Apple had no shortage of new things to announce at WWDC 2013
today, and iTunes Radio is one of the highlights. According to techcrunch.com, the
company’s new music service has been long-rumored, but now the curtains are
drawn and we can see what the Pandora-like streaming radio offering actually
looks like.
iTunes Radio is essentially what we’ve been hearing it would
be: a streaming music service that takes your tastes into account in order to
play tracks that are likely to be in line with your tastes. Apple really has
essentially taken its Genius jukebox-style feature, which combs your library
and builds genre-based playlists, or suggests recommended artists and tracks
based on what you’re currently listening to. The difference with the new
service is that it can access the entire iTunes catalog, which, at this point,
is well over 26 million tracks. Sony, Universal and Warner are all on board.
The service will be free for U.S. users, and will use both text
and audio ads to support the free streaming. iTunes Match subscribers won’t
receive ads, making the subscription service a bit more compelling. Track
skipping is supported, which was something that was reported to be a sticking
point in negotiations with music label partners leading up to this product
launch.
Apple’s iTunes Radio will arrive sometime in the fall for U.S.
users initially.
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