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4. Surf the Web > Stream Web Audio and Video
When the iPad was announced in 2010, there was much grumbling about the fact that it wouldn’t play files in the Adobe Flash format—which is a large portion of the videos and browser-based video games on the Web. In fact, some people thought the lack of Flash support would deal a crippling blow to the iPad’s chances of success.
But guess what? Those naysayers were wrong. Sure, the iPad doesn’t recognize Flash, RealPlayer, or Windows Media file formats, but it can do a fair amount of streaming in other formats. After all, it has that whole YouTube app (Watch YouTube Clips) that plays plenty of videos, and it plays QuickTime movies, like movie trailers, so long as they’ve been prepared in iPad-friendly video formats (Video Formats That Work on the iPad). It also plays MP3 and WAV audio files right off the Web. Here are a few sites to sample:
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BBC News. The Beeb’s podcasts stream nicely, and you can search shows by radio station, genre, or get an A to Zed list; the company also has a fine iPad app (described on Use Newspaper and Magazine Apps; www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/).
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“Meet the Press” audio stream. You can find an MP3 edition of the venerable Sunday-morning talk show here: http://podcast.msnbc.com/audio/podcast/MSNBC-MTP.xml.
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National Public Radio. NPR has many of its signature programs, like “All Things Considered” and “World Café,” along with “Morning Edition” and other newscasts, online and ready to stream through your iPad’s speaker at m.npr.org. (NPR has a news-focused iPad app in the App Store, too.)
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New York Times podcasts. Check out a whole page of news shows that start streaming when you tap the MP3 link (www.nytimes.com/podcasts; the author is an employee of the New York Times).
Just about any MP3 file plays perfectly fine in the Safari browser. If you’ve already exhausted your iPad’s music library, search for free mp3 music or check your favorite radio station’s website for an MP3 stream of its live broadcast.
As for video, you have more to watch on the Web than just ’Pad-friendly streaming videos at Home?YouTube (Watch YouTube Clips). And Apple hosts a huge collection of movie trailers at trailers.apple.com and through the free iTunes Movie Trailers app. With either, tap a movie poster to get started.
