Say goodbye to iTunes Radio - Apple's folding it into its $10 music streaming service

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Zane Lowe Beats 1

Beats 1

Zane Lowe, a Beats 1 DJ

Apple's clearing the way for its new-ish Beats 1 radio station by making its older free streaming option, iTunes Radio, part of its $10 Apple Music membership.

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"We are making Beats 1 the premier free broadcast from Apple and phasing out the ad-supported stations at the end of January," Apple originally told BuzzFeed.

BuzzFeed reports that this decision is tied to Apple's decision to shut down its iAds advertising business, which sold advertising in different iOS apps.

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iTunes Radio - which let listeners choose a genre but gave them little other control over what they listened to - will merge with Apple Music on January 29.

An Apple Music subscription already lets listeners choose radio stations by genre, with the membership fee allowing for unlimited song skips and no ads.

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Also some users may mourn the loss of iTunes Radio, it means one less competitor to Pandora, which also offers free ad-supported radio stations, sorted by genre, with limited song skips. The Beats 1 station, on the other hand, is curated by real DJs.

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