iPhone incognito: Turning Your iPhone Into A Squeezebox, Sort of...

Over the holiday break, I became interested in the Squeezebox Boom. I like to listen to music in the mornings while I am in bed and at night just before I fall asleep. I also like to keep up with news from Seattle and my hometown of Pittsburgh. Furthermore, I am interested in practicing the foreign languages that I study by listening to music and radio broadcasts. This part is tricky because it requires two things: an easy to navigate guide that classifies stations according to genre and location and support for all of the various codecs that stations use for streaming.

An internet radio would achieve all of these things and more and the Squeezebox Boom had all of the features that I was looking for and maybe a little more. I was also looking to save a little bit of money, however, and even though I may still get the Boom someday, I wanted to try and get the same functionality out of something that I already own. My iPhone serves as my alarm clock. Why not try to duplicate as many features as possible using it?

First off, I should state that I do not currently know of a way to use either the SqueezeCenter server or the SqueezeNetwork with the iPhone. I imagine that this functionality would not become (legitimately) available anytime soon. However, my interests lay mainly in the various streaming services that are compatible with the Boom and other Squeeze-compatible devices.

Here are the services that the Boom supports:

• Amazon: It can add songs to the Amazon wish list for purchase.


• Deezer: Free on-demand music service.


• Last.fm: Personalized streaming service.


• Live365: Internet radio network.


• MP3Locker: Put your music in the cloud.


• Pandora: Another streaming service.


• RadioIO: Internet radio network.


• RadioTime: Directory of internet radio streams.


• Rhapsody: Music subscription service.


• Shoutcast: Another directory of internet radio streams.


• SiriusXM: Satellite radio.


• Slacker: Another streaming service.

I'm not interested in all of these services and not all of them are available on the iPhone currently, but here is how I "constructed" my radio:

• Speakers: This is the real expense because you will want a set that provides good sound. I'm still looking for a kit that will cost less than the Boom but provide good sound. There are many options out there, I just have not decided yet.


• Wunder Radio: This app by WeatherUnderground costs $5.99. It provides RadioTime and RadioIO stations, which allow the iPhone to play windows media streams and provides a useable directory of stations.


• Last.fm


• Pandora


• Slacker


• Deezer


• Shoutcast


• Simplify Media: This allows you to play non-DRM mp3s from your iTunes library on your iPhone from anywhere. This serves as a substitute for some of the functionality of the Squeezecenter server.
  

In addition to these services, there is a SiriusXM player in private beta that should be available soon. There is also talk of a live365 player, leaving only Rhapsody and MP3locker unsupported on the iPhone. I'm not using those two services, so I'm willing to let them slide. I am currently a Sirius subscriber, so I can't wait for that app to become available.

There are a number of other radio apps that I enjoy on the iPhone that could enhance the device as an internet radio substitute, including AOL radio, iheartradio, NPR Mobile, and FlyCast.

So far, it works well. I have noticed that certain apps stop playing if you do not interact with the screen every half hour. There also is no sensible way to make the broadcast stop the way that a sleep times does on an alarm clock. As I discover solutions for some of these issues, I'll post them.