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This American LifeCurrent Version: 2.0.2 (iOS 4.0 Tested)

This American Life is a hit public radio show and most weeks, the most popular podcast in the country.

This app gives you on-demand access to all episodes going back to the show's launch in 1995. In other words, you get the full archive of the series, at your fingertips. You can stream for free or (for 99 cents) download any episode, search by episode name or by a favorite contributor's name, or listen in order from the beginning.

This is a big deal, in both senses of the word. There's so much in here – hundreds of shows – you'd need 17 days and nights of listening to catch up. Every new episode is automatically added to the app. The app also connects you to all the episodes of the This American Life television show, which won three Emmys and aired on the Showtime network. (You have to pay 1.99 to download each full episodes from iTunes.)
SPECIAL FEATURES
*Never-before and rarely-before heard audio and video extras: including behind-the-scenes video with the show's producers, video outtakes from the TAL TV show, a video excerpt (of Mike Birbiglia) from TAL's live cinema event, Ira Glass interviews Terry Gross and vice versa, and some very old radio stories produced by host Ira Glass, including four Morning Edition stories by David Sedaris.

*Browse by show contributor (including Sedaris, Birbiglia, Sarah Vowell, John Hodgman, and more)

*Share episodes by email, Facebook, and Twitter

*Keep your own favorites list, and get staff favorites, too

*Station finder for listening to TAL on the radio in your area

*A blog with show news and events

*A countdown to the live weekly broadcast, which you can stream from the app.

This American Life is mostly true stories of everyday people, but it's also really hard to describe. Here's what it's not: It's not a news show or a talk show or a call-in show. Instead, it's stories that are like little movies for radio. There are funny moments and emotional moments and moments where the people in the story say interesting, surprising things about it all. It's a public radio show for people who don't necessarily like public radio. It's produced by Chicago Public Radio and distributed by Public Radio International.

Your purchase of this app helps fund This American Life.
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This American Life Screenshots


This American Life Review

Public radio program’s app sets the standard for other media outlets

The publishing times, they are a-changin’. Newspapers and radio shows alike are making a scramble for new ways to get themselves in the hands of their content consumers. This American Life brought to you by Public Radio Exchange is a great example of new media delivery done right.


From the Vaults: This American Life gives you access to every episode ever recorded of the public radio program.

This American Life, a weekly radio program that airs on public radio, has been making a supreme effort to get all of its episodes available in an easy-to-digest format online, and this $3 app is the icing on the cake. It enables you to access every single episode of This American Life ever recorded, all the way back to the first show in 1995. That makes for 400 shows available for streaming at any time through a very easy-to-use interface, organized by the air date with a short synopsis of each episode.

If you need to stop listening for any reason, the app will save your place in the episode, which you can return to at any time. If you like to tune in live to each show, the app includes a countdown to the next episode, an optional push notification feature letting you know when the show is about to start, and the preview information for the next episode.

On top of all this, you can also drop an e-mail to This American Life, find your local public radio station, designate favorite episodes, read the show’s blog, hear bonus episodes, share links to shows via Twitter, Facebook and e-mail, and buy episodes on iTunes—all from within the application.

This truly is an example of an application that sets the bar high for other media outlets. If you’re a fan of This American Life in any capacity, this well designed and implemented app is well worth the money.

[Rob de la Cretaz is a full-time polymath and a proud resident of Pittsburgh.]

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