How do I listen to Streaming Internet Radio in iTunes?

Actually, support for streaming radio stations is still baked into even the very latest version of iTunes 12, but Apple has clearly made it less and less interesting and engaging. Oh, and kind of hidden it from most users as a default configuration. The good news, however, is that it’s not too hard to re-enable it and explore the thousands of streaming channels available from throughout the world, regardless of what language and region you prefer.

It’s really yet another example of something I’ve been saying for a while, however: iTunes is way too much of a digital Swiss army knife and needs to jettison all the unpopular features so it can be really great at a smaller number of capabilities. I would actually prefer if there were a different Mac (and Windows) program designed just for people who seek world radio, one with a good interface and some smart discovery tools so you can stumble across new and exciting content. That’s not what we have today, however, so let’s look at how it does work in iTunes 12 on a MacOS X system.

Here’s my iTunes window:

You’re probably quite familiar with this view, actually. What you might not realize is that there are more choices you can add to the “Library” listing on the left. You get to the configuration area by Control-Clicking in the light blue area on the left. This produces a menu where you can access various play features, but more importantly can also “Edit List”, as shown:

Choose Edit List and you’ll see quite a list of different entries you can have in the Library area:

You’ll want to check the box adjacent to “Internet Radio” to have that show up as an option. While you’re here, though, notice the other options. Some are only useful for a subset of listeners (e.g., Composers is most useful if you listen to classical music). Not a bad time to try adding some additional options and seeing if they help you enjoy your music collection, videos, TV shows and more!

Click “Done” in the top right of this region once you’re good with how it’s all set up.

Now you can choose “Internet Radio” from the left side of iTunes 12, which reveals a long list of genres:

Click on a specific genre, like International / World, and it’ll show you lots and lots of options:

Click on one and you’re listening to music from somewhere in the world, perhaps Saudi Arabia, perhaps Nigeria, perhaps Paris. That’s it. Easy. You may be tempted to use the search feature to identify specific stations, but in another gesture of neglect, iTunes search doesn’t actually let you search streaming radio channels. Kinda dumb, if you ask me. The interface for streaming radio is miserable and definitely does not help you find what you want.

Further, you can’t actually bookmark or remember stations you like, so I recommend you make an “Internet Radio” favorites playlist, then drag and drop channels you like into it. That’ll make it easy to switch from Afropulse to Panda Show Radio, or from New Scotland Radio to Sorcerer Radio.

That’s how it works. Not a great solution but I don’t know of any top third party apps to recommend here either (though myTuner Radio looks rather promising), so it’s up to you to get the hang of it and figure out your workarounds. Still, hope it helps!