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iTunes Radio Adds NPR, with More News Channels on the Way

Awesome!!

Looking forward to all the great music and news program's that NPR offers.

From the press release it seems like their local radio affiliates might participate in a few weeks-
if so, I'm looking forward to listening to KCRW FM (89.9 from Los Angeles) on iTunes Radio!
 
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iMacFarlane said:
Long time Pandora and Spotify user here. Listened to iTunes radio for about an hour this weekend. Heard 4 commercials. They were the same commercial. Back to Spotify, then.
Click to expand...

Is it the number of commercials or the repetition that bothers you?
(4 an hour seems like a very reasonable number for a free service, but maybe that's not competitive with Spotify?)
 
SJism23 said:
Us Canadians would like some iTunes Radio… especially with no alternatives such as Pandora and Spotify.

Is licensing impossible in Canada or what?
Click to expand...

Seriously!
You'd think Canada wasn't apart of North America they way things take so much longer to get here.:confused:

Literally you can cross walk across the border and get a million different options.

:mad:
 
iMacFarlane said:
Long time Pandora and Spotify user here. Listened to iTunes radio for about an hour this weekend. Heard 4 commercials. They were the same commercial. Back to Spotify, then.
Click to expand...
iTunes Radio runs one commercial every 15 minutes, I believe. I pay $25/year for iTunes Match, which eliminates the commercials. I think that's less than a year of Pandora's new rates. It also allows me to stream my music collection, to my devices. I used to keep thousands of tunes on my iPhone, which took many gigs, and this freed it up. All in all a huge win, I think.

I've got unlimited data on the phone, so stream the radio all day including in the car. If they ever add MSNBC and CNN, I'll dump my XM radio, saving, I think, over $120/year.
 
Spock said:
I agree, with US carriers rolling out LTE in more places, iTunes Radio and other services have the potential to really hurt business for them. Especially with CarPlay rolling out to new vehicles. The only major issue I see is data usage.
Click to expand...

Is it possible to get an unlimited data plan in the US? Sorry for the ignorant question - I see a lot of people posting about data usage.

Paying not an unreasonable amount for an iPhone 5C here in the UK and I get unlimited data (but no tethering).
 
mistabaka said:
itunesradio.com/npr
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Thanks for the links, guys! Can I ask how you even found this? Is there a way of browsing the various radio stations? The only way I can see to is in the Featured Stations in iTunes, or by doing random searches. NPR still doesn't show up in either way, which makes me wonder what else is out there that I don't know about... ?
 
al0kz said:
I believe we got restrictions in that a certain amount of the content (forgot how much) has to be Canadian content. That and probably some label licensing issues are holding it back.
Click to expand...

Microsoft with XBox Music (which is free with ads) and Rdio (not free in Canada) got around those restrictions. Apple is bigger than Rdio. Why can Rdio do it, but not Apple? Apple just doesn't want to expand beyond Australia and the US I guess.
 
SJism23 said:
Us Canadians would like some iTunes Radio… especially with no alternatives such as Pandora and Spotify.

Is licensing impossible in Canada or what?
Click to expand...

Try getting a US Postal Box address. A lot of those services are free to join.
Then use a second email address and set up a free iTunes account.

Then you can get stuff from the US App Store and your US iTunes Radio will work. You can also buy stuff online and have it shipped from the US too.
 
poorcody said:
Thanks for the links, guys! Can I ask how you even found this? Is there a way of browsing the various radio stations? The only way I can see to is in the Featured Stations in iTunes, or by doing random searches. NPR still doesn't show up in either way, which makes me wonder what else is out there that I don't know about... ?
Click to expand...

I found the link at the bottom of this NPR press release http://www.npr.org/blogs/thisisnpr/...r-becomes-first-news-provider-on-itunes-radio

I assume it will show up in the featured list, or they will ad a news "genre."
 
nazaar said:
Seriously!
You'd think Canada wasn't apart of North America they way things take so much longer to get here.:confused:

Literally you can cross walk across the border and get a million different options.

:mad:
Click to expand...

Out of curiousity, can't you just sign up for a free account in the US store and use it for Radio? Granted you can't buy unless you have a bank account with a US address but just for listening, it should be enough right?
 
thekeyring said:
Is it possible to get an unlimited data plan in the US? Sorry for the ignorant question - I see a lot of people posting about data usage.

Paying not an unreasonable amount for an iPhone 5C here in the UK and I get unlimited data (but no tethering).
Click to expand...

AT&T and Verizon no longer offer unlimited data plans but T-Mobile and Sprint still do.
 
This is cool but unless you have unlimited data I wouldn't be streaming it everyday while driving.
 
Speaking of NPR, the New York affiliate WNYC has been working a really cool iOS app geared toward a rather NYC-specific problem: going into the subway and losing internet.

You open it, tell it how long you'll be underground, and it will build and download for offline use a set of stories based on the categories you're interested it. Very cool so far, and they seem to be actively improving it.
 
Wasn't there a feature in iTunes for listening to Radio previously? I know that was on the computer, not on iOS, but still... I am glad to have it back. I am really liking iTunes Radio and I think as it expands it could start making inroads on Pandora.
 
iSee said:
Is it the number of commercials or the repetition that bothers you?
(4 an hour seems like a very reasonable number for a free service, but maybe that's not competitive with Spotify?)
Click to expand...

I think it was the repetition that bugged me. That sudden insertion of pop-crap with the used auto salesman blabbing about an artist I would never in a million years consider listening to. Four times in a row.

I think I'm just over-sensitive to the intrusion, since I am strictly NetFlix for TV, and Spotify for music. In other words, I never have to deal with commercials. No biggie.
 
Todd B. said:
Out of curiousity, can't you just sign up for a free account in the US store and use it for Radio? Granted you can't buy unless you have a bank account with a US address but just for listening, it should be enough right?
Click to expand...

Well I already have a Canadian iTunes account which I use for all my music (iCloud, etc). So I think that I'd have to sign in and out of each account depending on what I wanted to listen to.
 
jayducharme said:
At first I thought this was an addition to the Apple TV.... This is a nice addition to iTunes Radio, though having a truly live stream would be even better.
Click to expand...

As opposed to the NPR livestream under the Internet Radio section of iTunes? I don't understand why anyone would even care to listen to this iTunes Radio NPR channel when the real deal is already there (along with tons of other news channels like the BBC).
 
So will they be adding talk as a genre? Or News?

I was unable to find NPR (other than its music station), and genres are currently just music-related.

The direct link worked, but I want to know how to search to get it.
 
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