One of the complaints lodged against Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch is the lack of an in-built FM tuner. With the feature already available on plenty of other media players, it’s a wonder why Apple hasn’t introduced this outside of the newly released iPod Nano.
The TuneIn Radio app attempts to fix that by aggregating streams of over 40,000 radio stations across the country.
The app is an extensive database of most popular radio stations across the world streaming through the internet. All users have to do is search for the particular station they want to listen to, and then audio will start playing – even in the background.
The app also finds stations based on your location, so you don’t have to search for long if you want to find a particularly popular program. The app also allows you to search by category, location, and music type, and can even record broadcasts and store them for later listening.
The app, which costs $2.49, has also provided founder Ben Alexander with a great opportunity – he was recently hired, and his one-man operation, acquired, by radio apps distributor RadioTime.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
