iTunes Radio has been announced at the WWDC keynote today. The service is going to compete with Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, Xbox Music, Google Play Music All Access. It’s all built right into the music app on iOS7. When you first open iTunes Radio, you see a list of Featured Stations curated by Apple. You can share the station with a friend, or start a new station based on that song. You can star a track, ask for “more like this.”
The service is free, with ads, but if you’re an iTunes Match subscriber, it’s completely ad-free. It’s “the best way to discover new music,” according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Its not the Spotify or Google Music competitor that many were talking about. It works on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It will also work on iTunes on the Mac or PC or from an Apple TV unit.
I think this will be a great feature for iOS users, however it won’t draw anyone over to the Apple bandwagon. The users will go in favor of Rdio, Google Music, Spotify, and the countless other music streaming services. Licensing drama is to blame for Apple entering this music streaming service so late in the game. The details on the Radio are sparse and its unsure if it has unlimited skips, or a listening cap. One thing for sure is that Pandora is in grave danger with this new competitor. They were one of a kind till Apple had to rip off their model completely. We will have to see how well Apple manages to run iTunes radio. Tell us what you think of the new iTunes radio and if you will be using it or another service?
Nice review of these mega music companies. I didn't know that Apple stole Pandora's model. I have used Pandora and really liked it. Sally
Yes Apple more or less stole the whole Online Radio idea from Pandora. Also everyone else that runs an online music place did too.