Apple is finally getting into the music streaming game with iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service that will feature 200 stations and a catalog of music from the iTunes store.
Users will be able to access iTunes Radio from their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV.
Like services such as Pandora, iTunes radio will become familiar with what you like to listen to and personalize the content to reflect your musical interests.
“iTunes Radio is an incredible way to listen to personalized radio stations which have been created just for you,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “It’s the music you love most and the music you’re going to love, and you can easily buy it from the iTunes Store with just one click.”
Apple is promising music fans access to thousands of new songs each week, exclusive content from featured artists and special event live streams.
iTunes radio is ad-supported and free, unless you’d like to subcribe to iTunes Match for $24.99 a year. Then you can listen ad-free.
A unique feature of iTunes radio is the use of the Siri voice-activated assistant function. Users can ask Siri who plays a certain song or “more songs like this.” Your virtual assistant will eve add songs to your wish list so you can download them from the iTunes store later.
Service like Pandora and Spotify are already ahead of the game with millions of users. But Apple has an advantage in that so many people already use iTunes.
iTunes Radio will be available in the fall.
~ Cynthia