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
Well if you'll play audio you could use AVPlayer (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avplayer) or, if you want pre-buffering as well, you could use AVQueuePlayer (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avqueueplayer) - they both work with the HTTP live streaming protocol but you should fragment your tracks by using the tools provided by apple: https://developer.apple.com/streaming/
They also have a validator which tells you if the streams are ok. The problem is that AVPlayer is available from iOS 4.0 and AVQueuePlayer from 4.1.
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.