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Apple Considering Standalone iTunes Radio App for iOS 8

Wednesday March 12, 2014 7:06 am PDT by Kelly Hodgkins
Following its introduction at WWDC 2013, Apple's iTunes Radio music streaming service launched alongside iOS 7 in September of last year. The service is available within iTunes on the desktop and the Music app for iOS, allowing users create channels based on artists, genres or songs. To bring attention to the service and increase engagement, Apple may be spinning off iTunes Radio into its own app in iOS 8, according to a report by 9to5Mac.
As a standalone application, users will be able to more quickly access iTunes Radio. Psychologically for users, iTunes Radio will be its own app competing with the likes of the Pandora, Spotify, and iHeartRadio apps found on the App Store. The benefit for Apple, however, is that iTunes Radio will be pre-installed. The interface for the standalone iTunes Radio application is said to be nearly identical to the one found inside of the iOS Music app and its Home screen icon is a terrestrial radio graphic atop a red background.
Apple originally wanted to launch iTunes Radio as a standalone app alongside iOS 6, but those plans allegedly fell through when licensing negotiations with major music labels hit a snag. As envisioned for iOS 8, the new standalone iTunes Radio reportedly would be similar to the current Music app version, continuing to offer Featured Stations and include a browsable music history. iOS users would maintain their ability to create and manage their music channels as well as purchase individual tracks.

itunes_radio_logo
Despite being buried within the iOS Music app, iTunes Radio continues to grow in popularity. A recent report from Edison Research and Statista places iTunes Radio as the third most popular music streaming service in the United States, edging out Spotify to land behind market leaders Pandora and iHeartRadio. The breakout of iTunes Radio into its own app in iOS 8 could further boost usage of the service.

Tags: iTunes Radio, 9to5mac.com
[ 122 comments ]


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rctlr
67 months ago
I think it needs to be in more countries before that happens.
Rating: 28 Votes
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djtech42
67 months ago
But it makes sense to have it in the music app... I don't want yet another icon on my home screen. I like having it in the music app.
Rating: 16 Votes
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jmcrutch
67 months ago
It's already a separate App on AppleTV so doing this in iOS would bring consistency
Rating: 9 Votes
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JHankwitz
67 months ago

I would probably like it free standing but its another app that cannot be deleted. Not sure how that balances in general. For ex, I never use the stocks app but I cant delete it.


But you can move all your unwanted 'cannot delete' apps into a single folder icon to save desktop space.
Rating: 8 Votes
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sputnikv
67 months ago
oh that would be lovely
Rating: 7 Votes
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Bearxor
67 months ago
The amount of "bloatware" Apple has been adding to their devices out of the box is starting to become... bothersome.
Rating: 7 Votes
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atmc
67 months ago
Each day iTunes Radio is not available in Europe, Apple gives market to other musing services like Spotify. Releasing iTunes Radio in more countries should be what Apple is considering.
Rating: 7 Votes
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Rudy69
67 months ago
It makes sense, hiding it in the music app can't be good for visibility.

Maybe they can move it back there when the product has a larger user base
Rating: 5 Votes
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dannyyankou
67 months ago
I care more about unlimited skips and scrubbing backwards/forwards for iTunes Match subscribers. Also, I'd like to be able to shuffle stations.
Rating: 5 Votes
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cmChimera
67 months ago

But it makes sense to have it in the music app... I don't want yet another icon on my home screen. I like having it in the music app.


I don't mind it in the music app per se, but it takes one of my precious tabs. I use it just enough to not want to have to move it to "more" but I also want to put "songs" as a tab. Having it as a separate app solves my extremely minor first world problem. So I can dig it.
Rating: 4 Votes

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