Back in the day iTunes used to give me access to tons of online radio stations and radio streams from around the world. Is that still in the latest version of iTunes?
Before the rise of services like Spotify, Pandora and GrooveShark, people relied on DJs, on human beings to come up with playlists and program content, whether it was talk radio, commercial broadcast from around the world or simply a local radio station that you couldn’t otherwise get clearly in the basement. And then there were the thousands of pirate and legit “streaming” radio stations that weren’t broadcast over the air anywhere, but existed purely on the Internet.
Turns out that they’re all still there, online, and doing just fine. And you can indeed get to them through iTunes if you know where to click. Imagine, thousands of radio stations from around the world in your favorite language, playing your favorite genre of music. All for free. Brilliant, really!
To start, here’s a typical iTunes window, this in iTunes 12.0.1:
You need to look more closely at the set of icons on the top let.
In fact, let’s do that:
See the one that looks like a radio tower? That’s the Internet Radio button.
Click on it and you’ll see the list of genres:
Notice since I was already listening to classical, it’s already loaded the 339 different streams available. That’s a lot of choice!
Click on any of the genres to learn more about the stations and streams available. I’ll click on “Classical”:
Imagine, a radio station focused on a specific type of classical music. Yup, one benefit of Internet radio is that there are some remarkably narrow station choices for you to pick if you have a favorite composer, band, sub-genre, era or similar.
I’ll click on one of the other classical options…
Look closely at the now playing window on the top and you’ll see that “ABetterRadio.com Classical” is now playing Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1. Overture. Yes, most of the streaming channels send information about each track playing so that iTunes can keep you informed about what you’re listening to. Take that regular radio stations! 🙂
That’s how you get to Internet streaming radio in iTunes. Now see if you can find a station that’s just the right mix for your listening pleasure!
Thanks. I can do this on my MacBook but can’t seem to find a way to duplicate it on my iPhone. It keeps bugging me to pay for Apple Music. Do you know of a workaround?
iTunes internet radio is indeed a wonderful thing. The only problem is, many online stations that are listed don’t seem to work. After clicking on a station,a dialogue box pops up which says “connecting” and yet nothing happens. Pretty frustrating. But it’s free so…nothing to do but move on to another choice. ?
Yeah, unfortunately Internet radio gets zero attention from Apple or just about anyone else. Would be nice if they even just marked channels that had gone away as obsolete, if nothing else!
Just came across this as i have tonight downloaded itunes and was looking for the internet radio feature which i have on my other system. but i cannot find it. nor do i find an itunes screen / page that resembles the one shown above.
amazing, it’s very usefully brother…,,
Thankz sir i wll try it
Great tips.. this post helpful for me and other
Thank you, and I do appreciate the fact that you are willing to admit when there was a problem and fixed it.
Thanks dude, I’ll try it 😀
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How do I add a streaming radio station to a playlist?
Frustratingly, you can’t. In fact, as much as iTunes still has that nice streaming radio capability, the overall support for the feature across iTunes is pretty darn weak, I have to say…
And what’s particularly annoying is that you used to be able to, but that feature evaporated.
Also missing is a search function (a thousand radio stations, yet no way to search them except by eye). The search field is still there, it just doesn’t do anything.
very useful 🙂