Today during its iPhone press event, Apple announced its iTunes Radio webcasting service will go live to the public when the new mobile operating system, iOS 7, becomes available on September 18.
As we’ve previously reported, iTunes Match customers (who pay $24.99 a year) will access iTunes Radio free with no ads. The service will be free, but with ads, for others (in the U.S.). iTunes Radio will work on iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV), and iTunes on Mac and PC. Listeners will be able to create their own stations based on songs or artists, and easily purchase music they hear. There will be a number of unique “feature” stations, and over 200 genre-based channels. There will not be any “Spotify-like” on-demand music listening.
“Because we love music,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, a short performance by artist Elvis Costello capped off the hour-long event, which mostly featured Apple’s two new iPhone models, the 5S and 5C.
Read our prior coverage of iTunes Radio here.