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hurley999jb

macrumors member
Jun 15, 2010
35
21
Los Angeles, CA
Pointless feature. So many good quality radio apps. So many other services like last.fm or soundcloud (or even the pay for on mobile 'spotify).

iTunes Radio - what's its USP?

I am a premium Spotify user and have been since the beginning. If iTunes Radio has a similar music catalogue it would beat out Spotify from a pricing perspective by a long shot. Will be interesting to see what types of content deals Apple closes by the release date.
 

lars666

macrumors 65816
Jul 13, 2008
1,190
1,281
Nope. I'm just saying maybe they shouldn't have used "Radio" in the name. ;)

Spotify Radio (within Spotify), Pandora Radio (directly in the name) etc. ALL use the term "radio" for the same type of delivering music... But never mind, not worthy to discuss about this. I love both kinds of radio, "real" one with a good host (like Bob Dylans radio show or Sirius Underground Garage) and the Internet kind of thing without a host to discover more good music.
 

scpt

macrumors newbie
Jul 11, 2007
23
6
Nope. I'm just saying maybe they shouldn't have used "Radio" in the name. ;)

They did that probably to imply that you cannot actually select the song you want to play...meaning its more pandora-like and not spotify-like.

I never expected something spotify-like, where you can actually save the songs offline if you are on the $9.99/month plan. That will directly eat into the iTunes music sales revenue.
 

darkknight14

macrumors 6502
Apr 18, 2011
275
238
They busted their humps to work out deals with the labels in time for WWDC and this is it? There has to be some hidden "one more thing" regarding iRadio. If not, I'm not quite sure what the fuss was about.:confused:

I agree with you.

I was looking for play any song, anytime, on any device kind of features. Maybe this will follow "later".
 

furqan8421

macrumors regular
Jun 27, 2007
140
239
Not overly excited as I have spotify and prefer the way it works

Two questions I do have: will streaming quality be in at least 256kbps? Can you listen to uncensored songs?
 

Yixian

macrumors 65816
Jun 2, 2007
1,483
135
Europe
In uk paying more than $25 as a match customer, I originally got a little excited and then realised I won't see it by Christmas.

Please apple give me radio by Christmas....

Considering the three big labels on board are multi-national there was no excuse not to launch it at least in Europe, Canada and Oz etc. along with US.
 

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
I'll echo the statements that I'm glad it's ad-free for Match subscribers.

I also hope that individual songs can be selected. I think there are still quite a few questions to be answered about the way it works. Apple's announcement wasn't quite clear. They said there would be preset playlists/ stations but you could also create new stations. They also said that the play history is kept so you can listen to/ purchase a specific song.

I'm a little surprised about the way Apple did the announcement though. It seems like something that should have either a) waited until the fall event to be announced or b) shipped immediately (or shortly) after the announcement.
 

otismotive77

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2013
467
0
I probably will use this more than pandora or spotify radio since its integrated into the music app. Just what I think.

yep, i also think it'd be faster and smoother than competitors because it'd be deeply integrated, which is enough for me to switch to this app.
 

Plutonius

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2003
9,018
8,379
New Hampshire, USA
Considering the three big labels on board are multi-national there was no excuse not to launch it at least in Europe, Canada and Oz etc. along with US.

Different contracts which is why it took so long to get iTunes in many of the countries outside of the US. If it works out well for the labels, I'm sure it will launch outside the US at a later date.
 

marko23

macrumors newbie
Jun 10, 2013
1
0
anyone notice the colored iPhones in the iTunes radio section on apple.com?
5s maybe? ;)
 

randfee2

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2007
270
233
Germany
NOT great. Why only in the US, why always this restriction? What kind of sense does that make, it's the internet, it's not some physical good that needs to be shipped first!

stupid!
 

jdechko

macrumors 601
Jul 1, 2004
4,230
325
anyone notice the colored iPhones in the iTunes radio section on apple.com?
5s maybe? ;)

It's an iPod touch. Note the lack of mute switch above the volume buttons, which are also shaped different from the iPhone's in the picture below.

Sorry to burst your bubble.
 

MagnumOP

macrumors regular
Jul 5, 2010
193
12
The pink color of iTunes Radio is terrible. People will not buy as much if the button is red/pink. Also, red/pink will make people think the content is explicit.
 

4TheLoveOfTech

macrumors 6502
Feb 27, 2013
432
0
I expect this will cause Google to drop its price a fair amount. I am not going to complain about that.

With Google Play you get offline playback of any song in the playstore including entire albums.

iTunes Radio is streaming only.

What happens if you are don't have in Internet connection? You're on a plane, your travelling outside the US, the power in your house goes off during a storm.
-----
Pandora can be played on my Smart TV, my Dish Network Receiver, my Mobile Phone, my Tablet, my Receiver and my computer. It's not limited to iDevices.
 

Deedlez

macrumors regular
Nov 1, 2011
126
38
UK
Wow, that was a big surprise. I've somehow avoided all the Last.FM, Spotify things. Will probably give this a go, because the Apple logo tattoo on my forehead is glowing :)apple:). Cannot... resist...
 

bbeagle

macrumors 68040
Oct 19, 2010
3,539
2,972
Buffalo, NY
With Google Play you get offline playback of any song in the playstore including entire albums.

iTunes Radio is streaming only.

What happens if you are don't have in Internet connection? You're on a plane, your travelling outside the US, the power in your house goes off during a storm.
-----
Pandora can be played on my Smart TV, my Dish Network Receiver, my Mobile Phone, my Tablet, my Receiver and my computer. It's not limited to iDevices.

And Google Play is $10/month while iTunes Radio is $2.08 a month. Big difference.

I've used free Pandora, and I'll try this for free. If I really like it, it's worth the $25 a year for no ads.
 

boss1

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2007
978
36
iTunes Radio criticism

What most seem to not realize is that the subtle integration of a radio service within an existing platform is huge. Looks like a lot of people where expecting a stand alone app with bells whistles, and a fanfare announcement?

The genius behind iTunes Radio is that, whether you agree with it or not, it's a choice you have within your existing device and you'll probably end up using even if you pay Pandora, Spotify & Google. ;)

Other criticism is based on U.S. only release. It's not up to Apple! it's solely (for the most part) not up to Sony or UMG etc.. Publishing rights, licensing & distribution is a bit more complex and individual publishers, record labels, will decide whether they want their content streamed to this new service & "where" in due time..... have a little patience.
 

Luscious

Suspended
Aug 8, 2007
170
122
Someone is going to have to explain Apple's "hype" that iRadio is radio re-imagined. Re-imagined from what? 5-6 years ago? And yes - while I am being sarcastic - I mean that sincerely. Did I miss something that iRadio does that other services don't?

It's ad-free for existing iTunes Match users. That's about the extent of it. I'm already a match user so I'll likely use this over Pandora but that's the only reason why. Otherwise I see nothing this does that other services don't.
 

SBlue1

macrumors 68000
Oct 17, 2008
1,936
2,366
Pointless feature. So many good quality radio apps. So many other services like last.fm or soundcloud (or even the pay for on mobile 'spotify).

iTunes Radio - what's its USP?

I never bothered using Spotify or any other radio apps. Last.fm was close but not exactly what I wanted. Now iTunes Radio will be great if it is what I think it is: Genius for radio! Just select a song from my library or type a song I don't have yet and it plays songs that are similar. Can't wait to see how it works.

And with just a little over 2 bucks a month this is a no brainer! I was expecting something in the range of 10 or 15 per month.
 

Thomas Davie

macrumors 6502a
Jan 20, 2004
581
340
I've got iTunes Match, but even when it comes to Canada I don't see using iRadio. It just isn't what I want; which is on demand music of what I want to hear. This is why I stopped listening to the radio back in 1990.

I'll give it a shot since it's free if it ever comes to Canada if I keep iTunes Match, but I've already got free music built into my home receiver.

Shrug.

Tom
 

3rdiguy

macrumors 65816
Sep 17, 2012
1,361
611
This is a Pandora-killer for me. I'm a iTunes Match subscriber and soon as iOS 7 drops in dropping Pandora.
 

techmangonewild

macrumors newbie
Mar 22, 2004
17
0
What does Apple say the maximum sound quality will be?

There's a HUGE difference in music from Pandora, for instance, compared to mog, which streams at 320 kb. The Pandora sounds like condensed crap, the mog is almost CD quality.

I guess we're the only audiophiles posting regarding quality. I would imagine that the stream will be 128k, the same as the normal song downloaded from iTunes. Nevertheless, I will sign up because, I'm sure this will integrate really well with my iOS devices and my Mac, but not holding my breath that it will replace my music server to which I listen on my home system.
 
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