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Music Executive: 'iRadio is Coming', Apple Pushing for Summer Launch

If they want to serve up something Spotify-esque, that is still (mostly) free, and also either ad free or mobile or has a better library than Spotify, I'll consider it, but otherwise, I'm sticking with Spotify I think... I can't really imagine any other ways Spotify could be improved.

On an only slightly related note while I'm thinking about Apple serving up ads, I wonder if Apple will start serving up audio or full screen ads at some point... it seems to me that they're both:

1 - Much more lucrative for developers (because the brand is guaranteed to get the user's attention, unless the user is blind and/or deaf.)
2 - Much more annoying to users (and thus, users are more likely to purchase ad removal, so basically read this as point #1 twice.)
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
I don't see that happening. Possibly pricing in line with current iTunes Match.
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It would be nice if they bundled iRadio with iTunes Match for the same $25/year. I would be onboard in a heartbeat. I hit my mobile limit with Pandora this month and I don't really want to pay $10/month for Spotify just for mobile access. Paying around $2/month to be able to access my own music anywhere along with iRadio would be a sweat deal.
 
I just can't get behind any Apple services. They are always terrible. They do great hardware and great OSes. They fail every time they try and provide a service. Sure I wish them well, but in the end I know it won't work out. It never has. iTunes is NOT a service. It's a store. iTunes Match is a service. Have never heard anyone speak well of it. We'll see how it goes with iRadio. I just don't know what compelling feature Apple can offer that the others don't already do....better.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
is this really all that? radio? Or are we excited because evidence is building that Apple is working on it? For example, if this was an Android/Samsung rumor, would we be envious or would we bash it to no end?

Personally, I don't get it. I perceive radio is fading. Now we can put what we want on a tiny device that fits in our pocket- every song we like, no songs we don't like. We can discover new music via a wide variety of free services and again buy only what we like. No commercials. No DJ chatter. A best of radio experience without the worst of radio pieces.

I keep thinking this would be like iMorse (code) or iTelegrams, etc. Anyone else working on something like that would get beat down & bashed. Apple works on it and we gush "can't wait to communicate in morse code" or "can't wait to send an electronic telegram."

Maybe I'm just missing something. Is there really something very wrong with Pandora and competitors that only Apple innovation could "fix"? Is there some obvious hole in digital radio now that only Apple can fill? Even if Apple can come up with some way to do it way better than Pandora, Spotify, etc, is way better that exciting?

Like others, I'd rather see some focus on fixing the software already rolled out. But if they do want to roll out a new, next-big-thing, I would hope it would be something more wow-ing than digital radio.
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Apple is in business. In business to make money. By offering a "Radio" service they will be able to provide users with a seamless way to discover new music and if they happen to like a particular song there will be a button that says: "buy on iTunes". Apple then makes more money. Mission accomplished. All your complaints have nothing to do with this mission, but feel free to complain as much as you like. :)
 
I do listen to Pandora on occasion. But they are losing money hand over fist. Apple can absorb the loss better than anyone. I guess it'll help them funnel potential song buyers to iTunes.

I do have SiriusXM in my car tho. They go beyond commercial free music and are the content kings when it comes to uncensored talk, comedy, sports & music. They do it all, and thus for my money the best value if you're gonna pay for audio entertainment. Especially in the car.
 
Would be nice if they fixed most of the glitches that the latest iTunes has such as when going to iTunes store and scrolling while doing that iTunes locks up and crashes or searching for particular artist or album it does not show, I mean I can go on all the problem the iTunes has.
 
Spotify paying subscribers:

January, 2010:------------ 250,000 paying subscribers
March 17, 2010:----------- 320,000
July 20, 2010: ---------------- 500,000
December 8, 2010: ------ 750,000
March 8, 2011:--------------- 1,000,000
July 14, 2011: -----------------1,600,000
Sept 21, 2011: ---------------- 2,000,000
Nov 23, 2011: ------------------2,500,000
Jan 26, 2012: -------------------3,000,000
July 31, 2012:--------------------4,000,000
Dec 6, 2012: ---------------------5,000,000
March 12, 2013:------------------6,000,000 paying subscribers


It's very possible that Spotify could generate over $1 billion in revenue in 2013. Need Apple, Google and Amazon to get into the game and compete.






Summary of the 4 Big Revenue Drivers right now in the USA:

Streaming: $1,032.8 million USD (up 59%)
Singles Download: $1,623.6 million USD (up 6.7%)
Album Download: $1,204.8 million USD (up 12.5%)
Physical CD Album: $2,532 million USD (down 18.3%)
 
Not sure why people continually beat this idea. It's as if they think they'll be forced into never owning there music again.

This will clearly be an extensions of iTunes/iTunes Match. I have 500 albums in iTunes all matched. But I started using Rdio a few months back and have really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I cannot get EVERY album I want in Rdio. So I still need to use two apps in conjunction.

I can however get EVERY album I want into iTunes. If I then have the ability to stream from the iTMS then, this service will bring me back completely into the Apple ecosystem.

I'm sure there are many that are in the same boat.

If you cannot see why Apple would want to do this, then I sincerely hope you never own a business.

Spotify and Rdios popularity has rocketed. Apple has a fully fledged music store, (probably the most complete there is). It would be plain dumb not to do it!
 
Who was it that said Apple were innovative, accusing others (like Samsung) of copying Apple? Hmmm, iradio, Apple - you need to sort the rest of your range and OS offerings first before gate crashing another sector. How about giving us a decent iWeb offering back!!!!!
 
MacDav said:
Apple is in business. In business to make money. By offering a "Radio" service they will be able to provide users with a seamless way to discover new music and if they happen to like a particular song there will be a button that says: "buy on iTunes". Apple then makes more money. Mission accomplished. All your complaints have nothing to do with this mission, but feel free to complain as much as you like. :)
Click to expand...

I'm a consumer (including a consumer of a lot of Apple stuff). I'm a consumer who likes to buy Apple stuff. While I completely appreciate that Apple is a business, I view Apple as a consumer. Perhaps you are an employee? Or someone who pretends to be an employee but isn't paid anything for it? Or someone who puts Apple "the business" before Apple's customers?

As a consumer, my "complaints" about this particular "innovation" revolve around not seeing much in it. From my perspective, it's like Apple is looking backwards rather than forwards. I know Pandora, Spotify, etc and think they are not bad implementations waiting for Apple to get it right. I think they are just fine. But even if Apple can do digital radio much better than either of them (and Sirius and others), what's in it for us consumers? One click to spend more money in iTunes is a benefit for Apple much more than a benefit for consumers. It's not that hard to go from hearing a song on free radio or Pandora, etc and locating it in iTunes (or Amazon) if I want to buy it. I think there's even an app that will identify the song for us.

I get what's in it for Apple "the business." I also get what's in streaming radio for Apple's business partners (AT&T, Verizon, etc) too. I'm trying to grasp the big benefit for us consumers. Apparently- per your feedback- it's to lighten the heavy load of cash in our wallets by linking the radio to which we're listening to an immediate opportunity to buy the song on iTunes in one click. I do sometimes get tired of carrying around spare cash. And between Apple making it even easier to buy more stuff from iTunes and AT&T, etc pinching tiers so that streaming radio gets us to our tier limits quicker, this incredible innovation should solve that problem faster than ever before. Bravo! :p
 
TimUSCA said:
I'm so damn tired of this... just because Apple creates a new service or product does not mean it's automatically innovative, nor does it mean Apple ever claimed it was. It's called competition. Let's also not forget that nobody knows *anything* about this service, and for all you know, it does have some innovative features.

The negativity on these forums is at a staggering high...
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Unfortunately, negativity is running rampant everywhere these days. I see very few positive or constructive criticisms these days on the forums. It used to be enjoyable to read these forums but now it's just a string of rants. Sad...
 
MacDarcy said:
I do listen to Pandora on occasion. But they are losing money hand over fist. Apple can absorb the loss better than anyone. I guess it'll help them funnel potential song buyers to iTunes.

I do have SiriusXM in my car tho. They go beyond commercial free music and are the content kings when it comes to uncensored talk, comedy, sports & music. They do it all, and thus for my money the best value if you're gonna pay for audio entertainment. Especially in the car.
Click to expand...

Since I don't have an unlimited data plan, XM is a much less expensive option.
 
Northgrove said:
I prefer to be in control, and use fixed-cost subscription services like Spotify instead. That service gives you both the ability to create your own playlists as well as a radio feature where it suggests songs if you fancy that. To compete, Apple needs to give more than that in 2013, not less.
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+1. Spotify is the best!
 
No more iTunes Radio?

nsimpson94 said:
iWish
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Apple is thinking, why would a customer want to hear free radio
on iTunes when we can provide them with the option to pay
a monthly subscription fee!!!!
What a great idea for iTunes users!

Perhaps after you buy a new iMac, Mac Mini or Laptop...you can pay
a monthly fee to use what you bought...oh boy...in the land of great
ideas...U cannot beat apple inc.
 
iRadio will have fewer features but will somehow work better than what's currently out there. that's the Apple way. well...that was the Jobs way.

i'm curious to see what the service is. i'm also curious to see how far Pandora's stock will crash..
 
Why is Apple waiting thier time with this? There are already plenty of services that do this well already. Where is the innovation? The only appeal I could see would be if they charged a monthly fee for streaming access to any song in thier library. That would be sweet and if it worked across you Mac and all iOS devices but if this is just a radio service that plays random songs that you might like then who cares?
 
Northgrove said:
I prefer to be in control, and use fixed-cost subscription services like Spotify instead. That service gives you both the ability to create your own playlists as well as a radio feature where it suggests songs if you fancy that. To compete, Apple needs to give more than that in 2013, not less.
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So true.

Apple is way to late and can't compete with what Spotify has to offer. You can stream radio stations as well with Spotify, hack, you can start your own radio station and listen to your specific music at the same time if you like. Not to mention all the add-ons where you can sing-along with lyrics live (!) and vote on music tracks with your friends, share everything etc etc.

----------
Luscious said:
Why is Apple waiting thier time with this? There are already plenty of services that do this well already. Where is the innovation? The only appeal I could see would be if they charged a monthly fee for streaming access to any song in thier library. That would be sweet and if it worked across you Mac and all iOS devices but if this is just a radio service that plays random songs that you might like then who cares?
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My thoughts exactly.
 
Luscious said:
Why is Apple waiting thier time with this? There are already plenty of services that do this well already. Where is the innovation? The only appeal I could see would be if they charged a monthly fee for streaming access to any song in thier library. That would be sweet and if it worked across you Mac and all iOS devices but if this is just a radio service that plays random songs that you might like then who cares?
Click to expand...

that's what everyone said in 2001 when Apple released the iPod.
there were plenty of other hard drive based players out there. critics said why come out with a device that had a smaller capacity hard drive than the competition? the rest was history

you could say the same about iCloud - Apple's cloud backup service. it has fewer features than Drop box, Crashplan, Box, etc. however, it's the easiest to use and it's fully integrated into iOS making it so easy to use. as Steve Jobs would say - it just works and i don't have to think about it.

it's also about control. Apple wants you to rely on other companies as little as possible. Apple will eventually create a Garden of Eden ecosystem essentially where you won't need to go anywhere else. they will prob get hit with monopoly lawsuits like Microsoft did - unless Apple dances around the fine line without going over. they're smart, they'll exercise a loop hole
 
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palmharbor said:
WHO wants to use something free, if you can buy the same thing from Apple?????
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people said the same thing about iTunes Match.

but charging $25/yr is quite the bargain to have instant access to up to 25,000 of your songs, many of which were upgraded for free to 256. much of my music is from the Napster days when 128 was considered the very best - a lot of my early 2000's music is in 96.

i could use my Windows Home Server to create a music server that i can stream to my jailbroken iPhone and iPad. in doing so, it reduces my available storage on my server, adds additional wear/tear on my drives, it destroys my bandwidth at home which my gf complained about, and it still leaves me with my lower quality music

for $25/yr , or $2.08/mo, or $0.48/wk - it's worth it to me to have the benefits of iTunes Match. heck, i have enough change in my coin sorting machine to keep it going for the next 2 years
 
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