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Apple ends its free iTunes Radio service
As anticipated, Apple discontinued the free, ad-supported version of iTunes Radio today. If you used the service to create your own radio stations and want to continue to do so, you'll need to join the paid, premium Apple Music service. Desktop and iOS users who try to access the service will instead be a redirected to an Apple Music signup screen. Similarly, if you've been filling in missing iTunes tracks with your own collection using Match, you'll be unable to do so without joining Apple Music.
Apple's ad-supported iTunes Radio will go away at the end of January
iTunes Radio was Apple's first foray into streaming music, but a pretty major change to the service is afoot -- today, the company has started sending emails to customers saying that iTunes Radio will no longer be a free, ad-supported service for iTunes users. At the end of January, you'll only be able to access the service if you're a paying Apple Music subscriber, and Beats 1 will be the only free music option for iTunes users.
Apple's new music service will reportedly cost $10 a month
Rumors that Apple is going to debut its retooled music offering at WWDC next week are nothing new. However, in a report by The Wall Street Journal comes word that the streaming service will be priced at $10 a month when it's announced in a matter of days. That would put the unlimited Beats Music/iTunes listening option right in line with Spotify, Rdio and Tidal in terms of pricing. Previous reports indicated that Apple thought Beats' price was too high, but it seems knocking a few dollars off of the monthly subscription may not be part of the strategy to lure new users.
Apple's new online content network should deliver your files faster
If you're an iOS or Mac user, your downloads and streams are going to improve in the near future -- if they haven't already. Apple has quietly switched on its own content delivery network (CDN), letting it deliver files directly instead of leaning on services from Akamai and Level 3. The change gives the folks in Cupertino a ton of headroom, according to Frost & Sullivan analyst Dan Rayburn. In addition to offering "multiple terabits per second" of bandwidth, Apple has clearly struck Netflix-like connection deals that link it directly to internet providers. If all goes well, you should get speedy app updates and media streams even when the internet is extra-busy.
iTunes Radio eyes local reach with broadcast content and focused ads
The Beats Music purchase may help Apple compete with Spotify, but iTunes Radio remains focused squarely on Pandora. According to a report from The Information, Apple is said to be working on local advertising while serving up content beyond the scope of musical selections with a hand from broadcast stations. iTunes Radio has yet to take off, and adding items like talk radio and more could give the platform a major boost. Items like ESPN's daily slate and your favorite team's hometown coverage are but a couple of examples that could make for a compelling station menu. There's also the ads. They make money. If the folks in Cupertino can get local -- or even regional -- content, advertisers in those markets may be more apt to spend promotional dollars there. iHeartRadio has shown the interest in streaming broadcast programming with its apps available on mobile platforms and preinstalled in a number of automobiles. With CarPlay on the way, an expansion of iTunes Radio makes the upcoming in-car offering a much more enticing addition.
iTunes Radio now streams the news, thanks to NPR
It's been nearly a year since Apple announced its plans to join Spotify, Rdio and Pandora as a music streaming service provider. However, while beats, melodies and harmony are great, some would say iTunes Radio's sonic buffet is lacking -- it has no news channels. No longer. NPR has joined the service as a 24-hour news streaming station, with broadcasts starting right now. Of course, folks have long been able to get their public radio fix via NPR's website, but now fanboys and girls can get it straight from Apple's service. For now, NPR is the first and only news channel on iTunes Radio, but we've a sneaking suspicion that exclusivity won't last for long.
DoubleTwist's new app lets you save iTunes Radio tracks to your PC
The folks at DoubleTwist are at it again. Over the past three months they've crafted Android and OS X apps to help penny-pinching users save the music they hear on iTunes Radio, and now they've gone and done the unthinkable: they made a version for Windows PCs, too.
iTunes Radio recording comes to Mac via DoubleTwist
While you could use an Android device to capture iTunes Radio streams before, DoubleTwist's latest AirPlay Recorder update brings that functionality to Cupertino's desktops. Based on the walk-through that the outfit lists on its blog, the Mac app seems pretty simple to implement too. First, select the app as an AirPlay device and then start playing a song or station. That's it. While some might scoff at the price ($10), convenience doesn't always come free.
iTunes Radio starts streaming in Australia
We've seen quite a few hints that iTunes Radio would soon be available outside of the US, and it's now clear that there was something to all those clues: The music service is now available in Australia. Listeners on the island nation can get the same personalized radio streams as their American counterparts, and they can strip out ads if they fork over $35 AUD per year for an iTunes Match subscription. Apple hasn't confirmed rumors of impending iTunes Radio launches in Canada and the UK, but we imagine that it's just a matter of time before music lovers in those countries can tune in.
DoubleTwist's new Android app records songs played on iTunes Radio (updated)
Those clever guys and gals at DoubleTwist have been freeing music from iTunes' grasp for years, so we suppose it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to do the same with songs played on iTunes Radio. The app's called, quite appropriately, iTunes Radio Recorder, and it circumvents Apple's DRM by turns your Android phone into an AirPlay device -- not literally, mind you, the app on your phone simply populates as an optional AirPlay streaming device in iTunes on your computer. Once the app is selected for AirPlay streaming, music is played and recorded in real-time, so a five minute file will take five minutes to record. Not quite as quick as a download, but it is an elegant way to circumvent Apple's digital audio shackles. As for piracy or legal concerns? DoubleTwist has none. According to company Co-founder and President Monique Farantzos: "Recording has been around for decades, from audio cassettes (remember mix tapes?) to TuneIn radio's recording feature. Given that Apple built their iPod empire on letting millions of people rip CDs based on fair use, we don't see how they could object to this app." So, there you have it. Go forth, friends. Listen. Record. Enjoy the fruits of iTunes streaming and DoubleTwist's coding labors... while it lasts. Update: We mistakenly reported earlier that iTunes Radio streams are protected with DRM, when in fact, they are not.
Pandora declares iTunes Radio not a threat, investors cheer
When Apple officially unveiled iTunes Radio, it seemed like a bad news for established music-streaming services like Pandora, but now that iOS 7 and the new iTunes music feature have had a bit of time to spread, Pandora seems to have weathered the storm with flying colors. Today the company announced that rather than taking a hit in the post-iTunes-Radio world, its overall "hours of listening" metric rose 9 percent from September to October, and 18 percent year-over-year. The company also revealed that its overall slice of the US radio pie grew from 7.77 percent to 8.06 percent in the span of a month. Pandora's stock price took the news particularly well, climbing almost 9 percent, as fears that the company's inevitable death at the hands of Apple seem to have been soothed. Of course, iOS 7 is still relatively new, and Apple hasn't done much in the way of pushing iTunes Radio from a marketing perspective. A few TV commercials could change that in a hurry, but for now Pandora lives to fight another day.
Eminem's 'The Marshall Mathers LP2' streams on iTunes Radio ahead of album's official release
The Real Slim Shady's back with another album, titled The Marshall Mathers LP2. And if you're a fan of Eminem and have iTunes Radio, then there's a way to listen to his latest work in full without going the, well, shady way. Starting today in the US, Eminem's MMLP2 (as it's known for short) can be streamed on the "First Play" station of Apple's newfangled music service, allowing users to tune in to the set of tracks ahead of next Tuesday's scheduled release. As 9to5Mac notes, this marks the first time that an entire album is being given early access to exclusively on iTunes Radio, and it could certainly pave the way for more artists to follow suit. Above all, it is another example of how the music industry is adjusting itself as new services become available -- even if it might not be too excited about it.
92% of iTunes Radio users still listening to Pandora
On September 23, Apple issued a press release announcing that more than 11 million unique users had already tuned into iTunes Radio. Yesterday during Apple's earnings conference call, Tim Cook said that that number had risen to 20 million unique users. That's not too bad considering that Apple has barely been in the internet music-streaming business for even a month now. On top of that, Apple has an unparalleled advantage in that iTunes Radio is baked right into iOS 7, providing millions of new iOS users with a music-streaming experience right out of the box, no downloading required. So should Pandora be worried? Not necessarily. Though Apple continues to rack up an impressive number of unique iTunes Radio listeners, a recent survey of 800 iOS users revealed that 92 percent of those who gave iTunes Radio a test drive either went back to Pandora or continue to use Pandora in conjunction with iTunes Radio. AppleInsider relayed more details from the survey, which was conducted by Canaccord Genuity: When asked to quantify the "overall experience" of both services, 66 percent of respondents call their experience with iTunes Radio "positive" or "very positive," while Pandora scores 78 percent on the same metric. Apple wins with tight margins on app usability questions, but loses out to Pandora in perhaps the most important metric, "Plays songs I want to hear," 63 percent to 72 percent. It's still early in the game, so it remains to be seen if there's enough interest amongst music lovers for both iTunes Radio and Pandora to thrive. One thing's for sure, though. Pandora has its eyes on Apple and isn't taking iTunes Radio lightly. During a recent interview, Pandora CEO Mike Herring conceded that Apple is a "credible threat," noting that the company's iTunes Radio initiative isn't motivated by a desire to create a "really awesome music experience." On that note, Apple's Eddy Cue a few weeks ago talked about iTunes Radio and Apple's ostensible goals with its new music-based service. The most important thing for me, what I was hoping for and what we've been working very hard to get, is what the quality of the feature is. At the end of the day, that's the most important. Now regardless of whether or not you're an iTunes Radio, Pandora or Spotify fan, or even a fan of streaming music for that matter, I think everyone can agree that this is an exciting time to be a music fan.
Pandora CFO talks about iTunes Radio, new markets
With Apple's iTunes Radio being a latecomer to the world of streaming internet radio, it's not surprising that the executives of streaming leader Pandora would not be happy with the new competitor. CNET's Joan Solsman interviewed the CFO of Pandora, Mike Herring, and found that he feels that Pandora is "a great service that does this better than anybody else," and that the latecomers like Apple are "large, well-funded companies that have agendas outside a really awesome music experience." Not surprisingly, Herring said that Pandora sees Apple's iTunes Radio as a "credible threat" to their business. In the first five days of iTunes Radio, Apple reported that more than 11 million unique listeners had tuned in to their favorite streaming channel. Pandora, with years of experience under its belt, had almost 73 million active users last month. Still, the company feels that they offer the top experience to listeners, although Pandora has been criticized by artists who feel that they're getting a raw deal in terms of royalty payments (Apple is paying a higher rate). Herring talked a bit about international expansion for Pandora -- the company is now trying out its model in Australia and New Zealand as an experiment for future expansion elsewhere. Apple has direct deals with the record labels that will make international expansion of iTunes Radio somewhat easier to accomplish, while Pandora lacks those types of deals. However, Herring pointed to another competitor -- Spotify -- as a company with direct deals that is not having much financial success with international expansion. Solsman's interview is a fascinating peek behind the curtain at the internet streaming radio business.
Apple demands site remove iTunes Radio contract
If you scour the tech landscape, you'd be hard pressed to find a company more preoccupied with secrecy than Apple. While Apple understandably takes steps to prevent the release of details surrounding new products, they also like to keep, as much as possible, details surrounding their operations under wraps. That being the case, Apple flexed some of its corporate and legal muscle recently when it demanded that a website called Digital Music News remove a copy of an iTunes Radio contract it had offered to small independent record labels. And just what was the legal theory Apple posited in requesting the site take down the contract? Copyright infringement. Yep, Apple explained that their contract agreement, which was presumably offered to a bevy of small record labels, was subject to copyright protection. The Verge reports on the legality of Apple's position: Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University, says that contracts can indeed be copyrighted, although it's rare. "It's not out of legal bounds to do this," Goldman told The Verge. "It's just kind of a jerk move. We all know what's happening here. Apple doesn't care about protecting the copyright of contracts. It's using copyright to try and suppress information that it doesn't want made public." What's curious about the story is that Digital Music News posted the contract back in June, meaning that it took Apple over three months before demanding that it be removed. In any event, it's only natural to wonder why Apple was so adamant in having the contract taken down. To that end, Digital Music News relays that it was because the contract reflects that Apple "forced sub-standard terms" on smaller independent labels that typically lack the leverage bargaining power of larger ones.
Daily Update for October 10, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
iTunes Radio briefly made available in Canada and the UK before being swiftly removed
This past September, Apple released iTunes Radio in the United States, marking the company's first foray into the world of music streaming. But what about the rest of the world? What about our friends in the Great White North? The answer seemingly came earlier this week when we reported that Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand would be getting the service sometime in 2014. But then something strange happened earlier today. Reports started coming in on Twitter that iTunes Radio was suddenly available for some Canadian and UK customers before being quickly removed. 9to5Mac was able to confirm firsthand that the service was available in Canada, while readers wrote in via Twitter to say they had access to the service in Europe. Hey @9to5mac, iTunes Radio just popped up and is working on my iPhone 5S running on a 4G contract with EE in the UK. Canada looks likely. - Adam (@AppleFortyTwo) October 5, 2013 But just as soon as it had begun, the service disappeared. Canadian users quickly took to Twitter to voice their displeasure. I'm actually pissed that iTunes Radio was available (by mistake) in Canada for like 30 minutes and I missed my opportunity to check it out. - Tyler (@tylerzolanski) October 10, 2013 While we obviously have empathy for our UK and Canadian friends, at least they can take solace in the knowledge that iTunes Radio is close enough to ready for your market that such a brief leak of the service was possible. You'll probably be streaming soon. In the meantime, maybe there are other online streaming radio options.
Listen to Pearl Jam's new album 'Lightning Bolt' on iTunes Radio 'First Play'
Apple executive Eddy Cue wasn't joking around when he said that Apple was going to leverage streaming album premieres on iTunes Radio. Not only do advance streams of upcoming albums help generate lots of pre-orders via iTunes, it also helps people dial in to iTunes Radio in the first place. Apple yesterday notified iTunes users that it would be streaming Pearl Jam's upcoming album, titled Lightning Bolt, on iTunes Radio. The album isn't scheduled for release until October 15, so that's a solid six-day lead time for Pearl Jam fans to get acquainted with Eddie Vedder and Co.'s latest release. To access the album, you can either click here to launch iTunes Radio on your desktop or head on over to iTunes Radio on your iOS device where you can find the album prominently featured under the "Featured Stations" heading.
iTunes Radio will be available in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand
With the release of iOS 7, Apple introduced its first attempt at internet streaming radio with the aptly titled iTunes Radio. Now comes word via Bloomberg that the feature will soon be heading to a number of English-speaking countries, beginning with the UK and Canada before making its way to Australia and New Zealand. ITunes Radio is also set to start early next year in Australia and New Zealand, where Pandora already operates, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren't public. Nordic countries are also being targeted in the same time frame, the people said. Apple is moving faster than Pandora because it forged agreements for international rights with Vivendi SA (VIV)'s Universal Music Group and other record companies, said one of the people. Pandora, which doesn't have such deals, relies on rights granted by government entities, limiting service to the US, Australia and New Zealand. The report relays that Apple is hoping to expand iTunes Radio beyond the United States by early 2014. While it makes sense for Apple to start small with English-speaking countries, Apple executive Eddy Cue recently said that Apple wants iTunes Radio to be a global entity. "One of our top priorities is to bring iTunes Radio obviously here in the UK, but everywhere in the world," Cue explained in an interview last week. "We certainly want to be in more than 100 countries." Cue noted that Apple is thus far "very pleased" with the rollout of iTunes Radio. Remember that Apple noted in a press release two weeks ago that over 11 million unique users had already given iTunes Radio a spin in the first few days the feature became available. As a final note, keep in mind that Bloomberg's sources are anonymous and any rumors involving Apple should always be taken with a grain of salt, especially when they involve the often murky world of music licensing. That said, this report has some substance to it given that 9to5Mac last week tipped us off to an Apple job listing looking for an iTunes Canada Music Programmer. The job description reads: Execute the music programming of the iTunes Store in Canada, merchandising new releases and other feature content across multiple genres; Update featuring daily, identifying new and priority releases, as well as highlighting library content and showcase depth of catalogue; Work with management in Canada and Cupertino to determine local and global priorities relevant to iTunes. Manage the weekly scheduling and programming process. Collaborate with other editorial programmers on cross content initiatives and promotions. Communicate regularly with the Marketing and Sales team in Canada to coordinate new releases and priorities.
iTunes Radio could hit other English-speaking countries by early 2014
Rumors reported by Bloomberg indicate Apple's streaming music service could extend its reach beyond the United States just a few months. iTunes Radio launched in the US along with the iOS 7 / iTunes 11.1 update on September 18th, and if the "people with knowledge of the situation" are correct, it could beat current market leader Pandora to the UK and Canada. The rumor also covers Australia and New Zealand, where Pandora is available, and indicates Nordic countries are also on deck. Apple has mentioned the service will roll out internationally but hasn't put any specific dates or locations on our calendars, however between these hints and job listings spotted recently by 9to5Mac it appears things are moving quickly.
