ITunes "free" music stations?

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I have a paid subscription to an Internet radio station (played in Flash player). That is, commercial free. I like it, and it's worth paying to be rid of ads.

I just started playing around with iTunes and saw their dizzying array of radio stations. I've sampled a few, with ads. Are any ad free?
 
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Some are, you just have to find them.
 
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chas_m

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The station mix in iTunes represents a wide variety of stations -- some are "regular" radio stations, some are ad-supported Internet-only stations, and some are supported in other ways and are ad-free. As Cradom says, you'll have to find which ones are which yourself, but as a rule of thumb:

1. College-based stations tend to be "ad-free," though they may have underwriting spots or pledge drives.

2. Radio Paradise and Soma-FM are ad-free and supported by listeners.

3. Needless to say, but NPR, CBC and BBC stations are ad-free (the former again using other methods to pay operating costs).
 

chscag

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Why not just go to Live 365 and pick which stations you wish to listen to? You don't need iTunes to do that.
 

Slydude

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Assuming that you can get the url for your favorite station it is relatively easy to add your favorite station to iTunes assuming it isn't already there.

If I remember correctly here is the procedure that I have used in the past:

1. Create a new playlist and name it something like Internet Stations or whatever you like. New stations will go here. It's also a good place to store your favorite stations so you don't have to rummage through the list.

2. Find a station that you don't like and drag it into your playlist. This will be the template for new stations that you add manually. You will now be able to edit the url for that station.

3. Go to your playlist and select the station you are using as a template. Press Command + I to bring up the information form that listing. Go to the summary tab choose Edit URL and past in the url for the station you want to add.
 

chscag

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Because iTunes offers you those stations and many, many, many more.

You're exaggerating. I just looked through the radio list provided in the latest version of iTunes. I compared it to the same list of stations provided by Live 365. I didn't see "many, many, many, more". Or maybe your many's are too many? ;)
 
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chas_m

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I forgot to add that you can now add stations to the list, so mine indeed does have "many many more" (and more importantly different ... and functional ...) than Live365. Basically, anytime you click on a station's "listen now" link, it will add it to iTunes' radio list. No need for a separate playlist anymore unless you want it of course.

A number of the stations included by Apple are already Live365 stations ... with the requisite "ad" for Live365 or a message that too many free listeners are already tuned in ...
 

Slydude

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Basically, anytime you click on a station's "listen now" link, it will add it to iTunes' radio list. No need for a separate playlist anymore unless you want it of course.

Thanks for mentioning that. When I first started doing that the Listen Now link that goes directly to iTunes wasn't as common as it is now.

I still use a separate playlist though. It gives me a quick way to get to favorite stations without wading through the entire list. As I add more favorites I will probably organize the playlist a bit but right now it is OK as sort of a mixed bag of stations all in one list.
 

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