What all this means for the user is that you can now download an mp3 of any NPR media clip, or embed it on your website with the provided embed code. And because it’s running off NPR’s API, we can expect some further additions and customizations from the development community.

It’s great to see NPR making some solid strides in digital media, per CEO Vivian Schiller’s stated goal of making NPR a major player in that realm. While radio remains NPR’s trump card over other media outlets, it has to focus on digital presence and distribution to remain relevant. You can have the greatest and most in-depth news coverage of anyone around, but if you’re not where the consumer is, then who cares?

Here’ s an example of the newly embeddable NPR media player: