When Apple launched iTunes Radio earlier this year, they brought streaming music to iOS and iTunes users. It competes with iTunes Radio, Rdio, Spotify, Pandora and Google Play All Access Music. While each of these offer a free version, they also allow users to pay a monthly fee to get ad-free music. Apple’s iTunes Radio comes with iTunes Match for only $25 per year.
We’ll show users how to use iTunes Radio on both a Mac or PC running iTunes and a like-new iOS device. iphone 5s, iPad Air or iPad mini with Retina Display running iOS 7 or later.
iTunes Radio on computer
Run iTunes on the computer and click the drop-down button in the upper right corner. Clicking the displayed arrow displays a list. To choose . Just clicking the button will open in the main window. An easier way to navigate iTunes is to choose to show Sidebar from the menu.
From the Music screen, click the Radio tab and log in to open the Radio service. If you are not already an iTunes Match customer, iTunes will offer to sign up or allow you to sign up. Apple’s website for $24.99. It’s worth the annual fee as it removes ads, allows users to upload music, and is available from iCloud on all devices. It even works with music purchased from Google or Amazon, or music copied from the user’s own CD library.
Use one of these to start listening to music on a computer, phone, or iPad with iTunes Match installed. Stations appear at the top of the iTunes Radio screen.
Click the plus button next to the words in the middle of the screen to create a new station. Type a search in the search box that opens (see above). Select from the search results and the station starts playing. The resulting screen will allow the user to customize the station.
Now, while iTunes songs are playing, the listener can favorite a song by clicking the star in the playbar next to the pause button at the top of the screen. To the right of the play/pause button is a skip button to advance to the next song in the radio playlist. The song’s price is displayed next to the playback progress bar. Click to buy the currently playing song.
Turn on the feature in the upper right corner of My Stations to prevent songs from playing explicit lyrics.
iTunes Radio on iPhone or iPad
This works a lot like on a computer in iTunes.
Open the Music app on an iPhone or iPad. Find the Radio button in the lower left corner of the screen and see the same featured stations from iTunes on the computer. Scroll down to the plus button and tap it to add a new station (see below). To search for the type of station to install, enter a search item and then choose from the results. Users can also choose from the music genres listed under the search button.
When a user sets up a station, it syncs across all devices. The listener can star, skip or purchase a song just as one can do on a computer.
