Why copy videos to your iPhone when you can stream it? Whether it’s coming from your computer, the cloud, or somewhere else, here you can check the best media steaming apps for your iPhone.
If you want to watch your video, regardless of the format, Air Video is one of the best apps you can get for your iPhone (or other iOS device). Using your Mac or Windows computer as a host, you can serve up video in virtually any format to your iPhone. If the video isn't already in the format your iPhone likes, Air Video will convert it on the fly.
If you still would like to use iTunes to manage your videos, you can read how to view videos in different formats with iPhone 5.
If you're a Netflix member, it's silly not to have this free app. The idea is pretty straightforward: anything in your instant queue can be played directly on your iPhone. When you're bored and need something to watch, you can pull up a ton of TV shows and movies.
If you use Plex as your home media center, the iOS app is a must-have. While it doesn't have the simple network setup you get with Air Video, it offers much of the same functionality and doubles as a remote control for your Plex media center. This may not be a great app for everyone, but it's perfect for Plex devotees.
YouTube
It would be a shame to ignore the great built-in YouTube app that comes with your iPhone when Apple did such a nice job with it. While it's pretty straightforward, it's always there for you when you want to bring up your favorite web videos. If you're logged in you can save videos, rate them, and manage playlists. Beyond just being a video player, it makes a great free music player as well. Since YouTube has so much free music, you can just add a bunch of songs/music videos to a playlist and listen to virtually anything you'd like.(Enjoy 1080p movies on iPhone 5’s 16:9 retina display)
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. Any file you save to your Dropbox is accessible from all your computers, iPhone, iPad and even the Dropbox website!
When it comes to free radio, Pandora's one of the better apps you can use to listen to music you like and discover new, similar music as well. Thanks to iOS 4's pseudo-multitasking, Pandora can now run in the background and assume the role of your primary music player when active. The Pandora app lets you toggle between lower quality audio (meant for your 3G data connection) and high quality audio (meant for Wi-Fi) so you can conserve data (or not). If you want to remove ads, you can upgrade to Pandora One directly from the app for $36 per year. If you're okay with the ads, regular Pandora is still free.
If you'd prefer to listen to your own music collection than whatever Pandora happens to be offering up, Audiogalaxy may be more up your alley. If that name's familiar, you're probably remembering Audiogalaxy from its days as a great little peer-to-peer music download service that was shuttered in the post-Napster wars. Now Audiogalaxy's been reborn as a smart little app that runs as a background server on your desktop that streams music to the companion app on your iOS (or Android) device. Not a shabby transformation.
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