Week 8

This past week, I wanted to listen to a radio station online through my phone - which is something I don't normally do. I googled Star 104.5 and found a direct link to their "Listen Live" page on their website. After arriving, I saw 2 "Listen" buttons. I thought the one at the top was part of the banner, so I clicked on the second one... which downloaded the image to my phone. (What?!) I was instantly displeased and frustrated after having only been there for a matter of seconds. What I didn't realize until later was that part of their page was simply slow to load, so I wasn't seeing everything I needed to at first. Regardless, when I finally clicked the correct button, it did play, but I couldn't close that screen or else it would stop playing. It had an annoying little pop-up screen, and a mandatory commercial that played first.

I decided to try Sweet 98.5 instead. I searched the same way, found their listening page which had a big screen at the top and a play button - with very little else on the page, making it instantly obvious what actions were needed. Whew! All I had to do was click that, and I was listening to their station. Not only that, but I could close the screen and go to someone else, and still continue listening.

Both radio stations provide the same kind of service, but Sweet 98.5 has streamlined the process and it is much more user friendly.

(I found out later that I could close the screen while listening to 104.5 (and then I was only seeing 1 "Listen" button, but by then I already had such a negative impression that I didn't want to go back.)