iPhone doesn’t give radio listeners any love
July 28, 2007
Lately, one of the things I’ve really been getting into is NPR. It has now become part of my daily routine to wake up and tune into to WNYC for “Morning Edition,” and catch “All Things Considered” when I get home from school. But, I’m not always at a computer or near a radio when my favorite shows are on. So, when I got my iPhone, I thought it would allow me to get my radio fix anywhere I was. Not so true.
There are two major flaws in the iPhone which it keep it from playing radio. The first is the lack of certain iPod accessory compatibility. There are several iPod radio tuner add-ons, including Apple’s own (pictured at right). None of them work with the iPhone, which is not surprising as it could interfere with the iPhone’s WiFi and cellular radios. Yet still, the iPhone would be able to get Internet radio streams, right? Wrong. Audio stream file types, such as .pls and .m3u, will not play on the iPhone, even though standard audio files (MP3, AAC, etc. — really anything that will play in iTunes) linked to in web pages will work.
This flaw is a large yet still unchecked problem in the iPhone, and really should be fixed. I mean, it’s one of the many really simple software problems that could be solved with a little free update — all Apple needs to do is enable basic .m3u and .pls streaming in the iPhone’s iTunes. If Apple could just do that, iPhone users around the country — and soon to be around the world — may be just a little happier.
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