iTunes Radio, which was announced in June at WWDC by Apple, is Cupertino's attempt at expanding its music services. The ad-supported service, which lets you listen to unlimited amount of songs for free, is expected to be available along with the much-awaited iOS 7. Furthermore, the service will also launch across Mac OS X Mavericks and Apple TV.
Though the service looks good, it has many drawbacks. For example, iTunes Radio is only available in the United States. And, if you're using an Android phone, of course you won't be able to use the service. Don't fret though, our Google Android Play Stores offers a lot of amazing alternatives to Apple's streaming service that might pleasantly surprise you.
So, if you're looking for some good Android-based alternatives to iTunes Radio, read on as we discuss the best of the lot:
Pandora
Pandora has been around for a long time now. Available only to residents of U.S, Australia, and New Zealand, the music streaming service is one of the most popular ones among audiophiles. Pandora boasts of a 70.8 million active listeners along with applications for almost all major mobile platforms. New users can begin listening to songs for free but the free account is only limited to 40 hours per month. If that doesn't whet your appetite, you can pay $3.99 per month for a Pandora One account, which gives you fewer interruptions and no ads. The only downside about Pandora is that you cannot listen to songs offline.
Though the service looks good, it has many drawbacks. For example, iTunes Radio is only available in the United States. And, if you're using an Android phone, of course you won't be able to use the service. Don't fret though, our Google Android Play Stores offers a lot of amazing alternatives to Apple's streaming service that might pleasantly surprise you.
So, if you're looking for some good Android-based alternatives to iTunes Radio, read on as we discuss the best of the lot:
Pandora
Pandora has been around for a long time now. Available only to residents of U.S, Australia, and New Zealand, the music streaming service is one of the most popular ones among audiophiles. Pandora boasts of a 70.8 million active listeners along with applications for almost all major mobile platforms. New users can begin listening to songs for free but the free account is only limited to 40 hours per month. If that doesn't whet your appetite, you can pay $3.99 per month for a Pandora One account, which gives you fewer interruptions and no ads. The only downside about Pandora is that you cannot listen to songs offline.
Google Play Music
Released in May 2013, Google's new streaming music service offers a lot of free stuff for new users. Not only can you upload 20,000 songs in your library for free, you can also listen to your songs offline. Though the basic service is free, a $9.99 a month account lets you listen to streaming radio and add any song to your library. You can then play those songs offline as well. One of the biggest drawbacks of this service is that it is not yet available on the iOS platform. That said, Linux users can rejoice at the fact that they can use an application like Nuvola Player and run Google Play Music service like a native application.
Spotify
Spotify is an immensely popular music streaming service that is competing head to head with Pandora and iRadio. The most popular thing about this service is that it works across almost all platforms, including Linux. For your Android device, the app lets you use the service for 48 hours completely free. Then, if you like it, you can purchase a Spotify Premium subscription right from the app. Once you are a Spotify user, you'll be able to sync your playlists, listen to music offline, or stream anything you want from the Spotify library. The unlimited subscription costs $10 a month.
Rdio
Rdio is a service that allows you to stream unlimited music, for free, to your mobile phone. The service has over 20 million songs and it strongly relies on the social element of music listening. You can follow friends, listen to their favorite artists, and even collaborate with them to create an awesome party playlist. The service then syncs all your playlists and favorites across all of your devices. Rdio's subscription costs around $10 a month.
Last.fm
Last.fm is one of the veterans when it comes to Internet radio. Not only does the service lets you discover new tracks, it also lets you keep a record of what tracks you listen to. My personal favorite, last.fm allows you to 'scrobble' your listening habits to your profile so that later, you can get a good idea of your own listening habits. When it comes to streaming, you can listen to Last.fm radio from almost any device, be it on desktop, smartphone, or tablet.
Written by: Abhishek, a regular TechSource contributor and a long-time FOSS advocate.
