An Apple employee tells us they switched off its new Beats 1 radio station after hearing just two tracks
The launch of Beats 1, the radio station presented by former BBC Radio 1 presenter Zane Lowe, didn't go to plan.
Beats 1 started broadcasting by playing over 30 minutes of Lowe talking to his sound engineer. It's not clear whether he realised he was online or not:
Then, when the station finally launched for real, it was plagued by streaming glitches. And it finished the day with over 30 minutes of downtime. That's not good for a radio station with the tagline "Worldwide. Always on."
We asked an Apple employee who works in Apple's music department what they thought of the launch. Unsurprisingly, they were positive, telling us that the selection of music on the radio station was good. But they also told us something surprising: They stopped listening to Beats 1 today after hearing just two tracks.
The Apple employee also told us their thoughts on the Apple Music streaming service. They echoed what many early reviewers felt: It's complicated. The app has lots of different features and menus, and that can be overwhelming when users first install it. Even Walt Mossberg, a veteran Apple reviewer, said that he found the app "complicated" and "confusing."