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Apple Reportedly Planning to Shut Down Beats Music [Update: Not True]

I could see them rebranding the service into iTunes Radio, but then it seems be strange to be eliminating the development team. You'd think Apple would want to keep the team to continue building and improving the service.

EDIT: Reread the OP and it just says engineers have moved, not been eliminated, so I guess they could move them to the iTunes team and then absorb Beats Music features into iTunes Radio.
 
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Beats Awful

Mog was great.. They had a hug library. And the App was great. Easy to use, fast to navigate, and get what you want!

Beats SUCKED.. The app was *****. Crappola.

I'm only hoping that MOG is reinvented to a better product. I don't care if it's by Apple. I just want a better alternative to Spotify. Rhapsody doesn't come close, and they have a clumsy app as well.
 
maflynn said:
Let me ask this question again - why did apple spend 3 billion dollars on Beats, especially when they may be shutting down the streaming service :confused:
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Do you really believe the Beats Music was worth three billion dollars ?

Apple bought :

A. Connections in the Music industry.
B. Ideas.
C. Talent.

They had no desire to continue carrying another streaming service when they have their own.
 
osofast240sx said:
Everything just being incorporated into iTunes music no news here! Makes perfect sense

Lets not forget these guys are a lot smarter than you and I#
Click to expand...

It doesn't make sense for the many users not on iOS using Beats. And I wouldn't say Apple is a lot smarter than us when it comes to music. They never saw music streaming as a threat until it was too late and had to buy Beats.
 
tito2020 said:
they might be rebranding it to itunes
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Too bad they aren't rebranding iTunes to Beats. I think the iTunes name is tired and doesn't reflect the whole ecosystem. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they killed off the iTunes name next year.
 
what?!

Darth_vader_no.gif
 
Peace said:
Do you really believe the Beats Music was worth three billion dollars ?

Apple bought :

A. Connections in the Music industry.
B. Ideas.
C. Talent.

They had no desire to continue carrying another streaming service when they have their own.
Click to expand...

None of the acquisitions are "worth it" in terms of direct dollars. But it is hard to gauge whether it was worth it until many years out. One issue with streaming services, is most have clauses that if they are bought out, their contracts with the labels can be gotten out of easily. So I don't think Apple bought Beats for streaming rights. They already have connections to the music industry dating back farther than almost any digital music provider.
 
Did anyone actually expect Apple after acquiring Beats was going to keep operating 2 separate streaming services?

It was pretty damn obvious from day 1 of the acquisition that iTunes Streaming/Radio & Beats were all going to be merged into one product. I'd guess this will be one of the flagship features in iOS9 next summer.
 
I don't care if they get rid of it as long as the same features are brought to the iTunes app. The app is amazing so they better get it right with iTunes.
 
This is perfect.

BreuerEditor said:
So they acquired Beats, added it to AppleTV, and now they're going to kill their music service? Why spend the time and money on the AppleTV integration if you're planning on canning it?
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I bet they spent almost no time and money putting Beats on AppleTV. If you look at the interface, it's borrowing all the same UI elements that already existed in other AppleTV apps. There's nothing new or custom.

My guess is that putting Beats on AppleTV was a short project that Apple created for the Beats team so that they wouldn't jump ship immediately. Also, it gave them a useful way to get used to working at Apple. Perhaps many of them will stick around to work on new projects as a result.

Anyway, I'm glad this is happening: Beats was a fine service, but it absolutely MUST be integrated into the Music app. Once it is, Apple will actually have the best music app on the planet. On-demand streaming, personalized radio, and purchase options, all cleanly labeled "Music." That's Apple.
 
MacSince1990 said:
Rofl. Please speak for yourself.

Most people who run corporations are not unusually intelligent. They're given way way too much credit.
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Would have probably been more accurate to say 'more knowledgeable,' as those involved certainly have more knowledge of what's going on than anyone on these boards.
 
bozzykid said:
None of the acquisitions are "worth it" in terms of direct dollars. But it is hard to gauge whether it was worth it until many years out. One issue with streaming services, is most have clauses that if they are bought out, their contracts with the labels can be gotten out of easily. So I don't think Apple bought Beats for streaming rights. They already have connections to the music industry dating back farther than almost any digital music provider.
Click to expand...

Folks don't realize this but Apple lost a lot of clout in the music biz when Steve died.
 
nutmac said:
I think the truth is somewhere in between. Apple is shutting down Beats Music, but not until iOS 9, when it will be rebranded and integrated into new streaming music app that combines iTunes Radio and Beats Music.
Click to expand...

Could be one of the big mid-year iOS updates like they did each year in the past.
 
TimUSCA said:
This makes no sense... they JUST added a Beats Music app to Apple TV. Why bother if they're just going to shut it down?
Click to expand...

It's actually pretty easy to click on the link and read the entire techcrunch article. Always amazes me that people would rather bother to pointlessly speculation on a MacRumors summary, than simply click on the link to get the larger story.
 
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