For those on iTunes Match and using iTunes Radio

[BreakingKayfabe]

I know that being subscribed to iTunes Match brings no-ads to iTunes Radio.
What about unlimited skip? Can anyone confirm this? If it is, I'm just going to
go ahead and subscribe to iTunes Match.

Very appreciated.

 

[warcraftWidow]

It's not supposed to have unlimited skip. I think it's still 6 skips per channel per hour. I cannot confirm the reality of the skips yet though.

And just FYI, at least with this beta, iTunes Match subscribers are still getting some ads. Presumably that will change.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

It's not supposed to have unlimited skip. I think it's still 6 skips per channel per hour. I cannot confirm the reality of the skips yet though.

And just FYI, at least with this beta, iTunes Match subscribers are still getting some ads. Presumably that will change.

Really hoping it has unlimited skip. Slacker does this with a subscription. Only problem is that
Slacker, well, sucks. lol

 

[warcraftWidow]

Really hoping it has unlimited skip. Slacker does this with a subscription. Only problem is that
Slacker, well, sucks. lol

Pandora still occasionally limits skips even with a paid account but I think it is less often.

I haven't seen anything published from Apple talking about this skips for iTunes Match people. I was just relaying what is heard elsewhere.

 

[BreakingKayfabe]

Pandora still occasionally limits skips even with a paid account but I think it is less often.

I haven't seen anything published from Apple talking about this skips for iTunes Match people. I was just relaying what is heard elsewhere.

Yeah. Pandora definitely limits skips on a paid account. I believe it's also
six if I'm remembering correctly from the last time I had a paid account
with them. Which was months ago.

 

[swarlos]

Yeah. Pandora definitely limits skips on a paid account. I believe it's also
six if I'm remembering correctly from the last time I had a paid account
with them. Which was months ago.

Can't say anything for the skips yet I'll test it out later today.


Sent from the collector home world.

 

[Chad_Mobley]

Does anyone know what sample rate iTunes Radio streams at?

 

[swarlos]

So I just did 6 skips back to back but landed on a song I liked so I stopped haha. Will continue to test after I listen to it.


Sent from the collector home world.

 

[jrdnlc]

Rdio is the way to go but you pay like $10/mnth. Ever since I got it I canceled Pandora

 

[Alli]

Gave it a good run this morning. It will not replace Spotify for me. If you're a Pandora or Rdio user though, you'll probably love it.

 

[swarlos]

I've used Rdio for some time and I think as of now I'll use iTunes radio and listen to my library of 8700 songs.


Sent from the collector home world.

 

[wamadden4]

It has been unlimited skips for me... Not too worried about it... I also have Spotify alongside iTunes Match obviously.... its the way to go!

 

[cardfan]

It has been unlimited skips for me... Not too worried about it... I also have Spotify alongside iTunes Match obviously.... its the way to go!

Sounds like it'll do the trick for me then as an itunes match subscriber. I'm a pretty light Pandora user but skip a lot which a jailbreak tweak currently helps.

 

[wamadden4]

Yeah my phone was jailbroken before this and the jailbreak tweak with unlimited skips on Pandora and another cool function was pretty sweet.... I miss that and BiteSMS the most.

 

[warcraftWidow]

There's definitely a skip limit at least for now even if you are an iTunes Match subscriber. I just ran into it although I wasn't counting my skips. It's very subtle. The fast forward button is just slightly grayed out and disabled.

 

[Superjudge]

Are the ads audio ads, visual ads, or a mixture of both?

 

[warcraftWidow]

I've only noticed audio but when I've been listening I haven't really been paying attention to the app.

 

[warcraftWidow]

If anyone's wondering about data usage with iTunes Radio, I just send 18.3 MB in 26 minutes on my commute home. Not sure what that translates to as a bit rate but i was on a string LTE signal all the way. I'm guessing that Apple does some sort of adaptive streaming based on the quality of your signal.

 

[DarthElmo]

Thanks very much for the info, Karenkcoulter.

This is the first post I've found with a quantifiable rate for iTunes Radio. However, if 18.3 MB in 26 minutes is accurate, the bit rate is extremely disappointing - to me at least. Your bit rate (over an LTE connection even) was only 96 Kbps. Here's the calculation: 18.3 * 8 * 1024 / 26 / 60 = 96.1. This is still better than say, Pandora's rate of 64 Kbps (AAC) but since iTunes already has an entire library of 256 Kbps AAC files that they use to stream iTunes Match songs, I was hoping/anticipating they'd be doing the same thing with iTunes Radio. Or at least make that option available. I suppose that 256 Kbps is perhaps a bit much for some cellular connections and/or data plans.

I really wanted to ditch MOG's $10 per month plan when iTunes Radio came out but the sound quality of 96 Kbps can't compare to MOG's 320 Kpbs, even though I'm assuming that Apple is streaming the superior AAC codec as opposed to MOG's MP3 at 320 Kbps. (If anyone is curious about the codecs, just do a quick search for AAC vs MP3.)

I know I'm basing all of this on a single "test" and iTunes Radio hasn't been officially released to the general public yet. I'd really be interested in seeing anyone else's numbers.

 

[jhoffmeyer]

Could anyone please tell me if I need to have iTunes Match turned on to get the ad-free iTunes Radio? I'm subscribed to iTunes Match but mostly use it on my Apple TVs and not on my iPhone. I was just wondering if I'll need to turn it on for my iPhone to get iTunes Radio without hearing ads?