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I'm sure most of us would be aware of the development that iTunes Radio doesn't come FREE of cost anymore. I do understand that making music isn't cheap, but I'm not going to listen to a radio station that chooses what songs I can listen to. What is your honest opinion? Is it actually worth it?
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Undertaker
Welcome to the forums
I don't use iTunes. But there are other service providers that give you a huge variety of streaming content, and let you select what you want to listen to for a very reasonable investment. Google play is one of them, but there are many more. (Maybe Google Play is an Android only thing?)
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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I would pay $19.99 a month for it. You have access to the entire iTunes downloadable catalog of 35,000,000 songs to play on demand. You have the radio channels and the opportunity to create your own stations and fine tune them. Everyday you have access to For You playlists curated by humans and they are great. We stream it at home and in both vehicles -- all the time.
30 cents a day.
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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I would pay $19.99 a month for it. You have access to the entire iTunes downloadable catalog of 35,000,000 songs to play on demand. You have the radio channels and the opportunity to create your own stations and fine tune them. Everyday you have access to For You playlists curated by humans and they are great. We stream it at home and in both vehicles -- all the time.
30 cents a day.
Bud That's true. But I really doubt whether it's actually $19.99? My problem is not about the money, but the fact that I would not have the freedom to choose what I can listen to. Don't you agree?
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... You have access to the entire iTunes downloadable catalog of 35,000,000 songs to play on demand.
30 cents a day. ...
Bud That's true ... My problem is not about the money, but the fact that I would not have the freedom to choose what I can listen to. Don't you agree? I don't understand your intent here. One member assists you with a reply that mentions "You have access to the entire iTunes downloadable catalog of 35,000,000 songs to play on demand." and you state "My problem is not about the money, but the fact that I would not have the freedom to choose what I can listen to." Obviously you want to listen to something far more esoteric. My advice, forget iTunes, just go and buy the LP. Case closed.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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For a time I was using Pandora. You can set up "radio stations" based on a given artist or a song. The rotation of songs would favor that artist or that song style. It wasn't all that bad and I got to hear lots of songs that I hadn't heard in years.
At some point, they stopped using the video advertisements and started using audio adverts just like a terrestrial radio station... you could buy the plan and the commercials would go away.
Between the data it used and my daughter burning through the shared data..... we were running low on data with several days still remaining in that billing cycle. I eventually stopped listening
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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First as mentioned your choice is not just iTunes radio. There are now several streaming content providers and they provide more than just a pre-programmed radio station. My provider allows me to download in a compressed format to my phone any song in their library. That means no data streaming when traveling which for me is a great benefit and it still sounds great.
The question of is it worth it is easy to answer. If I had to pay for every album or single I currently have access too in my library it would cost me a ridiculous amount of money not to mention I would have to rip, compress and file all that music. That alone is worth it.
However there is another reason and perhaps the most important. Copy right protection for the artist. By paying a monthly fee to a streaming content provider you are allowing them to pay royalties to the artist or whoever owns the rights to the music. The royalties received by the artist are negotiated between the artists and provider and can range from royalty for each time the song is played to just a flat one time royalty. The bottom line is that it is good for the artist.
This is the new model the music industry is adopting and it makes sense. It's reasonably valued maybe even undervalued depending on ones consumption and it's fair. I love my service and what it provides. I have a library of music that I could never dream of having growing up.
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...That's true. But I really doubt whether it's actually $19.99? My problem is not about the money, but the fact that I would not have the freedom to choose what I can listen to. Don't you agree? Uhhh no. Clarifications: - when I said Apple Music was worth $19.99 a month my point was that I would pay ten bucks a month MORE than the asking price and still be satisfied. - some folks don't seem to realize that you can permanently download any iTunes album or single to your mobile device or computer and play them from it if you choose not to stream. The only caveat is that you cannot burn them to CD. - we have no data issues with streaming audio. We stream daily and it hardly makes a dent in our AT&T small shared 5meg monthly plan. Video eats up the data not audio. We love streaming. If we are listening to an album or playlist on our living room audio system streaming from my iPhone and then leave...the music picks up in the vehicle right where where we left it. Same thing when we are mountain biking. - the curated playlists and stations on iTunes are IMO far superior to pandora. And if like us you have a large iTunes library (we have 9K+ songs) then the stations and playlists are able to base their songs on the usual variables plus what you have listened to and purchased over the years. Their ability to find an artist whom you are not familiar with but will like is uncanny. All of those features including owning every freakin' thing in the iTunes audio store is $9.99 a month. And yes they pay the artists more than the other streaming entities. Again 30 cents a day for folks like us who love and listen to music all the time it's a heckuva deal. Reckon I'm just a 70 year ole phart trying to live out on the digital cusp  Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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I have an old version of ITunes on my computer 10.6.3 and radio seems to play ok without asking for any subscription, though does ask me to upgrade which I declined.
Maybe its a location thing and hasn't reached here yet.
Musiclover
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I have an old version of ITunes on my computer 10.6.3 and radio seems to play ok without asking for any subscription, though does ask me to upgrade which I declined.
Maybe its a location thing and hasn't reached here yet.
Musiclover Although the original poster said iTunes radio I assumed he was talking about the radio section of Apple Music that was released last fall...but I could be wrong. Apple Music gives you radio stations, for you lists and the ability to play music from your personal iTunes collection or from anything in the iTunes store. It is built into the IOS release for mobile devices since last fall and runs under iTunes 12.2.3 on my Mac so it would appear that you would have to update in order to access it. Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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The only caveat is that you cannot burn them to CD. Hey Bud, I burn all my iTunes downloads to CD to archive them. Just create a playlist folder, put your songs in, and right-click to choose, "Burn to CD".
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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The only caveat is that you cannot burn them to CD. Hey Bud, I burn all my iTunes downloads to CD to archive them. Just create a playlist folder, put your songs in, and right-click to choose, "Burn to CD". Yes, you can burn iTune purchases to CDs but not downloads obtained via the Apple Music monthly subscription. You can physically download them to any one of your devices. They'd never make a dime if you could give away anything in the store for a few bucks a month. It's two confusing and different paradigms. Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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... You have access to the entire iTunes downloadable catalog of 35,000,000 songs to play on demand.
30 cents a day. ...
Bud That's true ... My problem is not about the money, but the fact that I would not have the freedom to choose what I can listen to. Don't you agree? I don't understand your intent here. One member assists you with a reply that mentions "You have access to the entire iTunes downloadable catalog of 35,000,000 songs to play on demand." and you state "My problem is not about the money, but the fact that I would not have the freedom to choose what I can listen to." Obviously you want to listen to something far more esoteric. My advice, forget iTunes, just go and buy the LP. Case closed. Oops. My intention was not to belittle anyone's opinion. I use a Mac and hence iTunes is definitely my best option. I was just looking for cheaper options, if any. Peace out.
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...That's true. But I really doubt whether it's actually $19.99? My problem is not about the money, but the fact that I would not have the freedom to choose what I can listen to. Don't you agree? Uhhh no. Clarifications: - when I said Apple Music was worth $19.99 a month my point was that I would pay ten bucks a month MORE than the asking price and still be satisfied. - some folks don't seem to realize that you can permanently download any iTunes album or single to your mobile device or computer and play them from it if you choose not to stream. The only caveat is that you cannot burn them to CD. - we have no data issues with streaming audio. We stream daily and it hardly makes a dent in our AT&T small shared 5meg monthly plan. Video eats up the data not audio. We love streaming. If we are listening to an album or playlist on our living room audio system streaming from my iPhone and then leave...the music picks up in the vehicle right where where we left it. Same thing when we are mountain biking. - the curated playlists and stations on iTunes are IMO far superior to pandora. And if like us you have a large iTunes library (we have 9K+ songs) then the stations and playlists are able to base their songs on the usual variables plus what you have listened to and purchased over the years. Their ability to find an artist whom you are not familiar with but will like is uncanny. All of those features including owning every freakin' thing in the iTunes audio store is $9.99 a month. And yes they pay the artists more than the other streaming entities. Again 30 cents a day for folks like us who love and listen to music all the time it's a heckuva deal. Reckon I'm just a 70 year ole phart trying to live out on the digital cusp Bud Hey Bud, Thanks for detailing it out. 30 cents a day isn't too much and Pandora is negligible in front of iTunes directory. It's just that I was disappointed with the fact that I would have to pay for something I've been using for FREE. 
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Yeah, I occasionally use iHeart Radio from the phone to the car stereo.
Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Ditto, I use iHeart Radio a lot on walks, in car, at home - plus I can get political talk I prefer as WELL as music, and now with Amazon Prime I get a lot of "free" music.
Besides, I wouldn't, and HAVE NOT, given Apple "Co" a penny, knowingly at least, since the first and last Apple product (the Apple II) I bought in the mid-late 70's (~77 or 78).
Larry
Win10Pro,i9,64GB,2TBSSD+20TBHDDs,1080TI,BIAB'24,Scarlett18i8,Montage7,Fusion 8HD,QS8,Integra7,XV5080,QSR,SC-8850,SPLAT,FL21&others,Komp.14,IK suite&others, just a guitar player-AXE FX III &FM9T, FishmanTP, MIDIGuitar2, GK2/3'sw/GI20
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True. iHeart Radio is cool, used it yesterday.
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...
Besides, I wouldn't, and HAVE NOT, given Apple "Co" a penny, knowingly at least, since the first and last Apple product (the Apple II) I bought in the mid-late 70's (~77 or 78).
Larry
Sounds like me with Apple AND Sony .. <grin>
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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