What about an iTunes radio station?
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Mar 14, 2005 at 12:03am
On Feb. 9, I wrote that subscription services wouldn’t threaten the dominance of iTunes. I still feel that way (and apparently so do most Macsimum readers; see the poll below), but have also run across an interesting suggestion from a Macsimum News reader: if the licensing and financial arrangements could be worked out, Apple should implement an iTunes Music Store radio station that you could listen to and from which you could download songs that you want to purchase.
I like the idea. I want to “own” my music, not rent it. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but the rental model has no appeal for me, and I certainly don’t see it replacing the purchase model.
There would be no charge for the iTMS Radio Station, as the idea would be to promote more song purchases from iTMS itself. And there would be links that would allow you to easily purchase the music that you listened to, then downloaded.
In essence, what you would have it a legal and managed TiVO for music. Except that it would also allow you to download music that you didn’t hear on the iTMS radio channel. Heck, taking the idea to the next level: what if you could download tunes for a set time (a day? A week?) for free, run ‘em by your eardrums, then buy the ones you like? I’m not sure that this is technically feasible, and I’m 100 percent against music piracy.
But IF it were possible, think of the benefits. Borrowing from the iPod shuffle idea, you could set your daily downloads to get a random selection of music. You’d be exposed to music beyond your normal tastes and would perhaps expand your musical horizons.
Of course, there are, unfortunately, lots of folks who would just “steal” the music, hurting the paradigm and the artists who create the music. But if the technical, legal and logistical roadblocks could be overcome, just imagine the possibilities.
Thoughts? Write me at dsellers@macsimumnews.com
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
