Apple Announces iTunes Radio, Ad-Supported, Free for iTunes Match Subscribers

[urbanslaughter1997]

The huge advantage Apple has over any other streaming music service is that they already know everything I like. They could tap into my playlists and create radio stations that extended my favorite playlists. They could use my existing song ratings and create stations that they know I'll also love. I was really surprised to see nothing like this with iTunes Radio. With all that metadata, I'm sure it will come later as it become more widely used.

 

[ftaok]

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.

iTunes songs have been 256k for years now. Not that audiophiles would consider 256k ideal.

 

[thefourthpope]

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

I wonder if Pandora One ($36/year) will be prompted to drop their prices. I love that service, and though the $11 difference isn't enough to make me switch, it would be nice.

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There's a HUGE difference in music from Pandora, for instance, compared to mog, which streams at 320 kb.

Never heard of mog before your comment. Signing up now...

 

[Plutonius]

I wonder if Pandora One ($36/year) will be prompted to drop their prices. I love that service, and though the $11 difference isn't enough to make me switch, it would be nice.

Maybe you should try it out first before you decide (when it comes out). The ad based Apple radio will be free so you will be able to get an idea if you like it.

 

[Plutonius]

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.
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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.

They just announced it and nobody yet knows the specifics. Save all your complaints until after it is released and you know exactly what it will do.

Note - I can currently play my iTunes music through Plex on my Roku (you don't need an iDevice). It is possible that Plex will eventually support Apple radio.

 

[SpaceKitty]

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

Yes. They demoed it by searching for and playing Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin.

 

[urbanslaughter1997]

Yes. They demoed it by searching for and playing Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin.

No, they demoed it by playing Led Zeppelin. Whole Lotta Love just happened to be the song that came up.

 

[4mat]

US only. Typical. Why do the music, TV and movie industries make it difficult for me to give them money. They are aware that other currencies are woth something?

 

[Plutonius]

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.

Don't you like the ability in the Apple radio for unlimited skips of the songs you don't want to hear. In Pandora, you can only skip a set amount of songs / hour. To me, this is one of the best features of Apple Radio compared to Pandora. If the streaming musics libraries are comparable, I can see many people switching from Pandora to Apple Radio.

Edit: I just read that the Apple Radio only allows 6 skips / hour. Needless to say, I'm disappointed .

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US only. Typical. Why do the music, TV and movie industries make it difficult for me to give them money. They are aware that other currencies are woth something?

The initial launch is US only. If it does well, I'm sure the other countries will be getting it.

 

[thefourthpope]

Maybe you should try it out first before you decide (when it comes out). The ad based Apple radio will be free so you will be able to get an idea if you like it.

Absolutely. I meant that the discounted ad-free price was not going to make me switch just for that. If its a better service, that's a different matter. But if iradio is not better, I'm hoping it will at least have pandora thinking of dropping their own price.

 

[PDXoPDX]

Neat, a marketing tool to drive iTunes downloads. No option to unlock unlimited skips, DJ'd radio streams, skip to specific albums/artists/songs on demand. Blech!

This is a largely duplicative service that, at best, puts Apple on par with Pandora.

 

[Razeus]

I dropped my Pandora subscription for iTunes Radio. Much better, one less app to keep up with, one less account to keep up with, cheaper, and fully integrated with all my iOS/Apple stuff.