It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. iTunes Radio, Apple's first attempt in this space, is awful. X skips per hour? Really? The story went that Appl

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. iTunes Radio, Apple's first attempt in this space, is awful. X skips per hour? Really? The story went that Apple's execs actually had no idea how Spotify worked so thought they really had something. It's the kind of fiasco that would've earned the execs a bollicking in the Jobs days and, to me, the buck had to stop at Tim Cook. I'm a paid Spotify subscriber. Generally I like it but it has its warts: - They did an app update a few months ago that's viewed as pretty much universally awful for reasons I can't really explain; - Their catalog has many holes (eg Australian music, in this case probably because Spotify doesn't have an Australian service); - I used to think artists were being Luddites by opting out but there's actually good reason for this. They don't earn royalties proportional to the actual plays. The royalty scheme imposed by the record companies gives a disproportionate amount to currently popular artists; - Because of the last point you have artists who are missing or, in some cases, you have all their songs except their 1-2 money makers; - Worse, for some songs, particularly for things from the 70s for some reason, you can't get the original. You just get some shitty remaster that sounds like bad karaoke. - Spotify's radio feature is the real weak point for me. Repeats (sometimes with only a song in between) and the thumbing up and down I don't think really has the desired effect. Like I might be on a good string of songs but I know the worst thing I can do is thumb anything up OR down as experience has taught me this can only make things worse. Really "thumbs up" should probably mean "don't change anything". Or at least me listening to something in full is itself is a positive indicator. That being said, I'm not really sure you can do satisfying recommendations here. So much of music is I think tied to memory and nostalgia. You might like a particular song because of a particular person, place, time or event. How does liking that inform any other music choice? At the same time your radio playlist has to be large enough not to be too repetitive. What's more, there's actually an art to playlist selection. It's why, for example, at a concert you'll generally see a band start with something upbeat, play anything a bit more mellow in the middle and finish on a high note. Curated playlists (which I guess Apple is calling "guest DJs" because that's what it amounts to) is an idea with some history (eg Songza, bought by Google last year I think). I actually find myself listening to iHeartRadio a lot. I pick a music style I'm in the mood for and just try different stations until I find something not too objectionable. Sure there are DJs (99% irritating) and some ads but at least I don't need to build a playlist, worry about what's on Spotify and what isn't or make a decision each song about whether to thumb it up or down. It's it or nothing (well... something else). Radio really has a low cognitive cost.