Recently I got a very pleasant, but short-lived surprise when Apple’s iTunes Radio, a music streaming service, popped up on my iPad mini. Apple announced iTunes Radio way back in June of 2013 to compete with the likes of Spotify and Pandora. The service subsequently went live in the US in September 2013 and in February 2014 in Australia. In the meantime, the rest of the world is anxiously waiting for this much anticipated service from Apple.
Nevertheless, the Cupertino-based company recent acquisition of Beats Electronic and Beats Music just make the wait worthwhile. In a press release, Apple had this to say about their acquisition of Beats Music:
[su_quote]Beats Electronics has brought the energy, emotion and excitement of playback in the recording studio back to the listening experience and has introduced an entirely new generation to premium sound entertainment. Beats Music was developed by a team of people who have each spent their entire career in music and provides music fans with an incredible curated listening experience.[/su_quote]
According to Apple’s website, iTunes Radio offers users access to thousands of new songs every week,which may include exclusive singles from an up-and-coming band or a pre-release stream of an entire album. Additionally, iTunes Radio is ad-supported and free for everyone while iTunes Match users get iTunes Radio ad-free. Users can access iTunes Radio on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV.