I may be old-fashioned, but I prefer actual radio stations to Spotify’s algorithms. The best human DJs find music I’d never seek out, and that even the best recommendation system would never point out to me.
Even better: If you’re good at finding community and public radio stations that appeal to your tastes, there are no commercials. I’ve found several of my favorite bands in the past few years listening to radio stations like KEXP, Indie XFM, and the various stations offered by SomaFM.
It’s simple to listen to such stations in your browser, but leaving a tab open just for the radio annoys me. (I’m picky.) So I like using a dedicated app for the job. On macOS the best option is Eter, but for years I couldn’t find a decent alternative for Windows.
Until now. Trdo is a free, open-source application that makes it easy to find online radio stations and listen to them, all from a system tray icon. To get started, install Trdo from the Microsoft Store. You can launch the store from your tray to the left of the clock, though you may need to click the little up arrow to find it. (I recommend pinning the app, so it’s always on your taskbar.)
Open the application and you’ll see there are no built-in stations; you’ll need to add some. You can use Trdo’s search tool to find and add your favorites. This is very useful if you already have a list of stations in mind that you want to add to the application.
You can also add stations manually, which is useful if a station you like doesn’t come up in the built-in search. For this you’ll need to find a link to the PLS file used by the station—this is what allows Trdo to find the radio station. Many online radio stations offer these links freely on their websites, just look for the streaming links section.
If you can’t find a link to the stream don’t worry: There are websites that collect them. I recommend checking out Public Radio Fan, a database of public radio stations from around the world, or InternetRadio, which has a more expansive collection of streaming links.
Left-clicking the tray icon, by default, pauses or plays the current station. Right-clicking it opens the pop-up window. You can reverse this in the settings, if you prefer. You can also pause or play the current station using the pause button on your keyboard, if you have one. You can’t change the station using the Next or Previous buttons, which is disappointing. (Hopefully Trdo will add this someday.)
Trdo keeps track of the songs you hear on the radio, collecting them in a list that you can scroll back on. This is great for figuring out what song you heard 15 minutes ago while you had your hands full. There’s a feature that lets you tag your favorite songs, allowing you to keep a list of the tracks you love for future reference.
There are also optional links to the tracks in Spotify, Discogs, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. (You can choose which services to show in the settings.) This is handy for discovering new music. You can mark the songs you like during the day, then check them out later in your streaming service of choice.
I see internet radio as a great complement to music streaming apps, not a replacement for them. Sometimes I know what I’m in the mood for, which is when I turn to streaming. But sometimes I don’t want to make a decision, or want to be surprised. This is when online radio is perfect. Trdo makes it a little easier to listen, so check it out if you want to change up your music listening.
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