The apps may not be that great (though I don't really have that many problems, except for occasional iTunes slowness on the Mac), what they nailed is making the

The apps may not be that great (though I don't really have that many problems, except for occasional iTunes slowness on the Mac), what they nailed is making the whole thing more engaging. I have been a Spotify and Google Play Music subscriber before and I always found these very mechanical - you either know what to play, try to find some playlists or get some recommendation from an algorithm. Beats 1 is very nice. The programs are more fun to listen to than some arbitrary playlists or music discovery. There is some talk and the music selection is much more interesting. Advantages over normal radio are that niches are better represented (I really liked Josh Homme's 'The Alligator Hour') and you can easily add interesting stuff to your library.