Apple Ending Ad-Supported iTunes Radio Stations at End of January

oldmacs said:
I've tried Beats 1 on numerous occasions and only occasionally found something I've enjoyed, compared to iTunes radio where you get music in genres you like mixed with songs you may never have heard, with the ability to skip forwards if you don't like a song. Beats 1 does not compare to that at all.
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Yes, there are times for both for sure. I too love the stations based on a favourite song or artist or mood. Those are just part of the paid subscription though. I was very skeptical of paying monthly for music because I have a huge amassed collection but I think what kills me with reading a thread like this is knowing how much I felt the same....until I tried it. My opinion has DRASTICALLY changed and I do feel the $10 a month is a steal. There is so much - all ad free with Apple Music, it's mind boggling. To find people say it's a rip off is so odd - that is, if you love music and don't like ads killing the mood all the time.
 
Dingerz said:
Yes, there are times for both for sure. I too love the stations based on a favourite song or artist or mood. Those are just part of the paid subscription though. I was very skeptical of paying monthly for music because I have a huge amassed collection but I think what kills me with reading a thread like this is knowing how much I felt the same....until I tried it. My opinion has DRASTICALLY changed and I do feel the $10 a month is a steal. There is so much - all ad free with Apple Music, it's mind boggling. To find people say it's a rip off is so odd - that is, if you love music and don't like ads killing the mood all the time.
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The thing is I have no interest in Apple Music, as I like buying my Music on CD - I was content with iTunes Radio, as I'm more than happy to hear the occasional advert, as it meant not having to switch backwards and forwards from spotify, but I guess it will be back to Spotify for me as they offer an add supported tier.
 
oldmacs said:
The thing is I have no interest in Apple Music, as I like buying my Music on CD - I was content with iTunes Radio, as I'm more than happy to hear the occasional advert, as it meant not having to switch backwards and forwards from spotify, but I guess it will be back to Spotify for me as they offer an add supported tier.
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that is is free for now
 
Well, one of the few things I liked with the iPhone. I would even pay for the radio, just I can't stand Apple Music at all. I tried it for a couple days and hate it. Wouldn't keep that for free.
 
I used to like buying music on CD but now there's no use for it and it's a pain to play. I would prefer that Apple sell lossless and then I'll truly be happy. However, I can still buy my own cd's if I want by my favourite bands and have the collection of the entire world - all for $10 a month. I love that I can house every CD of mine, every bootleg, and every CD in the world with iTunes Match and Apple Music and make playlists from both if I so choose. So much discovery, so much enjoying my own CD collection, all at the same time. I just HATE ads and HATE radio - I've always despised radio my entire life for the ads so now this way I never ever have to deal with it. : ) This is the perfect music platform for me because it combines the best of absolutely everything for me.
 
So does this mean the traditional Internet Radio feature we've had for over a decade is going away? Is it just that crap Radio feature they added that has nothing to do with the Internet Radio?

I use Spotify most of the time now anyway. My iTunes library is too large and unwieldy and Spotify does a good job finding the type of music I like. Bringing me songs I haven't heard before or in a long time.
 
I tried AM and it ended up yes I discovers some new music but the vast majority of my listneing was stuff I already own. I actually think AM is a fantastic deal just not for me. Beats 1 has not something I would even occasionally listen to. Which is why I stuck with Match, I can stream what I own without having to fill my iPhone. But I actually ended up listening to station I'd created and fine tuned much more then stream my own music. I justified the cost of Match, and stop paying for Pandora premium add free. Well now it seem I'll just drop Match and use another streaming serivce. Too bad reduced the functionality of my ATV
 
Dingerz said:
I used to like buying music on CD but now there's no use for it and it's a pain to play. I would prefer that Apple sell lossless and then I'll truly be happy. However, I can still buy my own cd's if I want by my favourite bands and have the collection of the entire world - all for $10 a month. I love that I can house every CD of mine, every bootleg, and every CD in the world with iTunes Match and Apple Music and make playlists from both if I so choose. So much discovery, so much enjoying my own CD collection, all at the same time. I just HATE ads and HATE radio - I've always despised radio my entire life for the ads so now this way I never ever have to deal with it. : ) This is the perfect music platform for me because it combines the best of absolutely everything for me.
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I guess everyone's music needs are different. I like CDs for the fact I have a physical copy for the car (no phone interactions allowed for P1 platers in Australia), and that they're a universal format unlike Apple Music. Given how quickly Apple abandons services/applications without like for like replacement (iWork, iPhoto, iMovie, Final Cut, .Mac, Mobile Me etc), I don't really trust keeping my music in Apple Music (or any other similar service really) , especially in the years to come. I also can not guarantee I'll really always have $12 AUD to spend to ensure continued access, where as with CDs (or even just iTunes downloads), if I was short on money one month I just wouldn't buy an album and would still have access to my music.
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von franklin said:
that is is free for now
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For a couple of weeks... Unless you were talking about Spotify?
 
Dingerz said:
I used to like buying music on CD but now there's no use for it and it's a pain to play. I would prefer that Apple sell lossless and then I'll truly be happy. However, I can still buy my own cd's if I want by my favourite bands and have the collection of the entire world - all for $10 a month. I love that I can house every CD of mine, every bootleg, and every CD in the world with iTunes Match and Apple Music and make playlists from both if I so choose. So much discovery, so much enjoying my own CD collection, all at the same time. I just HATE ads and HATE radio - I've always despised radio my entire life for the ads so now this way I never ever have to deal with it. : ) This is the perfect music platform for me because it combines the best of absolutely everything for me.
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I don't think you really understand what this is all about. iTunes Radio was never a replacement for services like Apple Music or Spotify, neither was it like traditional radio. It is a different flavor of music discovery (you can create your own "stations" based on a song or artist to discover similar music) that complements the above mentioned services quite nicely. Also, people who subscribed to iTunes Match *paid* for the feature (ad-free), and now Apple has apparently decided that these people don't deserve to receive the service they paid for because they didn't also sign up for Apple Music. And it's not because they stop offering it altogether, because Apple Music subscribers can still create their own "stations".
 
Rigby said:
So just like that, they are removing a feature that iTunes Match subscribers paid for? Nice going, Apple. The chances of me joining Apple Music just went from slim to zero, and perhaps I'll cancel iTunes Match too.
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I don't think you'll upset them. They just announced 10 million subs in half the time it took Spotify to get that.
 
Dingerz said:
So you go back to your ad infested radio stations, enjoy them. I'd rather PAY PAY PAY to not listen to ad CRAP and to be introduced to music outside of my known musical spectrum. Not everyone is into that I guess.
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You can get ad free radio streams with iTunes radio.....

If you pay for iTunes Match, which I currently do, iTunes radio is ad free.

I have read conflicting things on if iTunes radio will still be available for paying iTunes Match customers. I think if the free, more widely used service is being discontinued, then Apple would probably end it for iTunes Match as well. I hope not though.
 
I think it is only fair, the service was exclusive to the US and later Australia. For the rest of the world this isn’t even relevant.
 
Rigby said:
I don't think you really understand what this is all about. iTunes Radio was never a replacement for services like Apple Music or Spotify, neither was it like traditional radio. It is a different flavor of music discovery (you can create your own "stations" based on a song or artist to discover similar music) that complements the above mentioned services quite nicely. Also, people who subscribed to iTunes Match *paid* for the feature (ad-free), and now Apple has apparently decided that these people don't deserve to receive the service they paid for because they didn't also sign up for Apple Music. And it's not because they stop offering it altogether, because Apple Music subscribers can still create their own "stations".
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I agree.

What I don't understand, is all the comments saying this is a positive thing. I can understand if you don't use the service and people feeling indifferent about the news, but many seem like this is a great thing.
 
iDuel said:
This is very unfortunate. I don't really get Apple's thinking on this one. It seemed to me the best way to promote iTunes sales with free ad-supported radio.
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Which is exactly how I used it in the past. I'd listen to iTunes Radio and every once in a blue moon actually buy a song for future listening. I rarely buy an album's worth of music in a month (making Apple Music too expensive for me). Honestly, I don't get why people buy albums. I generally find only a few really good songs per album that I want to buy, occasionally adding up to an album's worth of music for one month, but it's rare, and generally I buy less than that. Buying an entire album feels like a waste of money to me.
 
One thing I admire about Apple: when they fail at something, they fail fast and move on. iTunes Radio is just the collateral damage from Apple realizing that it's not good at selling ads.
 
Apple is shooting in their foot with this. iTunes Radio is why I open the Apple Music App. Seems like I will going back to DI.fm and Sky.fm apps.
 
lunarworks said:
Something tells me most of the people in this thread don't realize Beats 1 has a schedule, with different shows featuring different genres.

I've discovered some amazing non-rap music from Beats 1.
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I know!! It's so great! I LOVE Anna Lunoe, A-Trak, HAIM, Soulection & Julie Adenuga's shows. I love all kinds of music and they really deliver. For me it's definitely worth keeping my Apple Music subscription
 
Markoth said:
Which is exactly how I used it in the past. I'd listen to iTunes Radio and every once in a blue moon actually buy a song for future listening. I rarely buy an album's worth of music in a month (making Apple Music too expensive for me). Honestly, I don't get why people buy albums. I generally find only a few really good songs per album that I want to buy, occasionally adding up to an album's worth of music for one month, but it's rare, and generally I buy less than that. Buying an entire album feels like a waste of money to me.
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I think the issue is exactly as you have pointed out. Why do people buy albums?
Well they dont anymore. Only the huge artists get big album sales nowadays.
Record labels hate this. Artists hate this. They want you to pay for everything even if you dont want it.

So with streaming they get some of this back. And they want to push everyone to streaming and paying monthly even if you don't listen to alot of stuff. Because it's a similar model to the "buy all the tracks" one.

So Apple are going to push everyone in this direction.
And I guarantee Spotify will not have a free tier for ever. Maybe even in the next year or so Spotify will shut down the free tier and go all in on subscriptions only. I think the record companies will demand it and give them a cheaper deal on wholesale music.

The reason being that over a 100m people stream now and will not go back to torrents or bad mp3's. There will only be 3 places to get all your music (apple, spotify, youtube) on demand and you better pay because their will be nowhere else.
thats where its going. Pay monthly or nothing at all (maybe pay as u go spotify might work..)
 
So they're shutting down the free stations that you could listen to without being a Match or Apple Music subscriber? I wonder if that means Match will be going away and you'll have to sign up for Apple Music to get the benefits?
 
As long as I can bookmark opened streams I am totally fine.

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I just need to hear this, when I press play on the keyboard
http://tunein.com/radio/La-Grosse-Tambouille-s103223/
or this
http://tunein.com/radio/Radio-Swiss-Classic-s25582/
 
This is sort of related...

Just wondering, Radio channels in iTunes(the app), where do they get them from? Are they just a collection of free streaming online radios?
 
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