iTunes Radio’s missed opportunity
Last week Apple announced a competitor for Pandora’s streaming radio service. Apple’s service is called iTunes Radio. This service has nothing special other than its integration with iTunes (which is likely special enou to cause me to actually use it). It makes it easy to buy the music you hear. The service is free with ads. If you have an iTunes Match subscription there will be no ads.
The only thing I think it’s missing is integration with the music you already own. If you own a song and the radio service plays it, you should be guaranteed no ads before or after the song. If you own a song and you skip it, then that skip should not count against the total number of songs you can skip each hour.
This will encourage people to buy songs and make the listening experience more integrated and enjoyable.