Will iTunes Radio WORK with iOS7 launch?

[WJKramer]

One of my most anticipated features of iOS7, along side Control Center, is iTunes Radio. However I have been disappointed in function and progression throughout the Beta period. I have seen very little improvement with the service during testing.

iOS7 Beta's
1) Stations show unavailable on a regular basis.
2) Ads after almost every song most of the time (even with iTunes Match Subscription).
3) Genere Album art missing (i.e. Hard Rock just says that in black background).
4) Song Album art missing.
5) Wonky Airplay fading between Stereo and Mono sometimes.
6) Lack of Volume Normalization. Loud songs followed by quite ones.
7) REPEATS

iTunes Desktop Beta's
1) All of the same problems as iOS7 Beta's.
2) Songs skip though rapidly without playing (Have to restart iTunes).
3) Some stations play a single song then quit.

Experiencing a lot of the same problems between my iOS devices and the desktop leads me to believe that it is mostly backend issues that have yet to be worked out with less than a week to go.

Before you leave your "It's a BETA" comment below consider the point of my post. Why has there been very little improvement over time? Please feel free to speculate if it will be ready for launch day!

 

[Menel]

I haven't experienced 1, 2, 3, 5, or 6.
And I haven't experienced 7 since beta3 or 4.

Have you been doing clean restore installs of your beta to insure local databases get wiped?

I have a feeling Apple's servers may be under strain for awhile after launch, while millions of new users are over stressing it, trying it out.

 

[WJKramer]

Have you been doing clean restore installs of your beta to insure local databases get wiped?.

Yes clean installs with iCould restores.

 

[53kyle]

It has improved sooooo much since the original beta, lately I haven't had any kind of unavailability of stations.

 

[Dwalls90]

Haven't had most of these issues, ever, and if any, not in a while. Remember a lot of it is server side as well, so Apple could be fine tuning services and algorithms as we get closer to launch.

 

[VSMacOne]

Yes it will be ready.

 

[gomoq13]

iTunes Radio will only work for U.S? No?

 

[Chazz08]

iTunes Radio will only work for U.S? No?

I live in the Middle East and it's been working here since day one of the beta.

 

[Tyler23]

I live in the Middle East and it's been working here since day one of the beta.

Do you have a US account?

 

[WJKramer]

Add long silences to end of songs as well! ARG!

I was able to resolve some Genre artwork issues by deleting the station and then re-saving it as a favorite.

 

[FreeState]

1) Stations show unavailable on a regular basis.

Only happened to me once since I started using it (during Beta 1).

2) Ads after almost every song most of the time (even with iTunes Match Subscription).

I have heard one ad in all the betas. Just one.

3) Genere Album art missing (i.e. Hard Rock just says that in black background).

Haven't had any artwork missing.

4) Song Album art missing.

Havent experienced this either.

5) Wonky Airplay fading between Stereo and Mono sometimes.

Havent experienced this either.

6) Lack of Volume Normalization. Loud songs followed by quite ones.

Havent experienced this either.

7) REPEATS

The only time have noticed this was on a station I created out of a very specific artist and type of music. I have listened to the 80s channel for over 24 hours straight and had 1 repeat in that time. (pulled an all nighted for work).

This is both on my 4s and the desktop iTunes.

 

[WJKramer]

Custom Radio vs iTunes Genre

So after much testing today it seems most of my issues are with the iTunes created "Genre Stations" and not "Custom Stations" I have created myself. I am also getting high pitch melodies that look like place holders for iAds. Anyone else hearing these or am I just that unfortunately special

 

[bchery21]

I think Apple learned its lesson from the Maps debacle; iTunes Radio shall be ready.

 

[Chazz08]

Do you have a US account?

I do, but that shouldn't matter seeing as how EVERY service to me that comes from America is blocked because it's not allowed to be played outside America. Pandora, Spotify, Hulu, Netflex. They are all the same, and iTunes Radio will probably be the same too, unless they somehow twisted the record labels' arms.

 

[Tyler23]

I do, but that shouldn't matter seeing as how EVERY service to me that comes from America is blocked because it's not allowed to be played outside America. Pandora, Spotify, Hulu, Netflex. They are all the same, and iTunes Radio will probably be the same too, unless they somehow twisted the record labels' arms.

Nope, in this case if you have a US iTunes Account, you can use iTunes Radio (at least so far). It seems to be Account-location aware, not geo-location aware.

 

[SanjeevRana]

Nope, in this case if you have a US iTunes Account, you can use iTunes Radio (at least so far). It seems to be Account-location aware, not geo-location aware.

Yes, all Apple services are linked to Country in Account NOT the current IP/Location of your device.

 

[benji888]

iTunes Radio BETA: Think of this as a jukebox with only so many songs in it. This is a preview with a limited number of songs. It's not fully enabled, and iAds is not fully connected either.

Apple is still acquiring rights to play songs, still uploading new album photos, and will add radio stations from current iTunes radio, available in iTunes on computer (They requested the radio stations submit photos for their stations/music). In fact, they may only have limited rights to play music before public launch on September 10th.

Sorry, but the real answer to your question is, it's BETA, not finished yet. In this case, even more so than the rest of iOS 7, it's a preview. They are probably loading up a separate server to put online when iOS 7 goes public.