iTunes Radio is actually kind of great

Apple General
#1

I’ll readily admit I didn’t see the point of iTunes Radio, at least not at first. I’m the kind of person who will gladly run a song into the ground, playing it tens of times consecutively before I get sick of it, and thanks to my varied music tastes (everything except country), most music discovery services/mixes just don’t do it for me.

But after experimenting with iTunes Radio over the past few weeks, I’m kind of amazed at how cool it actually is:

  • It’s great for me, because it’s music discovery without the hard work of going and listening to umpteen songs in top lists. I can just have iTunes Radio going in the background when I’m doing work, and because I rotate between a few different stations, over time I’ll recognise songs that I like — songs that have a catchy tune, a great bass line, etc. Looking for them after I’ve heard them is as simple as going back and seeing the “recently played” list, otherwise I can just wait for the next time it comes on.
  • It’s great for Apple, because it they just make it so easy to buy the tracks. It’s one click away, after which I can listen to the song to my heart’s content.

Granted, I’ve only used it to discover recent-ish “popular” stuff, so YMMV if you’re using it for some obscure genre (although the alternative mix is basically just Triple J, from what I’ve heard, pun not intended).

It’s a winning combination — easy music discovery combined with easy music ownership. It’s almost good psychology from Apple: don’t want to be frustrated by not being able to listen to a song again? Just buy it — the purchase button is right there, after which you’ll be able to listen to it as many times as you want, in whatever order, playlist, etc.

Anyone else use iTunes Radio? What do you think?

Monday Morning News
#2

I really like iTunes radio as well. My problem comes when I like a song I can’t relisten on a whim like I can on Spotify. I have to start a station on it etc.

It’s that no library of songs which keeps me paying for Spotify.

#3

I really enjoy iTunes Radio, the year-themed stations and the guest host stations in particular.

I’ve tried Rdio, Spotify and Google Play in the past - I don’t have subscriptions going for any of them currently - and they’re all quite good for when you know exactly what you want to listen to, however most of my music listening is done at work, where I want background noise - iTunes Radio fulfils my ‘someone else curated this’ need - I actually haven’t used Pandora One since iTunes Radio became available in Australia.

1 Like
#4

Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say in my original post. For times when you need something to listen to but don’t actually care what it is, iTunes Radio fits the bill perfectly. And if you do find yourself hooked on a particular track, then you can purchase it.

I’m also surprised at how infrequent the ads are — Spotify will happily play me an ad every 4-5 songs, but I can count the number of times I’ve heard audio-ads on iTunes Radio on one hand (for umpteen hours of listening, mind you).

#5

Exactly Benny, I’ve put it on a few times when people have been over and you just need a bit of background music and a number of times I’ve had people say, after they find out it’s iTunes Radio, “this sounds exactly like your music”.

The first couple of times I tried it at work I couldn’t get more than about half an hour before it presumably ran out of things matched to the station I’d created but now it lasts a good few hours and then asks if you want it to continue.

It doesn’t totally replace having a nice iTunes library but it does complement it quite well.