Apple Discontinuing Free iTunes Radio
Pretty soon, Apple will no longer be offering iTunes Radio, the ad-supported, Pandora-style internet radio service launched in 2013, for free. Instead, starting 1/29, it’ll only be available to paid Apple Music subscribers, BuzzFeed reports. The new, paid iteration of iTunes Radio will be ad-free and allow users to skip as many songs as they want. Going forward, Beats 1 will be Apple’s only free radio service.
“We are making Beats 1 the premier free broadcast from Apple and phasing out the ad-supported stations at the end of January,” an Apple spokesperson told BuzzFeed. “Additionally, with an Apple Music membership, listeners can access dozens of radio stations curated by our team of music experts, covering a range of genres, commercial-free with unlimited skips. The free three-month trial of Apple Music includes radio.”
A “source familiar with the situation” confirmed to BuzzFeed that this shift from advertising to a subscription model is directly related to Apple’s phasing out of its iAds Network, which sold advertising to be displayed in iOs apps.
Is this heartbreaking to anyone? Did anyone even use iTunes Radio?