Filed under: iTS, Multimedia, iPhone, App Store
Tune into iPhone radio apps
Streaming radio apps for the iPhone/iPod touch are exploding in 2009. TUAW favorite Pandora was updated to 2.0 a couple of weeks ago, but it's hardly the only game in town. Back at Macworld, Chris Pirillo showed me StarPlayr for the iPhone, which lets Sirius and XM Radio subscribers access stations via the iPhone. The app isn't available right now, but it'll hopefully be in the App Store soon.Chris demoed the app extensively on his own site and having seen it in person, it is really impressive. Even with the crappy 3G signal we had on our trip to Cupertino, the stations streamed in at nice quality and there was an option to buy a track or album directly from iTunes. XM and Sirius both offer some great stations for talk radio and sports fans, and to me, that's where these types of streaming apps really shine.
Pandora and Last.fm aren't the only streaming radio services around, AOL's SHOUTcast Radio [iTunes link] app debuted in the App Store a few weeks ago and it'll stream your favorite SHOUTcast stations in up to 128k streams (go to Settings on your iPhone, select SHOUTcast and select "allow high-bit streams"), favorite radio stations, search for artists (though the currently-playing artists is a bit delayed) and peruse the extensive SHOUTcast index.
More below...
Another recent App Store entry is the official Slacker Radio [iTunes link] app. Slacker Radio is sort of like Pandora or Last.fm, in that you can listen to artist or genre specific stations, but I find that it is better, both in finding similar artists and in some of the pre-programmed stations. Slacker sells a portable device that downloads content directly to a player, so that you can play back tunes whether you are in WiFi range or not. The Slacker BlackBerry app will also "cache" radio stations so that they can be played back when not in range, but the iPhone apps needs WiFi or 3G/EDGE to play back tunes. That said, the playback quality is superb and the interface is top notch.
The interface is strikingly similar to the Slacker G2 portable device, but with nice iPhone specific touches like Cover Flow-esque skip selection using album art. You can also read a summary of an album or artist if it is available and buy a track directly from iTunes. If you want, it's easy to create your own custom radio stations based on a song or an artist.
Check out the gallery for more from Slacker Radio.
Gallery: Slacker Radio iPhone
Of course, if you don't feel like downloading an app, you can always stream radio stations directly in Mobile Safari with the free moodio.fm site. Sign up for an account and mark your favorite stations for on-the-road music or talk wherever you have network access. This site is popular with Blackberry and other smartphone users but it works just as well on the iPhone or iPod touch.
With the growing proliferation of WiFi and 3G service, streaming radio apps really make the iPhone a dynamic music player. Even if you don't use your iPhone or iPod touch primarily as a music storage device (I know I use my old 5G iPod for most of my actual music storage), the quality of the streams and the vast track selection makes it possible to get excellent tuneage anywhere.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jay said 6:26PM on 1-21-2009
how about the Public Radio app? that's the best of them all.
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Rembert said 6:28PM on 1-21-2009
Unfortunately none of those radio apps are available in the Dutch iTunes. So I just stick to the webapp nederland.fm/iphone which contains about 40 Dutch streaming radiostations.
Also available belgie.fm/iphone and deutschland.fm/iphone. Don't know about other countries.
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Stephen Lang said 6:42PM on 1-21-2009
I use the AOL Radio app (different from the AOL Shoutcast app). I assume others are better, but I happen to like the Acoustic Blues channel in the AOL Radio app.
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thecase said 6:43PM on 1-21-2009
I'm just looking for one that will allow me to enter the URL of *any* stream... not a pre-picked list from shoutcast, etc.
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armandonavad said 7:11PM on 1-21-2009
Look for FStream. :)
Harry said 7:16PM on 1-21-2009
FStream, as mentioned, particularly valuable for me as if you want to listen to BBC radio the urls can be found here:
http://bbcstreams.com/
Possibly don't work outside the UK, though.
Michael Rose said 7:45PM on 1-21-2009
http://moodio.fm/ will do that too.
m said 8:51PM on 1-21-2009
Fstream is what i was looking for. thanks. Moodio requires registration, for no apparent reason... i think they can go spy on somebody else's listening habits, thank you very much. this feature should really be built into the device, though. i don't know why it isn't.
Michael Rose said 11:32PM on 1-21-2009
My understanding of the Moodio registration is so that you can save your stream/station preferences.
patrick said 6:54PM on 1-21-2009
Public Radio is great but Wunder Radio Kills.. this app is amazing, it has all my favorite radio stations from around the world. It gets the feeds from Radiotime.com
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blaw said 7:48PM on 1-21-2009
I find WunderRadio to be the perfect radio app.
It's not like pandora or last.fm it provides lots
Of radio broadcast and let you enters your own
URL.
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emil said 8:46PM on 1-21-2009
I like to listen to the live NPR stream via safari; I made a webclip icon for it here:
http://webclipicons.info/link.php?id=S7dSBI461
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SimpleLife said 8:57PM on 1-21-2009
I haven't tried the new FREE AOL Shoutcast app yet, but the "Tuner Internet Radio" app which is $5.99 has been solid for Shoutcast since it came out in June, 2008. This new AOL app may make the Tuner app obsolete. I don't know, I have to still try it out. If you have used both, or another Shoutcast app please post a comment.
Here is a link to try out the Tuner App:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284205617&mt=8
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sandro said 2:37AM on 1-22-2009
i think there are tons of cool radio apps...
but i love the Radio Alarm clock .... called RadioAlarm :)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=299071808&mt=8
screenshot:
http://ale1981.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/radioalarm.png
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joaco said 3:11AM on 1-22-2009
This post is a little misleading. Pandora and Last.fm are not radio apps. You cant listen to streaming terrestrial radio stations on those. WunderRadio and Tuner are good apps for that purpose.
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Bill Guppy said 3:41AM on 1-22-2009
FlyCast is the first app I've come across that will stream Seattle's KEXP. It's not the slickest looking app, but it has some interesting features. Music still plays even when the phone is asleep to save battery usage. When the app is opened, it starts streaming immediately with the last station listened to. It has a built in web browser, I assume so you can be multitasking while listening. One caveat: it does require you to make a profile before you can listen to anything.
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Peter said 3:49AM on 1-22-2009
Guys,
U forgot the best streaming radio player on this moment: tuninfm iCarRadio:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=300684064&mt=8
This works perfect at home or at work. But outdoor when the 3G signal is not strong, the iPhone automatically switches to GPRS/EDGE networks. The capacitiy of such networks is both limited and shared with other people in the same area.
This causes the iPhone to stop the radio playback frequently.
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Rutger Blom said 4:16AM on 1-22-2009
I agree with Peter. Tunin.fm is a very good streaming radio player. It's free too.
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Chris Aubeck said 4:27AM on 1-22-2009
I've tried them all, I think, and kept the excellent Pocket Tunes app and Wunder Radio, the former having nicer features and interface, the latter with better pre-set world coverage.
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Juan said 10:00AM on 1-22-2009
StarPlayr, I am awaiting its approval in the APP store, I had an HTC Touch and used it then also. It's great for us DIE HARD HOWARD STERN fans.
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