Apple flips switch on holiday-themed iTunes Radio stations
Apple on Thursday activated a number of curated iTunes Radio stations playing nothing but Christmas tunes for the holidays, including tailored genre-specific track lists ranging from children's sing-alongs to Latin.
In time for the holidays, Apple's holiday iTunes Radio stations offer a wide selection of Christmas standards, pop releases and even songs for children. The feature went live earlier today.
This year, Apple has split holiday tunes into ten stations: Children's Christmas Holiday Sing-Along, Country Holiday, Classical Holiday, Holiday Classics, Holiday Hits, Latin Holiday, Rockin' Holiday, Soulful Holiday, Swingin' Holiday and The Sounds of Christmas.
While only a few stations are included in the iTunes Radio featured list, searching for the term "holiday" or "christmas" brings up links to the above stations, which can then be added to users' My Stations selections.
For users currently not subscribed to Apple's $24.99 per year iTunes Match service, iTunes Radio's holiday categories contain interstitial advertisements, most of which are correctly themed for the season.
Holiday stations for iTunes Radio are available in the Music app for iOS and iTunes for Mac and PC.
In time for the holidays, Apple's holiday iTunes Radio stations offer a wide selection of Christmas standards, pop releases and even songs for children. The feature went live earlier today.
This year, Apple has split holiday tunes into ten stations: Children's Christmas Holiday Sing-Along, Country Holiday, Classical Holiday, Holiday Classics, Holiday Hits, Latin Holiday, Rockin' Holiday, Soulful Holiday, Swingin' Holiday and The Sounds of Christmas.
While only a few stations are included in the iTunes Radio featured list, searching for the term "holiday" or "christmas" brings up links to the above stations, which can then be added to users' My Stations selections.
For users currently not subscribed to Apple's $24.99 per year iTunes Match service, iTunes Radio's holiday categories contain interstitial advertisements, most of which are correctly themed for the season.
Holiday stations for iTunes Radio are available in the Music app for iOS and iTunes for Mac and PC.
Comments
Anyone else feels this radio is still born like ping?
Yes, but still no iTunes Radio outside of AUS or USA - what on earth is taking so long?
The fact that iTunes Radio is not still not available for nearly all of the world after all this time suggests to me that it will not happen now. Let's hope that the same situation does not apply to the roll out of Apple pay to countries other than the USA.
Yes, but still no iTunes Radio outside of AUS or USA - what on earth is taking so long?
They must be replacing it with Beats.
I have no idea, but one can create an AppleID on the US site and access the Radio with that ID. Plus you can download apps that are free.
What are the ads like on iTunes Radio? I.e. How long, how often, how trashy?
Well, they're not super well targeted. I was listening to the Bach station and I got McDonalds ads
But the interesting thing to me was, some of the ads actually have a visual component. So you will be listening only, doing something else, with iTunes in the background, and suddenly the whole iTunes app will be filled with a McDonalds logo. Before I started using it I just assumed the ads would be audio only. But yes, just one ad less than a minute, frequency every 2 or 3 tracks. Not like TV where you get lots of ads at once.
(in the land down under here)
I thought Latin was a dead language?
This one's for you, Samsung:
This the Season to be Jolly
Fa La La La Laa Fa La La Laa ...
iTunes Radio isn't that great, IMO.
Still can't forget the time I was listening to a Classic Rock playlist and the system loaded up a jazz song...it wasn't rockish jazz either.
Licensing is the issue. Every single country has their own boatload of regulations to navigate. Honestly, it amazes me that Apple should have any interest at all in expanding into some countries.
I've never heard an ad ...? I thought you guys were all joking ... but then I thought ... could it be because I have iTunes Match I don't het many?
Haha, good one ... but then Alaska is in the USA ... I only know that as i was just there on a vacation ..
I honestly don't think the ads are that bad. They are 30 seconds based on my experience. The ones I've heard and have stuck out to me are just ads for things available on iTunes, i.e. The Beatles, Coldplay etc. It's not bad.
OT but while listening to my ad free iTunes Radio Christmas curated music, I am rambling ... Regarding Latin being 'dead' ... If you walk around the Catalan area of N.E. Spain, S.W. France and Andorra for a while you realize it actually is alive and thriving. Fascinating history there, some truth some folk lore. I lived there on the Spanish-French border for a few years and discovered that a local ruins called Empúries, was a western outpost of the Greeks then later the Romans that lived on well after Rome fell. Local lore has it that the soldiers stationed there decided to stay and settle when called back to defend Rome. It's morphed as a language obviously as it mixed with regional languages but then so has English in the USA and Spanish in central and south America. Our first clue about the language was when a Spanish bank had Caixa on the sign outside not Banco. That was the start of a fun investigation and rummage through the ruins.