iTunes Radio coming on September 18 along with iOS 7

During the iPhone launch event last night, Apple officially unveiled iTunes Radio. The music radio service will be released as part of the iOS 7 release, rolling out on Spetember 18.

The radio service from Apple is all set to take on the likes of Pandora, Last.fm and Spotify that are currently standing strong on the online radio space. iTunes Radio will start off big by offering users a chance to create their own  stations. Thanks to its intuitive nature, Apple promises that the more you stream music on it, the more personalised your stations will become.

You will be able to use iTunes Radio on not just your iPhone but also iPod Touch, iPad, Mac and even the PC and Apple TV. The radio service will give you access to over 300 DJ-curated stations as well as ones that are genre focused.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Available on all iOS devices

The service will not only let you stream curated stations, but will also let you build stations based on artists, songs, and genres. Interestingly, Apple says that if you like a music on the Radio or your iTunes library, you can build a station around it quite like you can on the likes of Last.fm.

iTunes Radio will come with the usual Internet Radio actions like “Play More Like”, “Never Play This Song”, to give you control over the kind of music you listen to on it. The service syncs on to all your devices as well. Say, if you’re listening to a particularly nice music station on your PC and need to leave home, you can pick up from where you left off on your iPhone while on the move.

The service will contain an occasional advertisement in between songs, but if you’ve subscribed to iTunes Match, you will be able to enjoy an ad-free experience on iTunes Radio. The service will also pick up on all your music in your library and iCloud to make sure you have a more personalised experience. Since the service is tied in with iTunes, you will, of course, be able to purchase music that you like off the Radio.

Here’s one more interesting iTunes Radio feature – its tie-up with Siri. You can give directions to Siri on your iOS device to operate iTunes Radio. You could ask Siri to play similar music or even ask it details about the artist. Apple says that you will also be able to share your favourite stations and music via AirDrop, Mail, Messages, Twitter and Facebook.