TuneIn Radio: adding features until it breaks

There was a nifty mobile app that let me find and play radio stations from around the world. Some of the stations are terrestrial stations that stream their broadcasts on the Internet, while others are Internet-only. The app was called TuneIn. The developers released a new version this week and they broke it.
Let me say at the outset that I had no quarrel with TuneIn radio. I've been a paying customer for a couple of years, used it on my Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and desktop systems. I have a bunch of stations saved as favorites, mostly world news, but some music, and one very special Goon Show channel. The developers have fixed bugs in the time that I've used the app, smoothing out the playback, and making it of the apps that I use several times a day. It might have been nice to allow me the option to reorder my list of favorites, such that I could have my favorite favorites on the top, but that was a minor issue.
Here's what they did. They redesigned it, as Nicole Lee from Engadget wrote, to be a social network for radio. I can now follow other TuneIn users to find out what they listen to. Through some kind of social magic, I can supposedly find music that is more to my liking, find new stations that are something like the stations I've been listening to, only better somehow.
In the words of the Tom Hanks character in Big, I don't get it. I liked what the app did. The developers thought that I had a problem finding things that I liked. I didn't.
Along the way, they made it harder for me to do what I used to do: listen to radio stations. Here's how they broke it.
Here's a partial view of my favorite stations.

If I tap on Goon Show Radio, I'm brought to s second screen.

Now, I have to tap the Play button to have the station start. Previously, I'd been brought to the player and the station would start playing.

When I tap Play, I'm brought to the player screen. I'm not sure where to go from here. Tapping the checkmark removes this station from my list of favorites. Why that should be prominently featured as an option, I have no idea. Non-intuitively, tapping the X closes this screen and brings me back to the station page.

In other words, an extra step has been added each time I want to when I use the app, to listen to a radio station. 

There's a whole bunch of other stuff, including solicitations to connect to my Twitter, Facebook, and Google accounts. I've done none of that. I didn't have a problem for which connections to my social media accounts is a solution. 

Zawinski's Law told us in the 90s that every program expands until it can read mail. The twenty-teen version of the law says that every app must become social and die trying.

Addendum

I installed the new TuneIn on my iPad to see what a fresh installation looks like when compared to the upgrade. I forgot my password and so clicked on the Forgot Password link. That was five hours ago. If I try again, I'm told that a reset request is already underway.

Stop and Shop app stops shopping

Stop and Shop has managed to make a difficult process unbearable. They've done so by taking it mobile.

Let's start with their apps. They have three.

The first one you search for and find is not the one you want. The first one tells you a few things that you almost want to know, such as coupons and specials that are available for you as a prized Stop and Shop online customer.

You see signs around the store about deals that are available with the Stop and Shop shopping app. You see the info everywhere except in this Stop and Shop app. There's a link in the app to Peapod Mobile so you can shop on the go. ("Peapod in your pocket" is their clever, if a bit creepy slogan.")  That's the second app. That's not the one you want, either.

Besides, you're in the back of the store where cell phone reception is one bar at best. There is a WiFi network available, but you can't connect to it because it's only available through the app that you need to install, the Stop & Shop ScanIt! Mobile app.

You go back toward the front of store where radio waves can make it through the produce section and download this helpful little doggie. You scan your Stop and Shop card to register the app. The app then connects to the WiFi and you're ready to shop.

Slowly. It's slow because you have to scan the barcode of each item. You're standing in the aisle, twisting the can of pumpkin to align the barcode to your phone's camera, and waiting for the little ping that says you've been successful. On to the dairy section to find heavy cream. (In case you're wondering, Sandra's making a pumpkin chiffon pie for Christmas dessert.)

People are tangled up in the aisles, looking for unfamiliar ingredients for a special holiday meal and you've got your phone next to an upside-down box of corn bread mix. Can you imagine Balthazar fumbling with his phone and a bag of frankincense so his app could record the purchase?

When you're done disrupting the movement of shoppers through the store, it's on to the checkout. Hold your phone up to the bar code near the register. Yay, we get the ping. Now, scan your frickin' Stop and Shop card at the register! Your order appears on the screen. Scan the things that you couldn't scan with the app, such as the oranges because they don't have a barcode to scan.

Press the Finish and Pay button. Press Credit. On the handy PIN pad, tell it (again) that you're using a credit card. Sign your name on the display and press the unreadable Done button when you're, um, done.

To complete the experience, wait for the coupon for deodorant because Stop and Shop thinks that you smell bad.