As expected Sirius has released the free iPhone/iPod touch app so satellite radio fans can listen wherever they go if they have an online subscription. The Sirius XM [App Store] offering is said to include 120 channels. The write up on iTunes does not mention Howard Stern, but says nothing definitive one way or the other. That's a bit ominous.

The app also allows you to purchase songs you hear at the iTunes store, and has a favorite channels setting. The app runs on OS 2.2.1 but has been tested on the just released iPhone/touch 3.0.

The channel selection is set up for both Sirius and XM subscribers. Sirius is offering a 7 day free trial for non-subscribers to try the service and see if they like it. This app has been expected for a long time, ever since the iPhone was first announced. A lot has changed in satellite radio since then, and it will be interesting to watch the dynamics of people getting their satellite radio with an Apple product rather than a dedicated satellite receiver.

Happy listening. (Update: Readers are telling us no Howard Stern, no MLB or NFL games. Oh my.)

Thanks to reader John Mackay for the tip.

In what may be one of the great anti-climax stories of all time, it looks like Sirius/XM is finally releasing an iPhone/iPod touch app this week, probably on the 18th.

Subscribers who asked about the app are getting the following email... apparently Sirius support team members are paid! by the exclamation point!

Thank you for contacting SIRIUS regarding whether or not there is a SIRIUS iPhone application available. We are here to help! We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us in regards to this matter! We are happy to inform you that beginning June 18th a SIRIUS Internet Radio application will be available at the Apple iTunes App-Store for the iPhone and the iPod Touch! All Premium SIRIUS Internet Radio subscribers will be able to download the application from the Apple iTunes App-Store for free on their device and access the service at no additional cost! Subscribers who are listening to the Basic Online Service for free must first upgrade to the Premium Online Service for $2.99 per month to access the application on the iPhone or iPod Touch.

It's been a long and tortured road getting here. Competing players were stopped dead by Apple, and the Sirius player has been talked about ever since the iPhone came out. A couple of weeks ago we reported the app would appear 'real soon' and now it looks like this is the week.

No word as yet on how many channels will play on the app, but this is a highly anticipated release. We hope it's fully compatible with iPhone 3.0.

Sirius XM has revealed a screen shot of the soon to be released iPhone/iPod touch app that will stream the satellite channels to eager listeners. The image of the upcoming app was part of an SEC filing that was included in a PowerPoint presentation shown at a recent shareholder meeting.

The app, which is expected to be free, will require a US$3.00/month streaming subscription for current subscribers, and a US$13.00 monthly fee for non-subscribers. No specific release date is known, but it is thought to be very soon.

The company says the app will deliver music channels, sports, talk, news and comedy programming. We've already reported that Sirius had expected to offer the application this spring.

The satellite company has been in financial difficulties and has been losing subscribers faster than it is signing up new ones. The weak economy and drop off in new car sales are an especially tough environment to grow the business. The merger of XM and Sirius was generally thought to have been handled badly, and many people dropped their subscriptions, which has given a boost to internet radio and services like Pandora and Last.fm, although neither service is easily accessible in a car.

After all the bad news about the NiceMac StarPlayr application for the iPhone, Sirius Buzz, a web site that tracks the goings on in satellite radio, says they have it on good authority that a free player is coming from Sirius/XM directly.

Without citing specific sources, the author of the post says the player is going to be released 'very shortly'. The article implies that Sirius/XM, knowing their own app was coming, nixed the NiceMac solution.

That will be welcome news for the hordes of people who want an iPhone-based solution to listen to Sirius and XM. In particular, a lot of Howard Stern fans want to listen on the go, and an iPhone solution would be just the ticket.

With new car sales falling off a cliff, and the Sirius/XM merger not the financial panacea it was supposed to be, the nation's only satellite radio service could use a little positive buzz. Thousands of subscribers signing up for streaming could be a good thing for the company and subscribers.

Of course, all this could be a baseless rumor, but keep watching this space for more.

Via Sirius Buzz

American Public Radio has updated and improved its free app for listening to public radio streams on the iPhone/iPod touch. We had a look at the first version in early December, and the criticisms Megan Lavey noted in her review have been addressed.

Public Radio Tuner [app store link] has access to more than 200 streams from stations around the country. With this 1.1 update, this version starts up faster, works better over the slower EDGE network, and you can now search for your favorite station by call letters, frequency, city, region or format.

The app now uses location services to find stations that are near you, which is great if you are traveling.

Here are some things I'd like to see in the next version. Most important would be to have stations grouped by category. As it is now you can use the search tool and input a keyword like 'jazz' to get a list of stations with that format. I'd rather see some buttons that let me get this information without typing.

Another welcome fix would be web links. Each station page has the web URL to the station, but it is not click-able. I know you'd lose the stream if you bring up Safari, but the developers could have browser access from within the app as some others have done. Even better, Apple should fix the restriction in the iPhone OS that won't allow multitasking for 3rd party programs.

A spokesperson for the Public Radio Exchange, which is behind the app, tells me a May update will include program guide information. It will also allow listeners to get on-demand content, which is a big plus. And they say they are working on integrating a web browser. Yippee!

Not all Public Radio Stations are going to be found with this app. All stations were asked to contribute, but some don't stream, and others didn't want to participate.

The new features in Public Radio Tuner are most welcome, and I expect to be using it quite a bit. Give it a try and see if it fits your needs for music and talk that goes beyond the usual commercial radio fare.

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...

When the App Store first launched last Thursday, I saw Pandora and AOL Radio and immediately wondered if they would work on my first generation iPhone using EDGE. The quick answer is yes, however, you do make some sacrifices in one of the applications. Read my full review below to get the full details.

About Pandora (Download Link)
Pandora is a part of the Music Genome Project and allows you to create "stations" of your favorite artists. Pandora then pairs those artists to others you might like and plays an unlimited playlist based on your favorite artists. Pandora tracks your likes and dislikes and will play songs based on those results. Pandora lets you find new music for free, and who can argue with that?



About AOL Radio (Download Link)
AOL Radio is a CBS Radio partner that provides online streaming radio stations. Unlike Pandora, AOL Radio is a true streaming radio station in the sense that you can play local stations which support in-audio advertising. AOL Radio can use the location feature in order to find CBS affiliate stations that bitcast near you.



User Interface
Both Pandora and AOL Radio follow a similar user interface design: they both look like the iPod feature on iPhone/iPod touch. Both of the interfaces are nice, however, I have the same gripes for both. The volume controllers in both seem to be independent of the iPhone's volume controller. This can cause the audio to be distorted if you turn it up too much in the applications themselves since you can use the volume buttons on the side to control the audio volume as well.

Secondly, I would love to be able to quit the application and have the audio keep playing (I know, this is an Apple/SDK restriction, but it would still be nice). You can, however, lock the phone and keep the audio playing (which is a nice feature).

Both applications allow you to purchase the currently playing song from the iTunes WiFi Music store. AOL Radio also provides a link to find out more about the currently playing song on AOL Radio's site.

WiFi (or 3G) vs. EDGE Use
When you are playing the music over WiFi (or the 3G cell network), you get awesome audio quality. Both applications seem to provide audio quality that matches that of purchased iTunes songs. On EDGE, however, AOL Radio falls short by providing very low quality audio (I would guess 56k audio). However, Pandora on EDGE seems to maintain good audio quality when you have a signal that is greater than 2/5 bars.

So, who wins?
Since both of these applications are absolutely free and have equal pros and cons, I would recommend downloading both to see which one fits you the best. If you are on a 3G iPhone, both will work well no matter where you are (assuming you're within 3G coverage). However, if you have a 2G iPhone, you might prefer Pandora because it provides better audio quality over EDGE. You can download both applications by clicking the download links above.

Disclaimer: The Unofficial Apple Weblog and AOL Radio are both owned by AOL.