Streaming Net radio for the iPhone, even over EDGE

[Tycromedia LLC]

No Wi-Fi? No problem. A new service makes it easy to tune in to Net radio—even over the iPhone's poky EDGE connection—although you shouldn't expect crystal-clear audio quality.

Discovered by the Macheads at the Unofficial Apple Weblog, FlyTunes lets you browse about 350 Net radio stations and podcasts; just navigate to FlyTunes.fm on your iPhone or iPod Touch to get started.

A series of drop-down menus lets you choose between high- and low-bandwidth Net radio stations (depending on whether you're using Wi-Fi or EDGE), as well as a directory of podcasts, videos, and AccuRadio stations.

I tried FlyTunes on my iPhone using both Wi-Fi and EDGE; naturally, high-bandwidth stations over Wi-Fi sounded much better than the muddier, mono sound I got over AT&T's 2.5G EDGE network, but at least I didn't run into any buffering problems—and hey, I'll take so-so Net radio over nothing at all.

I also wish there was a better selection of channels on FlyTunes (350 stations is a good start, although several thousand streaming Net radio sites are currently online), but the FlyTunes developers seem to be adding new stations at a decent clip (nearly 200 in the last month alone). That said, there's a solid selection of streaming podcasts, including offerings from the BBC, CBS News, CNN, ESPN, NPR, and the New York Times.

All in all, pretty nice—and the FlyTunes developers say they're considering a native iPhone/Touch app once the Apple AppStore goes live next month.

A word of warning, though: The iPhone's EDGE connection tends to drain the battery pretty fast, so keep an eye on the meter while you're cranking those streaming tunes.