“In case you missed the news, Apple has now officially ended the free streaming of iTunes Radio,” Rob Griffiths writes for The Robservartory.
“To listen to these stations now, you have to subscribe to Apple Music, which isn’t something I want to use,” Griffiths writes. “(If they offered a “use but don’t integrate into library,” I’d subscribe in a heartbeat… but they don’t.)”
“There are any number of other radio services out there – Pandora, Spotify, etc. But I wanted something that existed in iTunes, as I didn’t want to have to run another app, nor (shudder) use my browser as a radio station front end. Then I remember iTunes has a huge — as in tens of thousands — assortment of Internet Radio stations,” Griffiths writes. “I hadn’t looked at internet radio in a long time, as I’d been quite happy with my selection of iTunes Radio stations. But Apple’s move inspired me to take another look, and so far, I like what I’ve found. If you’d like to explore the world of Internet Radio in iTunes, here are a few tips…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iTunes Internet Radio contains a huge number of terrestrial stations. If you’ve moved about over time, it’s here you can continue listen to your favorite radio stations via the Internet. Of course, most of the stations are ad-supported.
If your favorite radio station isn’t shown in iTunes, if you know the stream’s URL, you can enter it in iTunes via File>Open Stream.
24/7 Polka Heaven. Great for writing code. Can’t Beats it.
I used to keep a playlist of internet radio stations in iTunes and some are pretty decent radio stations. I’m not bothered by ads since I grew up listening to local stations with about 50% music and 50% ads during the daytime period. Some internet radio stations are worse than others when it comes to ad interruptions. You just have to find the right ones. Stations have to find revenue to survive so I understand why ads are necessary.
Now I use a Grace Digital Internet radio and free Pandora and yet it seems to be ad-free for me.
iTunes Radio is great. My station is on there, as many, many others, but available (as far as I know) to desktop users. Since more and more people are relying primarily on tablets and mobile devices, where’s the future audience going to come from?
For listening to internet radio on my iPhone and iPad, I use the WunderRadio app, from the folks at Weather Underground.
http://www.wunderradio.com
Apple Music is the only internet “subscription” we subscribe to at this time. It works very well for my family. There are four people on our family plan in three different states and I honestly have no problem paying the $14.99 for the family plan because in the long run it saves my family money compared to alternatives. My boys are college age and my wife is the biggest user. It’s worth it for us financially speaking.
I agree this should be part of owning a mac/iphone
Any number of Radio Stations have their own App. Mine is WFPK 91.9, from Louisville, KY.
If you want free live with advertising. It did work with previous versions of Apple Radio and other services. I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t offer user both or either free and subscription radio services.
I pay for iTunes Match which advertised ad-free Apple Radio as a perk. Now I’m blocked from using an advertised Match benefit.
Not cool Apple. Not cool at all. I won’t be renewing Match. Google Music provides the same service for free.
I don’t understand why they still sell iTunes Match. Not because it isn’t a good product, just because it’s so confusing for it to sit beside Apple Music, which does kinda sorta but not exactly the same thing. Why they couldn’t integrate full iTunes Match functionality into Apple Music and make it one product is beyond me.
——RM