Sunday, May 4, 2008 -- 3:35 p.m. -- at my desk

I am a huge fan of Internet radio. Well, let me put it this way ... I used to have this hobby when I was younger -- trying to tune in distant AM stations on a regular old AM radio. I used to also have a shortwave radio. Now, as always, I just love hearing local radio from outside of where I live.

Part of it is learning new things ... part is reminiscing and listening to places I used to live.

And now, iTunes has even better radio streaming than ever ... maybe this didn't happen just yesterday, but now there are all kinds of mainstream stations listed in iTunes.

And that got me wondering ... with a 3G iPhone and a faster Internet connection, is iTunes radio streaming something we might end up seeing or having access to on the next iPhone?

I don't know the technical limitations of it, but I for one hope it's an option.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments

Thanks for calling.

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I'd love to be able to listen to Pandora on my iPhone

SCOTT'S REPLY: I'm doing all kinds of research to see if it's possible. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be possible -- bandwidth obviously the biggest issue. And therefore battery life, too.

Scott - are you concerned at all with increased video and audio demand through the iPhone and the internets in general, choking and clogging the system and thus slowing things down? With the advent of 3G, I've heard this may be a potential problem, although I haven't experienced it yet (in the internets itself). . ..Jim

SCOTT'S REPLY: I haven't experienced this yet, either, Jim, and sure ... while it concerns me on the surface, I have to have faith in the carriers when they say they are truly beefing up their networks. In this day and age, service providers -- whether traditional Internet or mobile -- need to be prepared for a spike in traffic and network slowdowns.

Had lots of fun using shortwave radio while cycling in Europe and trying to keep up on news back home. Sweet!

SCOTT'S REPLY: To me, just hearing a station from a distant place is pretty cool -- gives you an idea of the culture. A colleague of mine listen to Virgin Radio from London sometimes at the office and there's always something going on on the M4. So we always say that we need to avoid the M4, even though we know nothing about the M4. Perhaps some of my regular U.K. readers can shed a little light on the M4.

great idea. I listen to local Chicago stations when on the road to keep current.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Well, we will find out whether or not it's doable. I hope so.

My niece turned me on to Pandora and we tried to access it on the phone but couldn't because it's a flash site.

SCOTT'S REPLY: And then there's that Flash problem. Boy I hope this announcement of the 3G iPhone is a good one.

There's already a great radio station available for live streaming on the iPhone, it's WFMU out of NJ.

They can even work over EDGE, but for better quality WiFi is recommended.

go to iphone.wfmu.org

SCOTT'S REPLY: I'll check ... is this specifically formatted for iPhone or does it just work on the iPhone? I hope more stations make it so this is feasible.

I guess what's amazing is that despite the basic functional shortcomings of this 1.0 version, I've never been able to give up on the phone which is just a testament to how inherently special it is as a device relative to everything else out there. I've come close a few times to be honest and thought about waiting to switch back after 2.0 is released but I just couldn't do it! Had it since July 1 and feel like you just need to stay with because you know how much potential is there for it. Just hope they nail it this time because it is tough at times to not have some of this stuff that is so useful on a regular basis.

SCOTT'S REPLY: What they've had this time that they didn't have last time was user feedback -- and a lot of it. If they take that feedback to heart the way we hope, we should be golden.

The M4 is one of the major motorways going into London from the West. It goes from Bristol, through Swindon, Reading and into London. One of the main entrances into Heathrow is also off the M4, adding to the chaos as you head towards London. Thankfully I don't have to use it, but there are plenty of other roads that are just as bad. In fact the M25 is consistently bad, so it only gets mentioned on morning traffic reports if it's really, really, super duper bad!

Getting back to radio on the iPhone - I picked up a link from here a while ago: iphone.musicradio.com and it worked for a while but I can't access it any more. Can anyone else access it?

SCOTT'S REPLY: I tried it and didn't get anywhere. Hmmm. I'll check on that. And thanks for the UK road lesson. That's fascinating for someone who's never driven in the UK, or even been there.

Hi Scott, on a completely different note, I was looking a friends new phone this weekend and immediately tried to work it by touching the screen, of course it didn't work, and had to use the controls on the bottom. I felt like Scotty on Star Trek who went back in time and had to use a computer by a keyboard and mouse. "How quaint!" Once you have an iPhone you can never go back. Wondering if you or your callers have this problem.

SCOTT'S REPLY: So it was an iPhone where the screen was unresponsive you mean? Many times, a reboot solves that problem.

Hey Scott -- AccuRadio is a Chicago-based Internet radio service. We've recently entered a deal with a company called FlyTunes to make AccuRadio channels available via the iPhone. Check it out! Thanks.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Will definitely check it out. Thank you, Paul. But I'm also talking about the ability to stream what I call real radio -- actual radio stations from other cities. Is that something you plan on getting into, Paul?

For a while now I've used the app Kinoma on my Palm based Treo to stream radio station over AT&Ts network- works pretty good, even while driving, so long as their are enough cel towers around. I like a lot about he iPohne, but not having a workable solution for this on the iPhone platform as is has been a deal breaker for me

SCOTT'S REPLY: You aren't the first person I've heard touting the greatness of Kinoma. I have not used it, but it must be something pretty special based on what I'm hearing.

Hey Scott,
I know your not a proponent of jailbreaking iPhones
but there is a third party program called iRadio on the iPhone. I use it all the time to listen to KERA (local NPR station) when I have to get out of the car during a intriguing piece. There are literally hundreds of stations available and it work fairly well on the edge network
It is both technically possible and has already been done!!
I'm jailbroken and defiantly NOT regretting it
(I am using the Att network and activated legitimately)

-Shaun
Jailbroken and definatly NOT regreeting it

SCOTT'S REPLY: Thanks, Shaun. Despite my feelings on jailbreaking, the ability is what I was looking for and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. If it's doable, then I look forward to it as part of the SDK!

Scott, thanks for the heads up. There are a LOT of stations now.

SCOTT'S REPLY: There are, David ... but I'm hoping for an iTunes like interface -- a place where it's all put before me where I can just click on a button and choose my station. That's what I hope for and knowing that exists on jailbroken phones, I hope it's SDK-related bound.

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