been a way to relay all of this live content to people worldwide," John Donham, CEO of TuneIn, said in a statement. "That's where we're innovating with TuneIn Live. We're combing through our millions of listening options from around the world and, for each individual listener, we're bringing into focus just the stations that mean something to them."

TuneIn Live is currently available on TuneIn.com and on the iPad through a free TuneIn account. The company says that additional mobile versions will be available at some point this year.

Earlier this week, TuneIn announced a new integration with Google+, enabling a calendar reminder feature for live events, and to remind them when their favorite radio programs are on.

The Palo Alto, California-based TuneIn, which was founded in 2002, lets people listen music, sports, talk and news from around the world, wherever they are. It has over 70,000 AM, FM, HD and Internet radio stations and over two million on-demand programs streaming from every continent, available across 200 connected devices.

TuneIn raised $16 million in funding from General Catalyst Partners, with participation from Jafco Ventures, Google Ventures, and prior investor Sequoia Capital, in August 2012. This round brought TuneIn's total funding raised to $22 million.

(Image source: https://blog.tunein.com)