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Awesome...if you're an iTunes Match subscriber.

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'm actually pretty excited about this. As an iTunes Match subscriber, I love the fact that I get the ad-free version at no extra charge. I mean, who likes having their music listening experience interrupted with ads every couple of songs? And who likes being limited to the number of tracks you can skip? And with it being available both on OS X and iOS, and the fact that iTunes is the largest digital music store, I think this makes it WAY better than Spotify, which I really liked until my free trial expired. For non-iTunes Match subscribers, you may have a point, but for those of us who do subscribe to iTunes Match, it's awesome.

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Ad free for only 25 bucks a year is great. But can you select songs directly for playback, or just radio/playlist mode?

Great question that I hope the answer to is yes you can play songs directly.
 
I think this is awesome .. living in Germany we have considerably fewer good radio apps than in the US. So Apple would have the power to bring their product over the big pond ..
 
It was more interesting than I was expecting. Ad free for the price of iTunes Match looked more appealing.

I currently do not subscribe to iTunes Match and so would need to wait until a UK release. However, if it is any good, then I may be persuaded to use Match, so there may be a point to it after all....

I think you should get Match...it's $25/year, which you barely feel because it's charged once a year and then you forget about the cost, which is incredibly low anyway for what you get...got some pirated music? (I don't), but if you do, you can just match it, delete your copy and download the legit copy. :D
 
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?
 
Pandora is great, but it has a LOT of functionality gaps that're sorely missing. From the screenshots it looks like iRadio *might* be the full-featured pandora that I've been wanting for a long time.
 
I hope they play all music from their store. Wonder if CD Baby and Tunecore will have a separate opt in for this service.
 
Coloured iPhone borders

Is it just me or some of the iPhones featured on the iTunes Radio page have borders with different colors? Maybe a hint for a future release?
 
I'm already using at least 3-4 other music apps, I'll pass. This brings nothing new to the table except it's restricted to apple platforms only.
 
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?

Pointless? Um...yeah, it will make listening to Pandora pointless if that's what ya mean. Lol. Seriously, how can you say iRadio is pointless? It's built into the Apple eco-system. It funnels listeners directly to iTunes to purchase music from...um...APPLE. Hello?! Pointless? Hardly. Did you miss the part where Apple said SIRI voice control would be integrated into 95% of auto companies? Guess so. Savvy move by Apple.

I currently listen to Pandora, but will make the switch to iRadio soon as its available. I have iTunes Match, so no more annoying ads YAY!

I do still have SIRIUSXM in my car because they have all the content besides music that I love. My dream would be if Apple bought out SIRIUS. If they did, Apple would literally OWN the car market for audio entertainment! :)
 
For me one of the best parts of the radio is the host speaking in-between the tracks with interesting tidbits. It doesn't look like iTunes Radio has that.
 
For me one of the best parts of the radio is the host speaking in-between the tracks with interesting tidbits. It doesn't look like iTunes Radio has that.

Yeah, I am also disappointed they didn't work out the deal with DJ Timmy "Cookie" Cook and Morning Show Ive. No deal for me!
 
Ad-free Pandora-ish music for $25 per year that is an added bonus to my existing Match services. What's not to like? This will certainly become my main music app (on my Mac - I have an Android-based phone).

Pandora is $36 per year and doesn't integrate with the 10,000+ songs I have in my iTunes library. Spotify is $5 per month and $10 per month if you want mobile access. Google's music service is $8 per month and $10 per month starting in July. Yes, Spotify and Google likely give you more control over individual songs but each type of service fulfills different purposes. I don't often have time to sit down and pick songs I want to play next.

I expect this will cause Google to drop its price a fair amount. I am not going to complain about that.
 
hmmm...looks nice, the price plan is mindblowing.
i'll surely watch the "iradio vs pandora" and "iradio vs spotify" comparisons and if iradio is up to my mark i'll definitely get it.
 
Not, you just provoked a winking-eye answer. Did you really believe that iTunes Radio will turn out like an old school radio station with a host?

Nope. I'm just saying maybe they shouldn't have used "Radio" in the name. ;)
 
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