Apple's iTunes Radio Streaming Music Service Launches in Australia

[phillipduran]

Oh ya! I totally forgot about this service.

Why?

Because it's forgettable, that's why.

This service is Apple making a Blackberry attempt at being relevant in the free to play music world.

 

[Plutonius]

Not trolling - I'm genuinely curious. I don't use it myself, but I don't listen to the radio much in general (I don't use Pandora or Spotify, either).

All the time but I already had iTunes match (so no advertisements).

To me, it's the same as Pandora without the ridicules amount of advertisements that Pandora has .

Oh ya! I totally forgot about this service.

Why?

Because it's forgettable, that's why.

This service is Apple making a Blackberry attempt at being relevant in the free to play music world.

I would actually rank it at the top of the free Pandora like streaming services (assuming you use iTunes). I don't believe that Apple is trying to compete with Spotify or Rdio. Instead, they are trying to get more clicks buying from the iTunes store (It must work since I'm buying more ).

 

[Black.Infinity]

Helloo

look above
Canada is just up here

 

[ipedro]

It's Tuesday in Australia

For what it's worth, I've seen iTunes Radio pop up on the Music app on my iPhone several times this week only to disappear seconds later. I'm guessing that Canada and perhaps other countries are imminent. Check back in the morning.

 

[BigBagaroo]

Who cares about iTunes Radio? Spotify or WiMP, which even has a high fidelity option, is the future. iTunes Radio is about as exciting as satellite radio.

 

[benr1972]

I can't seem to get it to work? I've gone into the iTunes Store app where it prompted me with an alert saying that it is available and if I would like to listen in the music app, (which I would like to) but it's not updating with the icon!! Grrr pls apple y u do dis! Haha #impatient

Close the music app, restart your phone. Radio icon appeared after the restart (within the music app)

 

[Altis]

For what it's worth, I've seen iTunes Radio pop up on the Music app on my iPhone several times this week only to disappear seconds later. I'm guessing that Canada and perhaps other countries are imminent. Check back in the morning.

Mine's been doing that since December now and again. Tapping it crashed the Music app, but that thing crashes enough as it is.

 

[bleachy dude]

For what it's worth, I've seen iTunes Radio pop up on the Music app on my iPhone several times this week only to disappear seconds later. I'm guessing that Canada and perhaps other countries are imminent. Check back in the morning.

Yep I am in Australia and I saw the radio button pop up about a week ago.

----------

as a canadian i am truly shocked.

As an Australian I am truly pleased.

 

[Rocco83]

After faithfully using iRadio since launch in the US until recently when the service has become utter trash, I feel sorry for those in other countries who are really looking forward to the service.

At launch there were few commercials and the song picking algorithms seemed to do a pretty good job. Now it seems there are commercials after every 3-4 songs. The service has gotten to the point where it will play a song, play a commercial, and then play the exact same song it had before the commercial. When I try to skip the song it will give me the exact same song I just skipped. I've had the service use all my skips in an hour on the same song playing it back to back after I had tried to skip it.

iRadio is the one facet of Apple that I receive no response when emailing for customer service. Since launch the service has absolutely tanked for me, friends, and family that tried the service. I really wanted to love it, but they are making that impossible. Hopefully it is better for those of you who are anticipating and/or just receiving the service. Maybe they will have the kinks worked out for you.

 

[benkirton]

I can't seem to get it to work? I've gone into the iTunes Store app where it prompted me with an alert saying that it is available and if I would like to listen in the music app, (which I would like to) but it's not updating with the icon!! Grrr pls apple y u do dis! Haha #impatient

Are you running 7.1b? I have the same issue but 7.0.4 on my iPad is fine.

 

[BlueParadox]

unfortunately it's DoA

Spotify and YouTube already won the streaming war

too little too late guys…

Disagree. Another (major) player in the market is most welcome, particularly with Apple's massive catelogue of music behind it. Happy it's here, all the more so with the addition of iTunes Match. Very good!

 

[DaveTheRave]

Oh ya! I totally forgot about this service.

Why?

Because it's forgettable, that's why.

Agreed. Every time I tune into the "Retro FM" channel I quickly hear an awful Bob Dylan song that I skip, soon to be followed by a predictable Yes or CSNY song. And the frequent ads are intrusive and not relevant. The other day it was constant McDonalds Olympics sponsor ads, as if eating lots of McNuggets will make you an athlete! Based on what I've heard I wouldn't consider paying for the ad-free version.

 

[epidote]

Giving it a chance

Pretty excited since now I can go back to controlling my mac mini home theatre using Remote app. (unlike Spotify and Pandora desktop apps)

 

[Nahaz]

Glad to see this service come to Australia.

Now we just need others like NetFlix or Hulu Plus (legit) on our devices locally.

 

[kalsta]

unfortunately it's DoA

Spotify and YouTube already won the streaming war

too little too late guys…

Apple might be late to the party, but I don't see how that makes the service dead on arrival. If you use iTunes, an iPod, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV (and that's a lot of people!) switching is a trivial thing. As for me, while I listen to Internet radio all the time, I never got around to trying those other streaming services, but I've tried iTunes radio already because it's right there.

Onya iTunes! Not showing on AppleTV just yet.

I couldn't see it either, but I just tried restarting the AppleTV, and there it is.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

And Craig McLachlan...

Australia disowned him long ago.

 

[hushypushy]

Well, I haven't tried the curated stations or typing in a genre, but putting the names of some good bands (specifically Battles, Boredoms, Boris, and OOIOO) has actually given me very enjoyable listening experiences. Much better than Pandora, which repeats the same few artists and songs over and over and over...

Last.fm is still the king of streaming radio, though; I've discovered so many cool bands on their various stations.

 

[samh004]

Enjoying listening to music I don't own (and no ads as I'm an iTunes Match subscriber)... but would prefer to play direct through my AppleTV instead of streamed from my phone. Just waiting for the icon to pop up

 

[patent10021]

Seriously a joke that it isn't in Canada.

 

[Chundles]

I love it. Works well. Less annoying interruptions than Pandora, never really liked Spotify.

 

[Marlor]

One explicable thing...

There's no Cantopop or Mandopop stations at all in the "World" section of the iTunes Radio list. That seems a pretty huge oversight for a service aimed at the Australian market.

 

[Jayse]

Been using it all day at work, ad-free. Quality radio service. Good selection and variety of songs. First impressions - Excellent!

 

[derbyshire2013]

Just out of interest what time did it launch in Australia?

 

[shandyman]

Apple's iTunes Radio Streaming Music Service Launches in Australia

unfortunately it's DoA



Spotify and YouTube already won the streaming war



too little too late guys…

Not at all. Here in the uk spotify free is a pile of turd, so am looking forward to having an alternative.

 

[abhibeckert]

The CRTC is most definitely holding this up for Canada. I mean, who else is going to make sure we meet our Bieber and Bryan Adams quotas? Seriously though, they demand that a certain percentage of content played on the radio is Canadian, I imagine they are trying to make Apple play by those rules too, which would probably be challenging at best.

I've noticed a lot of Australian music come up listening to iTunes Match today. So clearly they're basing the algorithm on local listening habits and could easily handle something like the one CRTC is asking for.

To be honest, iTunes Radio is a lot more like a real FM radio station than a typical online streaming service.

I love it. It's perfect for discovering new music to buy for my personal collection.