Music Executive: 'iRadio is Coming', Apple Pushing for Summer Launch

aloharaz said:

Spotify and Pandora is not available outside USA (and few select regions )
iHope iRadio will be available everywhere

Click to expand...

I really hope that as well... we'll only have to wait and see. But I also think that Apple will limit availability of this service. It would be so typical of them.

In retrospect the rumored timing is a brilliant way to distract buyers from what appears to be just another minor update of a two year old iPhone.

Apple continues to get more proficient at dragging out anything fresh.

aDRock1154 said:

Meh. Fix iCloud and THEN go about other services..

Click to expand...

Indeed! Because it's "obvious" when they start building one service they totally drop the rest

Rogifan said:

How many people who pay $9.99 per month for Spotify services actually buy music? Since using Spotify, I can't remember the last time I bought a track/album off of iTunes (or anywhere else).

Click to expand...

I have never used any of these services and I have absolutely no intention to but I have only one question: How do you go about when there is no carrier reception on your phone (like being in a flight for hours) Does Spotyfy allow you to cache music in your phone? If not, I fail to see what the big deal is. Personally I prefer to have my music stored in my phone so I can freely listen to it whenever and anywhere in the world I my find myself without having to worry about the data.

BvizioN said:

I have never used any of these services and I have absolutely no intention to but I have only one question: How do you go about when there is no carrier reception on your phone (like being in a flight for hours) Does Spotyfy allow you to cache music in your phone? If not, I fail to see what the big deal is. Personally I prefer to have my music stored in my phone so I can freely listen to it whenever and anywhere in the world I my find myself without having to worry about the data.

Click to expand...

Yes you can download for offline use in most of the music streaming services.

so iRadio will be an app just for iOS7 or just for iphone 5s?
iRadio will be free? In EU countries will be available or only in US?

Thank you

Serban said:

so iRadio will be an app just for iOS7 or just for iphone 5s?
iRadio will be free? In EU countries will be available or only in US?

Thank you

Click to expand...

Probably will be pushed to itunes app

NewAnger said:

Why does Apple have todo whats already been done by Pandora and others?

Click to expand...

Yeah, like why build computers because IBM did it already.

aDRock1154 said:

Meh. Fix iCloud and THEN go about other services..

Click to expand...

What's wrong with iCloud? What a clown!

BvizioN said:

I have never used any of these services and I have absolutely no intention to but I have only one question: How do you go about when there is no carrier reception on your phone (like being in a flight for hours) Does Spotyfy allow you to cache music in your phone? If not, I fail to see what the big deal is. Personally I prefer to have my music stored in my phone so I can freely listen to it whenever and anywhere in the world I my find myself without having to worry about the data.

Click to expand...

Yes, Spotify allows to to cache your music. Most of my phone's space is filled up with Spotify playlists I've cached.

lordofthereef said:

I can see this as being great. Lets try unlimited streaming without ads for free. Nokia music already does this, but I would love a Nokia music equivalent on iOS.

Perhaps even a subscription service that allows the user to keep a track or two per month.

Plenty of simple ways to make this better than pandora or spotify. Not sure why people are yawning on this one.

Click to expand...

I think people are yawning because there isn't a clear way for Apple to go over and above what's out there other than use the 'We're Apple, you'll lap this **** up because we're cool' factor which is starting to lose it's luster.

One thing I would like to see (And one I know won't happen) would be support for the smaller devices. Spotify is my playlist for home, driving and running on treadmills. Apple won't win me over on this front because I have a stupid amount of music available to me for less than I'd spend on albums, and the social aspects of Spotify mean I'm invested into it through collaborative playlists and general effort involved.

Where Apple has me is being truly mobile. Running on the road is great with my old iPod nano. It's small enough to not be noticeable, has enough storage for any run that I could go on and unbelievably good battery life. Put a spotify type service on one of those things and you'll have a winner. That said, Apple doing that could put other devices in the iPod range at threat of selling less. If it weren't for that wonderful little device, I'd not have the abomination that is iTunes installed on my PC

Rogifan said:

Yes, Spotify allows to to cache your music. Most of my phone's space is filled up with Spotify playlists I've cached.

Click to expand...

Thanks, it makes sense then.

jaymzuk said:

I think people are yawning because there isn't a clear way for Apple to go over and above what's out there other than use the 'We're Apple, you'll lap this **** up because we're cool' factor which is starting to lose it's luster.

One thing I would like to see (And one I know won't happen) would be support for the smaller devices. Spotify is my playlist for home, driving and running on treadmills. Apple won't win me over on this front because I have a stupid amount of music available to me for less than I'd spend on albums, and the social aspects of Spotify mean I'm invested into it through collaborative playlists and general effort involved.

Where Apple has me is being truly mobile. Running on the road is great with my old iPod nano. It's small enough to not be noticeable, has enough storage for any run that I could go on and unbelievably good battery life. Put a spotify type service on one of those things and you'll have a winner. That said, Apple doing that could put other devices in the iPod range at threat of selling less. If it weren't for that wonderful little device, I'd not have the abomination that is iTunes installed on my PC

Click to expand...

I guess I just don't see why it has to be strictly better. It's a built in. Feature for iOS. Maybe that is actually their only goal?

But, I can think of a handful of ways they can compete.

1. Price point
2. Ads (lack of)
3. Offline play
4. Allowing users to keep a few tracks a month
5. Full os integration (music app)
6. Streaming of actual radio stations

The last point I think is being overlooked. People claim "nobody listens to radio" anymore. I would beg to differ. If this were the case, we wouldn't have radio anymore, period. I have a couple different apps that I personally use for streaming radio, generally npr. I wouldn't mind for something like this to be built right into the os.

But the strangest thing of all about the yawning is we have no idea what apple is going to give us, and yet people are complaining that this would likely be useless. Well ok, I guess you all need something to complain about. I'm just shocked that its this.

lordofthereef said:

But the strangest thing of all about the yawning is we have no idea what apple is going to give us, and yet people are complaining that this would likely be useless. Well ok, I guess you all need something to complain about. I'm just shocked that its this.

Click to expand...

I don't care what paying service Apple comes up with, I just want iTunes DJ back, and I'll complain until they give it back. If you're shocked, then I'm one of the loyal customers who've been double, triple shocked since the day Apple stole what it has given us for years. Because giving something and taking it back is stealing.

BobbyCat said:

I don't care what paying service Apple comes up with, I just want iTunes DJ back, and I'll complain until they give it back. If you're shocked, then I'm one of the loyal customers who've been double, triple shocked since the day Apple stole what it has given us for years. Because giving something and taking it back is stealing.

Click to expand...

My post had absolutely nothing to do with iTunes dj. I stated that I am shocked people are so up in arms by apple wanting to add their own radio feature. It's a new feature. Don't like it? Don't use it. What's the point in whining about it, especially when, aside from a tentative name, we don't even know what it does or doesn't do?

I'm sorry your iTunes dj got taken away. Truth be told, I don't even know what that is and I've been using iOS since the beginning. Maybe it just wasn't something a lot of people used? Either way, sucks to have something get taken away from you. Such is the world of software these days.

yay forget pandora that thing sucks

lordofthereef said:

I guess I just don't see why it has to be strictly better. It's a built in. Feature for iOS. Maybe that is actually their only goal?

But, I can think of a handful of ways they can compete.

1. Price point Apple generally doesn't compete on price outside of the legally dubious models where competitors are always charged the same or more
2. Ads (lack of) Spotify Premium has no ads
3. Offline play Spotify Premium has offline play
4. Allowing users to keep a few tracks a month Why would you need a few tracks when you have everything to hand for a pittance?
5. Full os integration (music app) It would need to be amazing to beat Spotify Premium
6. Streaming of actual radio stations So I can listen to ads, or music I don't want to listen to?

The last point I think is being overlooked. People claim "nobody listens to radio" anymore. I would beg to differ. If this were the case, we wouldn't have radio anymore, period. I have a couple different apps that I personally use for streaming radio, generally npr. I wouldn't mind for something like this to be built right into the os.

But the strangest thing of all about the yawning is we have no idea what apple is going to give us, and yet people are complaining that this would likely be useless. Well ok, I guess you all need something to complain about. I'm just shocked that its this.

Click to expand...

The yawning is all because Apple are entering a marketing with established players offering feature complete services. I pay £10 a month for as music as I could possibly want, and public playlists, apps and radio features give me new music too.

So if and when Apple announce this iRadio service, in order to attract someone like me, it needs to fight on multiple fronts:

• It needs to match all of the features of Spotify, Rdio and Pandora, while offering me something substantive over and above those services
• Offer it at a very competitive price
• It needs to be platform agnostic

The service needs to stand on it's own. The service has to be the cake, and iOS integration the icing on top of it. I can access and play my spotify content on practically any internet connected computer or smartphone, and with the aid of the Spotify apps (Which are well designed and functional), I can take it all offline for 30 days without having to reconnect. If iRadio doesn't do this and something significant over and above what i currently get, there is precisely no incentive for a big chunk of music lovers to switch.

MrT8064 said:

Can't apple just buy Spotify?

Click to expand...

Is spotify for sale? There are other things Apple has been wanted to buy. One of them was drop box. This is documented fact.

For some reason there is this assumption that just because a company has the money to buy soothing, and they want to buy that thing, that they will inevitably own it. Not all companies sell out.

----------

jaymzuk said:

The yawning is all because Apple are entering a marketing with established players offering feature complete services. I pay £10 a month for as music as I could possibly want, and public playlists, apps and radio features give me new music too.

So if and when Apple announce this iRadio service, in order to attract someone like me, it needs to fight on multiple fronts:

• It needs to match all of the features of Spotify, Rdio and Pandora, while offering me something substantive over and above those services
• Offer it at a very competitive price
• It needs to be platform agnostic

The service needs to stand on it's own. The service has to be the cake, and iOS integration the icing on top of it. I can access and play my spotify content on practically any internet connected computer or smartphone, and with the aid of the Spotify apps (Which are well designed and functional), I can take it all offline for 30 days without having to reconnect. If iRadio doesn't do this and something significant over and above what i currently get, there is precisely no incentive for a big chunk of music lovers to switch.

Click to expand...

You made it quite difficult to respond to your statement since you just added your own thoughts, in red, to my original quote. In short, a combination of ALL of that is what could make it compete. If you break down every little thing, on its own, sure, you can say "this or that service already has that". But if Apple gives us all of these points in one, elegantly built in product, then yes, I would say it can compete.

Also, I disagree with price point competition. Apple worked pretty hard, and they were pretty proud when they could offer the 3G (and onward) on contract for a much cheaper price. Apple phones, just like Android phones can be had for free, and go up from there, in most countries that allow contract subsidies.

You may not care about radio. That's fair. Plenty of people do enjoy radio. The fact that being able to stream radio is not a plus to YOU, doesn't mean nobody likes it. There are dedicated apps out there with millions of downloads that do just that.

But the biggest point, that I have repeated now three times... we don't even know what this service is going to be, and yet we are complaining. Find out what it is, decide you are disappointed, and then whine. Right now, all we know is a tentative title. Literally. That's it.