“In an effort to boost usage of its new streaming music service that launched alongside iOS 7 last fall, Apple is considering changes to iTunes Radio,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac. “The Cupertino company is now testing iTunes Radio as a standalone application with iOS 8, according to sources briefed on the plans.”
“iTunes Radio first arrived as a feature within the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system’s Music application,” Gurman reports. “As a tab in the already-existing Music app, iTunes Radio has not received a promoted presence on iOS, and this likely has deterred growth for the service in terms of advertising revenue and usage.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What was that we wrote last November? Oh, yeah:
We’re still stunned that iTunes Radio is so hidden within the OS X iTunes app. It’s in the main Music menu on iOS devices. Why not iTunes? And, why is the application “iTunes” on the Mac, but “Music” on our iPhones and iPads? Cripes. Consistency is your friend, Apple… Even in its current state (very good, not insanely great), iTunes Radio will become the world’s #1 streaming radio service, thanks to basic math. Steve Jobs would not be content with that. Apple should redouble their efforts with the goal of making iTunes Radio the world’s best streaming radio service in every way. — MacDailyNews, November 11, 2013
Just as a thought, but couldn’t they also boost usage by, oh I don’t know, letting the rest of us in the world use it? Just thinking out loud here.
I have no problem with iTunes being the name of the app on my computer because it’s the all-in-one entertainment center on my Mac: music, audiobooks, movies and television, podcasts, etc. That deserves the iTunes moniker, and that’s why the iTunes app on your iPhone is the all-in-one STORE, while the separate functions (Music, Video, Podcast) receive separate apps.
HOWEVER, iTunes Radio deserves its own separate app on iOS, and its own separate heading on iTunes for desktop. I am going to venture a guess that it was included in the Music app because they didn’t want to put TOO much emphasis on a service that may not be completely ready to stand on its own. Now that iTunes Radio is getting somewhere, it deserves to be separated out into its own app so that it can gain more attention.
Then again, I usually listen to podcasts on my iOS devices rather than music, so I don’t know if it would make a huge difference or not.
that it’s going to be a shitty experience when it stops playing midstream without any input from the user.
How about bringing it to Canada !
What would be great of iTunes Radio would be its optimization to actually play music related to what the user has chosen to hear. Still, I get the impression that what we get is NOT what we want, but instead is a pile of CORPORATE PROGRAMED CRAP which is, of course entirely USER HOSTILE.
I continue to prefer just about ANY alternative to iTunes Radio at this point. It’s that poor, still. I’ll continue to bash away at it in hopes of improvements. But after enough experience with a user-hostile product, you get jaded.
iTunes Radio sucks. I have gone back to Pandora. Everyone I work wit, all iPhone owners agree. No lyrics, no info, and you get ads even though paying. It it much like the sucky maps app. No street view, thin gray lines, addresses miles in error. Stick to hardware, leave the software to others. Car play will suck too without Pandora and Google street view. Look at Teslas maps.
Street view? clearly someone finds a use for if then I find fly though much more useful than wading around in a pile of custard with the shop trolley controls that street view sports. Surely you need a flexible overview not trying to move around in a maze jumping from one limited viewpoint to the next.
I have listened to iTunes Radio since day one everyweekday and as an iTunes Match customer have never heard and ad.
Leave the software to Google and MS…. NO THANKS!!!
there are lots of iPod touch 4g owners out here who can’t use iTunes radio. apple only has themselves to blame
Snow Leopard users as well…
Just leave iTunes Radio in the Music App for iOS and in iTunes for OS X, but also make it a stand-alone app. If accessed inside of the main app (Music or iTunes), it functions as a link that open the stand-alone app.
To me, iTunes on the desktop has grown to encompass so many different features that could be Apps in their own right too. Why is the App Store in iTunes separate from the Mac App Store that exists as a stand-alone app in OS X? Then, in iOS, the App Store is it’s own app. Either pick one way of organizing or make it available both ways.
And don’t get me started on the iTunes name. Shouldn’t it be iMedia at this point? It’s music, music videos, movies, tv shows, podcasts and audio books. All that plus an App Store for everything but OS X apps. What a mess!
I’d like to see one App Store for iOS, OS X and hopefully Apple tv, with tabs for each section.
I really don’t understand the separate music app in iOS. It should either be iTunes Store and separate apps on both platforms or a single iTunes application with the various options. As it is it simply does not make sense or offers a good experience when you go between the two platforms.
Marketing has got to be a good reason. iTunes has great branding power from the iPod days. This may change in the future. Maybe they’ll call it iRadio? Somebody might have that name, too.