Spotify vs. iTunes Radio

[dasx]

I'm from Barcelona and I've been using Spotify for quite some time now. I love it and have no problems whatsoever but its price probably. €9.99/month isn't really cheap, but I do listen to a lot of music so I don't really mind.

BUT. iTunes Radio is (will be when available in my country) €24/year, so that's a huge difference.

What do you guys think? How do they compare to each other? Is iTunes Radio JUST a radio? I mean, can you for instance do these with iTunes Radio?

• Search for this or that song and play it.
• Add previous song or another one to a certain playlist you created.
• Search for the latest CD of whatever band and save it as a playlist so you can check it out later.
• Sync songs/playlists/albums so you can listen to them offline.

Thanks!

 

[jhfenton]

What do you guys think? How do they compare to each other? Is iTunes Radio JUST a radio? I mean, can you for instance do these with iTunes Radio?

• Search for this or that song and play it.
• Add previous song or another one to a certain playlist you created.
• Search for the latest CD of whatever band and save it as a playlist so you can check it out later.
• Sync songs/playlists/albums so you can listen to them offline.

iTunes Radio is very much like Pandora, not Spotify. You can't pick specific songs or albums or download and sync music for offline play. You can create a station based on specific songs or artists, but iTunes Radio uses them as a jumping off point for playing similar music, not just those songs or artists.

I actually prefer the Pandora/iTunes Radio method for a music streaming service. I buy most of my music, and when I want to pick music, I pick my music. When I want "radio," I don't want to pick. I want to be surprised. I want to find new artists and songs.

John

 

[dasx]

iTunes Radio is very much like Pandora, not Spotify. You can't pick specific songs or albums or download and sync music for offline play. You can create a station based on specific songs or artists, but iTunes Radio uses them as a jumping off point for playing similar music, not just those songs or artists.

I actually prefer the Pandora/iTunes Radio method for a music streaming service. I buy most of my music, and when I want to pick music, I pick my music. When I want "radio," I don't want to pick. I want to be surprised. I want to find new artists and songs.

John

Well, Spotify's Radio works exactly like that so I guess you've got it all in there. I like being able to listen to the new album of John Doe and, if I like it, buy it.

Thanks for the info, I think I'll stick to spotify then.

 

[VicX]

Well, Spotify's Radio works exactly like that so I guess you've got it all in there. I like being able to listen to the new album of John Doe and, if I like it, buy it.

Thanks for the info, I think I'll stick to spotify then.

The main problem for spotify is if one day i stop paying, i don't own nothing. iTunes match + iTunes radio looks the perfect combination for me.

Another advantage of itunes radio is you can fine tune each station to be more discovery or more familiar.

Also it's itunes match is a lot cheaper which does let me own the music.

 

[shinji]

Spotify's radio feature isn't that great. I've often wondered what effect the thumbs up/thumbs down really has because it often plays songs I don't like even after lots of 'training.' Pandora's algorithm for figuring out what you might like is better for me.

Hopefully iTunes Radio will be even better at it because of Apple's huge dataset of music purchases to determine similar interests.