I\'ve been reading around about streaming on the iphone via m3u8 but I\'m not sure if I\'m missing something.
It is well documented that MPMoviePlayerController will
If I got it right you want to play an mp3 playlist on OS 3.1 using the standard media player without having it on screen.
If this is right I suggest you to move your application window on top of the video screen with this:
appDelegate.window.windowLevel = 2
If your main window is opaque you will not see the player, never. I don't know if the native player supports M3U files, in the worst case you have to intercept the MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification event and then play the next file.
Hope this helps.