I have a confession. When I'm listening to music, it's usually from my car stereo, my laptop, or one of my iPods. I don't have satellite radio, and my Palm Centro never crosses my mind as a music device. Well, except for in a pinch, but it must be a BIG pinch. When I was first introduced to streaming radio over the internet, I thought it was an interesting idea but, again, just wasn't for me. There's a free app and service out there that changed my mind about a couple things, though: music streaming over the internet, and music on my Centro.

Mundu Radio, available at radio.mundu.com by GEODESIC, is a free app for download to your Palm OS device (in this case, my Centro). You need to have a corresponding Mundu Radio account, which is also free and you can sign up from their site. Once you download Mundu Radio, just install it, run the program, log in with your new account, and start streaming radio via the internet! Of course, it's a good idea if you have a data plan for your phone or you could be in a world of hurt when you get your next cell bill.

Whether it's Jazz or New Age, Alternative or Pop, Soundtrack or even the News, it's the world of radio at your fingertips. Surprisingly (at least to me), the streaming radio is clear and smooth. The volume is impressive also. I checked if Mundu Radio runs in the background and, fortunately, that is the case. Nothing like playing a game of Hearts while listening to some free news or music! Also, to conserve battery life on your device, just tap "preferences" in the menu and check the box to turn off your screen after playing for X (up to 180) seconds. Neat!

Remember that this is not a software review -- I would be far more critical and apply the utmost scrutiny. However, in the short time I've used Mundu Radio, I'm impressed with the available features, the quality of the streaming audio, and the price: FREE! It also has a fairly small footprint (<300k) and gives you access to the audio world while you are on the go. It is currently in Beta release, so keep in mind there may be updates down the road.

That's it for this week's Tip. If you are a developer with some helpful and/or fun software or if you have a Tip that you wish to pass on to the rest of the community, just email me at: [email protected]. Tune in next week for another Tip!

Disclaimer: Tip o' the Week makes no guarantee, express or implied, that any tip found herein will be new or particularly useful to the reader (but hey, FREE music and news streaming online to your Palm OS device -- how cool is that??).

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