Stream Radio on the iPhone, for free
I love my phone’s data capabilities, however, all those fees and charges for functionality can add up. Even at $8 or $10 a month, I like to check out a service and see how it will integrate into my life and habits before I sign up for yet another fee.
Lots of phone services will allow subscribers to stream radio and music, for a price. However, Clear Channel Radio now offers a free service called iheartmusic, (http://iheartmusic.com) just to iPhone or iTouch users, that allows folks to listen to about a dozen of the most popular Clear Channel radio stations from all over the country. The program integrates perfectly with itunes on your device. The cost for this is nada, which is a hard price to argue with. Naturally, up to 750 more stations are available for a small monthly fee, but I see this as a much more portable alternative to the car based radio of SIRIUS. As it is, I already carry too many devices anyway.
There was a very popular service called WunderRadio out there for free at one point, but alas, their business model caught up with them and it is no longer available, at least not with the cool ClearChannel stations. For those folks, iHeartMusic is the successor service.
iheart also runs a swell music website, and you can submit independent music there as well, where it can be downloaded and evaluated by fans across the nation. Feel free to check them out: http://iheartmusic.com/main.html
John,
How about Pandora? How does it (and its business model!) compare?
If Pandora streams for free on my iphone, I’d say it compares well. I love Pandora. For a while, I was streaming the music from my computer using an elaborate 49 MHz wireless system, so if I can get it on portable phone, then that’s great.
However, pandora tends to favor lessor known artists with similar sounds, rather than just the string familiar hits you hear on popular radio. Also, some folks still like talk radio (KFI) and the DJ chatter one finds on the better, big city stations (KIIS) as a way to pass the time along with the music.