New iTunes Radio Sucks

[phr0ze]

Two issues

When listening to songs it still lets you purchase the song even if you already own it in Match. So much for impulse buys.

Second issue, evey hour it stops and asks if you are still listening. It won't play more radio till you tap the damn thing. This means if your hands are messy, or you are in the middle of something, you have to completely stop and mess with the phone.

This is bad for:

• Driving
• Swimming/hot tubbing
• Mechanics
• Sex
• Cooks
• Bicyclists
• Parties
• Serial Killers
• Gardening

 

[Tyler23]

Two issues

When listening to songs it still lets you purchase the song even if you already own it in Match. So much for impulse buys.

Second issue, evey hour it stops and asks if you are still listening. It won't play more radio till you tap the damn thing. This means if your hands are messy, or you are in the middle of something, you have to completely stop and mess with the phone.

This is bad for:

• Driving
• Swimming/hot tubbing
• Mechanics
• Sex
• Cooks
• Bicyclists
• Parties
• Serial Killers
• Gardening

Um, relax? It's been improving with each beta. And, it's still in beta. Give it time.

 

[MacDawg]

I haven't played with it, but I assume that keeps you from streaming data endlessly without realizing it

 

[Gjwilly]

..... When listening to songs it still lets you purchase the song even if you already own it in Match. So much for impulse buys.

That might be related to beta because it sure wasn't like that in the earlier betas.
Pre-owned songs were not offered for purchase.

 

[darngooddesign]

Isn't there a paid version of iradio? If so the issue might be due to the free version.

Besides, that thing you mention is annoying, but doesn't make the software suck.

 

[phr0ze]

I haven't played with it, but I assume that keeps you from streaming data endlessly without realizing it

I'm sure thats what they intend so this is how the final version will be. I really wanted to use this instead of spotify.

 

[pitt1717]

i was listening to it for about 2-3 hours yesterday... didn't stop once.... it played some kind of chime tune for about 10 seconds every so often but thats it

 

[phr0ze]

That might be related to beta because it sure wasn't like that in the earlier betas.
Pre-owned songs were not offered for purchase.

There are two types of songs. Purchased and Matched. Purchased does not let you buy again. Matched does. Although apple has clearly 'matched' my song to their store, they still let me purchase.

Yes I know its my problem but I really wanted to use the radio to buy more music. I can't do that if I don't know if I own it.

 

[famoussasjohn]

Two issues

When listening to songs it still lets you purchase the song even if you already own it in Match. So much for impulse buys.

Second issue, evey hour it stops and asks if you are still listening. It won't play more radio till you tap the damn thing. This means if your hands are messy, or you are in the middle of something, you have to completely stop and mess with the phone.

This is bad for:

• Driving
• Swimming/hot tubbing
• Mechanics
• Sex
• Cooks
• Bicyclists
• Parties
• Serial Killers
• Gardening

Pffffft, who are you kidding here?

 

[phr0ze]

i was listening to it for about 2-3 hours yesterday... didn't stop once.... it played some kind of chime tune for about 10 seconds every so often but thats it

It stopped for me 3 different times. And its clearly an intentional apple pop-up.

Edit: I was on LTE. Perhaps you were on WiFi?

 

[cwwilson]

It's still a relatively new service so of course it pales in comparison to Pandora One or Spotify. I'm willing to give it some more run though, it can only get better from here.

 

[phr0ze]

Pffffft, who are you kidding here?

I have no need to prove anything.

 

[Gjwilly]

There are two types of songs. Purchased and Matched. Purchased does not let you buy again. Matched does. Although apple has clearly 'matched' my song to their store, they still let me purchase.

Matched did not let you buy again under beta-1 and possibly beta-2.
You're right that it does now which is why I think it might be a bug.
Under the earlier betas the price didn't even appear -- only the Cloud download button.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/17417551/

 

[nickharris1992]

Two issues

When listening to songs it still lets you purchase the song even if you already own it in Match. So much for impulse buys.

Second issue, evey hour it stops and asks if you are still listening. It won't play more radio till you tap the damn thing. This means if your hands are messy, or you are in the middle of something, you have to completely stop and mess with the phone.

This is bad for:

• Driving
• Swimming/hot tubbing
• Mechanics
• Sex
• Cooks
• Bicyclists
• Parties
• Serial Killers
• Gardening

Brilliant list. I think we should add entertaining guest and pleasuring yourself to the list.

 

[pitt1717]

It stopped for me 3 different times. And its clearly an intentional apple pop-up.

Edit: I was on LTE. Perhaps you were on WiFi?

yes i was on wifi, so that may be it.... maybe apples way of saving users overage charges if they left it running by accident????

 

[kmichalec]

So, you didn't understand how it works (that it prompts you more when you're on Data vs Wifi to keep you from burning up all your data), and you want it to be smarter than you to figure out what music you own because you can't figure that out yourself (even though they never said that it would do that).

Sorry, I fail to see the criteria for why it "sucks".

 

[famoussasjohn]

So, you didn't understand how it works (that it prompts you more when you're on Data vs Wifi to keep you from burning up all your data), and you want it to be smarter than you to figure out what music you own because you can't figure that out yourself (even though they never said that it would do that).

Sorry, I fail to see the criteria for why it "sucks".

It would be good if it would acknowledge that you purchased that song in particular already. You really think someone with a good amount of songs will remember each and every single song they own?

 

[kmichalec]

It would be good if it would acknowledge that you purchased that song in particular already. You really think someone with a good amount of songs will remember each and every single song they own?

The Apple ecosystem is already designed to prevent you from purchasing a song that you already bought from iTunes twice. If you attempt to buy them again, you are notified that you already bought it. That wasn't what the OP was complaining about. The OP wants it to also be aware of every personal mp3 they've uploaded to iTunes Match (not purchased through iTunes), which is different. And saying that it "sucks" because it doesn't have a feature it never claimed to have is a bit over dramatic.

 

[famoussasjohn]

The Apple ecosystem is already designed to prevent you from purchasing a song that you already bought from iTunes twice. If you attempt to buy them again, you are notified that you already bought it. That wasn't what the OP was complaining about. The OP wants it to also be aware of every personal mp3 they've uploaded to iTunes Match (not purchased through iTunes), which is different. And saying that it "sucks" because it doesn't have a feature it never claimed to have is a bit over dramatic.

Oh I agree it's being over dramatic. iTunes Radio is just beginning, Photo stream wasn't all great at first either. You had to delete your entire Photo stream to delete unwanted photos lol.

 

[kmichalec]

Very true! Photostream was a bit immature at launch and needed the kinks worked out, as I'm sure iTunes radio will too. No doubt about that! Would it checking against your purchased history AND your iTunes Match catalog be a good feature? Absolutely. Maybe it's something they'll add in the future. Who knows (only Apple)!

But so far, it's not bad. Very comparable to Pandora and the other streaming services. The only complaint I've had are the sometimes questionable choices for songs under certain radio stations. For example, I created an 80's hits station, using one of their predefined categories (didn't create it off of an artist name or anything). The first song it played was "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" by Elmo & Patsy. While I'm sure TECHNICALLY that could be considered a "hit" from the 80's, that wasn't exactly the type of music I was looking for when I created an 80's Hits radio station. I guess maybe the algorithm for song selection might need a little more tweaking while in it's Beta stage...

 

[nikicampos]

Isn't there a paid version of iradio? If so the issue might be due to the free version.

Besides, that thing you mention is annoying, but doesn't make the software suck.

No, there's not a paid version of iTunes Radio, only, if you are an iTunes Match subscriber, it won't play ads.

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I'm sure thats what they intend so this is how the final version will be. I really wanted to use this instead of spotify.

Well, you can use it, but iTunes Radio is not like Spotify, if any, is like Pandora.

 

[Switchback666]

When the music stop playing did you check it got stuck on "iads" ? Sometimes it stops for me and when i check its always stuck in ads.

 

[campingsk8er]

yes i was on wifi, so that may be it.... maybe apples way of saving users overage charges if they left it running by accident????

I don't think wifi vs cellular is it because I listen to iTunes Radio while I'm at work, a regular 8 hour workday, and not once in the past two weeks has it stopped to ask me if I'm still listening

 

[aaytch]

itunes radio sucks

I made a station for Alison Krauss, expecting it would be like that station in Pandora. It was NOT. After an hour, it had played only one song from the featured artist, and the other artists were not anything like her. Most of them weren't even female, or country folk singers. Pathetic. Pandora has nothing to worry about.

 

[Böhme417]

I made a station for Alison Krauss, expecting it would be like that station in Pandora. It was NOT. After an hour, it had played only one song from the featured artist, and the other artists were not anything like her. Most of them weren't even female, or country folk singers. Pathetic. Pandora has nothing to worry about.

Agreed. I get way too many "iTunes radio is currently unavailable" messages to even call it a reliable service. Secondly, some of the music selections do seem random when an artist is chosen to make a station. I really hope it improves, but until then, I'll continue to use Pandora.