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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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ituneslogo.jpg
Bloomberg reports that Apple appears to hoping to wrap up deals for an online music service in the next few weeks, targeting a launch for the first quarter of next year.
Apple Inc. and major music labels have intensified negotiations to start an advertising-supported Internet radio service by early next year, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Talks are centered in part around how to share ad revenue and a deal could be reached by mid-November, with Apple starting a service within the first three months of 2013, said the people, who asked not to be named because discussions are still in progress.
The report says that executives from Vivendi, Universal, Warner, and Sony have all visited Apple's headquarters in recent weeks to learn more about Apple's plans.

Advertising is said to be a central issue in the negotiations, with Apple seeing the service as a way to strengthen its iAd offerings while music labels are seeking a share of that ad revenue and the ability to insert their own advertising into listeners' streams.

Rumors of a potential streaming music service from Apple have been circulating for quite some time, but gained significant steam last month when The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times filed reports outlining Apple's plans to compete with Pandora and other similar services. But unlike those services, which operate under compulsory licenses that restrict users' abilities to skip tracks the frequency with which tracks can be played, Apple is seeking to strike its own licenses with music labels that would permit more flexible usage.

Article Link: Apple Targeting First Quarter 2013 Launch for Online Music Service
 

Reaktor5

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2007
712
24
New Hampshire, USA
I wonder if the record labels have been holding Apple back from doing this or themselves in profiting more by people buying the albums. Maybe iTunes match was a test to prove to the labels that streaming can be profitable.
 

DarkWinter

macrumors member
Feb 29, 2012
68
55
...

Ad-supported radio? Really? With the network's data limits and charges?

I just want a Spotify-like service, though let's face it, that's some years off (if ever).
 

Unspeaked

macrumors 68020
Dec 29, 2003
2,448
1
West Coast
In related news, Pandora's stock tanked so quickly it triggered stock exchange circuit breakers and had to halt trading.

It won't be a pretty day for Pandora shareholders tomorrow...
 

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
1,688
197
I know it'll never happen, but adopting a Spotify business model would be awesome.
 

dethmaShine

macrumors 68000
Apr 13, 2010
1,697
0
Into the lungs of Hell
BULL ****.

I can't believe Apple is going to push ads while listening to music like Pandora. (Pandora is great).

This is just not the Apple we know. Apple doesn't give two ***** about iAd or its offerings. It's probably going to $4.99 or $9.99 per month and that's about it. More like spotify in my opinion.
 

ChrisCW11

macrumors 65816
Jul 21, 2011
1,037
1,433
Rather see them revolutionize Television

Music is cheap, I don't need yet another music subscription service considering there are plenty of "legit" ways to get free music, stemming back to the good old radio. If you can just let go of the need to "control" music, I rather enjoy listening to randomly offered music from radio and internet streaming, it exposes me to more content than always picking the stuff I already listen to, I have an iPod for that.

I'd rather like to see Apple offer their own subscription services for TV shows and bypass cable monopolies.
 

foobarbaz

macrumors 6502a
Nov 29, 2007
863
1,921
October isn't over. You know Apple release dates. You always have to add "the last day of..." summer, fall, October ;)
 

gforce216

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2009
591
192
I don't want a service like Pandora.

Give me a service like Rdio/Spotify for $10/month and I will drop Rdio in a second.
 

bryanescuela

Suspended
Jun 27, 2008
187
93
iAds supported radio?

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needfx

Suspended
Aug 10, 2010
3,931
4,247
macrumors apparently
apple's pursuit of worldwide content distribution is stronger than ever. it cannot be dismissed as a probability since they have the tube all set up & ready. more income, more engaged users, more happy labels & artists joining the club
 

krisarmstrong

macrumors newbie
Oct 12, 2010
13
0
Great now where is iTunes 11

So where is iTunes 11? I suspect we will see it this Friday as that is when the new iPads ship and Apples website does say iTunes 11 to launch in October.
 

skitzogreg

macrumors 6502
Oct 31, 2007
311
5
Arkansas
This is actually really bad news, not for the launch of a streaming service, but for iTunes 11. Earlier, someone posted about how iTunes was pushed back to February based on a number of tweets. Immediately, the MR community shunned that thought as a troll post, but now I'm concerned. Look. I'm an hour off from probably being wrong. iTunes 11 could launch today, but, if it does not (or no announcement is made), I would be convinced of a Feb. launch for the service.

A lot of you have the thought process of, "why do you care"? Look, let's be real. OSX hasn't had any real changes since indexing with Spotlight in Leopard. Some nice eye candy here or there, but do you use it all? Probably not. iTunes on the other hand is probably used MORE than Safari. So, when it gets an overhaul, it's important to a lot of users. Having it pushed back will add fuel to the fire that the direction Apple is taking is due to poor leadership (e.g. releasing the MBPr before Haswell).
 

foxcub6

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2011
151
59
That's my thought Where is the ITunes 11 do you think they've forgotten due to them trying to justify the price of there iPad mini
 

Reaktor5

macrumors 6502a
Oct 12, 2007
712
24
New Hampshire, USA
This is actually really bad news, not for the launch of a streaming service, but for iTunes 11. Earlier, someone posted about how iTunes was pushed back to February based on a number of tweets. Immediately, the MR community shunned that thought as a troll post, but now I'm concerned. Look. I'm an hour off from probably being wrong. iTunes 11 could launch today, but, if it does not (or no announcement is made), I would be convinced of a Feb. launch for the service.

A lot of you have the thought process of, "why do you care"? Look, let's be real. OSX hasn't had any real changes since indexing with Spotlight in Leopard. Some nice eye candy here or there, but do you use it all? Probably not. iTunes on the other hand is probably used MORE than Safari. So, when it gets an overhaul, it's important to a lot of users. Having it pushed back will add fuel to the fire that the direction Apple is taking is due to poor leadership (e.g. releasing the MBPr before Haswell).

Go search Twitter for iTunes 11 February. Nothing. Zip. You got trolled.

If they did push it back, do you think the 'Coming in October' banner would still be up on the teaser page?
 
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