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ESPN Radio (Don't Update)

ECUpirate44

ECUpirate44

macrumors 603
Original poster
Mar 22, 2010
5,750
8
NC
So ESPN Radio updated their app. Cool right? Nope, they're requiring you to login with your ESPN ID and then they are charging 4.99 for live radio. So the 2.99 you paid for the app in the beginning is now no more. That app will be discontinued on 8/1. How and why Apple allows this I have no idea. If they want to do something like this, thats fine, but it should be a separate app so the people who bought it originally and funded the update aren't screwed.
 
ESPN has gone down hill over the years. It's a **** network, especially during baseball season. They'll show poker or horse racing instead. The only time ESPN is any good is during college basketball season.

So it doesn't surprise me that the app went downhill as well.
 
Response from ESPN

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

We appreciate your feedback and understand your concern. The new ESPN Radio application is more than a simple upgrade to the existing application. The newest version of the ESPN Radio application is free to download and provides the ability to download podcasts and listen off-line. You are able to experience the full ESPN Radio application free for the first fourteen days. After your 14 day trial period ends, there is a $4.99 one-time fee to continue listening to LIVE streams and to use the new "My Stations" feature based on your sport preferences. If you choose not to pay $4.99 at the end of your trial, ALL ESPN podcasts and SportsCenter updates will continue to be available for free.

The full experience of the new ESPN Radio application includes:
• Custom Station or Playlist: search tens of thousands of audio clips by a specific topic and create a station or playlist of your favorite shows, teams, players and sports.
• Listen live: to over 35 ESPN Radio stations from around the country and play-by-play from some of your favorite college and professional sports teams including every game of the NBA Finals, World Series, College Bowl Games, Wimbledon, US Open Golf and more.
• Live Audio Functionality: Pause and rewind up to an hour of live audio.
• myESPN Personalization: Customize audio automatically pulled into the app based on your favorites.
• Top Searches: Popular searches and trends for easy one-click access to top audio.
• Recommendation Engine: Content suggestions based on your myESPN profile
• Alerts and Push Notifications: For MLB broadcasts, breaking news and more.
We think that once you try out all of the expanded features available in the ESPN Radio application you will discover the value of the new version. The current version of the ESPN Radio App (v3.0) will be discontinued on August 1, 2012.

For live assistance with this or any other issue, please call Customer Care at 1-888-549-3776 (ESPN) between 8 am and 1 am EST.

Regards,

Grant
ESPN.com Customer Care

----------
Response from Apple
Hello ......,

Shavi here with iTunes Store Support and I'll be assisting you today! I understand you're having difficulty with the developer of a previously purchased App "ESPN Radio" charging for live audio streams. I can appreciate your eagerness to have this Application issue resolved as quickly as possible.
I do wish I could provide specific information on how developers decide to bill and charge for their content. Unfortunately, the iTunes Store cannot answer these questions since the content is owned by and operated by them.

The developer of the application, ESPN Inc., is the best resource for pricing information about this application. To contact the developer directly, please visit:

https://r.espn.go.com/members/contact/index
, I would like to thank you for being a loyal iTunes customer. Have a pleasant day.

Sincerely,

Shavi
iTunes Store/Mac App Store customer Support
 
if you bought the app prior to it being free they should give all paid users full access.
 
Created this account to complain about this new ESPN Radio app. I paid $2.99 for the ESPN Radio app when it first came out and have used it since. And now they will discontinue this app and charge me another $4.99 for the new app? Get real. I remember where one update to the app (over a year ago now) that started to deliver ads at the top of the screen. This is the only paid app I've seen that introduced ads through an update. Totally underhanded.

Wonder if it makes a difference if you are an ESPN Insider member?
 
Last edited:
Those of us who paid $2.99 should be grandfathered in with full access.

No other apps that I'm aware of give it away for free or at an introductory price and then turn around and want you to pay again.

I don't recall seeing $2.99 was a temporary rate.
 
Here's what I submitted:

I previously purchased the ESPN Radio app on the iPhone for 2.99 and now the new price to continue using the same is going to increase to 4.99? I think users are being ripped off here. I think this is fraud being committed by ESPN as the original application purchase made absolutely no mention that the 2.99 price at the time was a temporary price.

Owners of the original app should be given a free upgrade to the new app at the new price. Either that, or in the app description there should be made mention that the purchase price is not a permanent price but only a temporary price.
 
I had "updated all apps" on my iPad and could not get in to espn radio, it went to 4.0

I had not synced my computer in awhile so I deleted the 4.0 from the iPad and synced it to iTunes restoring espn 3.0:D

So only update apps individually from now on, and don't update espn until the drop dead date of August 1
 
They heard all the angry people

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2012/09/espn-offering-angry-radio-app-customers-full-refunds


ESPN Offering Angry Radio App Customers Full Refunds

BY Bryan M. Wolfe on Thu September 06th, 2012 espn espn radio freemium apps

[ESPN Offering Angry Radio App Customers Full Refunds]

ESPN is offering those who purchased the new ESPN Radio app a full refund. This is a result of some confusion about the app, which launched earlier this year as a replacement for a previously released app with the same title.

In an open letter to ESPN Radio app users, the Disney-owned company announced a refund policy for those who purchased the app on or after May 15, 2012. To get your $4.99 refund, you must fill-out an email or mail-in form before Sept. 30.

The original ESPN Radio app, which sold for $2.99, was retired at the end of August. This upset many users who, as a result, had to fork over $4.99 to keep streaming ESPN radio.

As an added bonus, the current ESPN Radio app is available for free through the end of the year. Beginning Jan. 1, the app will become a paid product to anyone who hasn’t already downloaded it prior to that date.

ESPN’s decision was the correct one and suggests that developers who try to rerelease what is essentially the same app for more money, should think otherwise.

What are you waiting for? Download the ESPN Radio app today in the App Store........
 
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