iPad App Review: NPR gives you instant access to news, radio, and entertainment

National Public Radio (NPR) is an organization that almost everyone is familiar with. Founded in 1970, this publicly funded, nonprofit news organization has continued to grow over the years, and currently reaches over 27 million listeners through over 900 member stations. Over the last 40+ years it has had to adapt and change, finding new ways to expand its listenership. By fully embracing technology, NPR has very successfully set foot into the age of digital media distribution with the creation of its very own iPad app.

Easy to use
When you open up the app, you are greeted by the home screen. On the left side of the screen, you can see the 3 main sections: News, Arts & Life, and Music. To the right of each section, there is a list of related articles with a title and short description. If you drag your finger across one of these rows, you can see more articles for that particular section — much the same way that the Pulse News Reader app works.

Many articles have an audio version, allowing you to tap the Listen Now button below the article's short description to hear a recording from when the broadcast was originally aired. You can play, pause, or stop the audio with handy controls towards the bottom of the screen. If the article strikes you as interesting, but you don't have time to listen to it right now, you can always just add it to your playlist and come back to it later.

Feature-rich
While viewing an article, you can choose to share it via Twitter, Facebook, or email with simple buttons the the left of the text. Here you may also find Listen Now and Add to Playlist buttons if the article has an audio version.

When you are done reading, you can get back to the home screen at any time by simply tapping the Home button. To configure your Twitter and Facebook settings, you can tap a small button that resembles a gear. This button will also show you some brief information about the app and NPR.

Immediately to the left of the gear button is a Topics button that lets you easily view articles for a specific sub-topic. At the top of this box, you can see the same News, Arts & Life, and Music sections that line the side of the home screen.

Tapping one of these main sections will display a list of its related sub-sections below. From here you can also set the app to automatically download all of the articles for a specific sub-topic by tapping the circle next to it — allowing you to catch up on news when you may not have access to the internet.

Instant access
At the bottom of the screen, there are buttons that let you easily access your Playlist, Hourly News, Programs, and Stations. Tapping the Playlist button brings up items that you have added to your playlist for later listening, while the Hourly News button lets you instantly listen to the most recent hourly news broadcast.

The Programs button brings up a list of all NPR programs — everything from Morning Edition to Radiolab. Tapping on a program will bring you to a list of all of its episodes. From here, you can easily add specific episodes or the entire list to your playlist. There is also a button that will take you directly to your iTunes app, allowing you to subscribe to that particular show's podcast.

Tapping on the Stations button pops up a box that lets you easily find and listen to your favorite NPR member stations. There are a few ways you can find your favorite local station, but the easiest is to use your iPad's built-in location option to find the nearest one. Once you find a station you can stream it live, directly to your iPad through the app.

Tecca's take
We have long been fans of NPR and all of its associated radio programs. This free app lets you easily and intuitively browse and listen to a huge number of articles and stories, and when combined with its handy Playlist feature, social media integration, offline reading feature, and ability to easily find specific programs and local stations, we feel that it deserves nothing less than a full 5 out of 5 stars.

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