I love controlling my home audio with my iPhone/iTouch. Apple makes this possible with the free Remote application.
By adding an
AirPort Express you can listen to your iTunes library anywhere in the house you have speakers. I listen to 4 different "zones" in my house. Living Room, Home Office, Master Bathroom and Backyard.
Now over WiFi, I have control over my music collection to multiple zones in the house.
I've been listening to radio station's Internet streams this way for a while, but once you start doing this, you'll end up running into streams that won't play in iTunes. Mostly, there will be "mms" streams that will play in Windows Media Player, or VLC, but not in iTunes. And without these playing in iTunes, you don't have control with your iPhone/iTouch.
I recently ran into this issue when trying to listen to
1310 the Ticket. They have a good
Stream Help page, but you'll notice you can't open the stream's URL in iTunes.
Solution has been found!
This is less complicated that it sounds, so hang on. This is using my MacBook Pro, fyi.
Software you need:
Everyone has iTunes, but you probably don't have the "Pro" version of QuickTime or the Airfoil software. QuickTime 7 Pro is $29 and Airfoil is $25. If you have a number of editing and uses for the software, you can justify the cost...otherwise....uh....well, figure it out. (ATTN Snow Leopard users...you will need these instructions to install QuickTime 7,
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3678)
The steps to get a "mms" stream playing in iTunes:
1. Open VLC and select File > Open Network
2. Fill in the mms URL (ex. mms://live.cumulusstreaming.com/KTCK-AM)
3. Click on OK - note: ignore any error screens
4. Next, File > Save Playlist (format: Extended m3u), save the file and close VLC
5. Now, open the m3u file in Quicktime 7 Pro - it should play after buffering
6. Save the file as a .mov and that open this file in iTunes
Now, you need to open the Airfoil program and connect the speakers you want to stream to.
Boom, you are done!