iHeartRadio started out in April 2008 as a simple Internet radio service at the website iheartmusic.com before becoming both a music recommendations system and a radio network that aggregates content from hundreds of local radio stations across the U.S. On Thursday, the company stepped into on-demand streaming with a pair of subscription tiers, launching in beta, that let listeners create playlists from tracks, listen to music offline, play songs in any order, skip tracks and more.
The two new tiers—iHeartRadio Plus and iHeartRadio All Access—give listeners even greater control over the music they love, including such perks as unlimited skips, offline listening, the ability to replay songs from the radio and save the ones you like to your playlist, play any song you like, create custom playlists and more.
iHeartRadio is getting even better.
Unlimited skips, offline listening, play any song w/ our new iHeartRadio Plus & iHeartRadio All Access. pic.twitter.com/0CRBEY2HEQ— iHeartRadio (@iHeartRadio) December 1, 2016
The iHeartRadio Plus subscription is a $4.99 per month value. The higher-tiered All Access plan is priced at $9.99 per month. Here’s precisely what the new tiers provide:
iHeartRadio Plus
- Replay: Gives you the ability to instantly replay songs from the radio and then return to the live radio station in progress.
- Live and custom Artist Radio stations: now equipped with a save button, allowing you to instantly save songs from the radio directly to your My Music playlist for playback any time.
- Search: Search and play any song from a library of millions of tracks.
- Unlimited skips: When listening to custom Artist Radio stations you will no longer have a limit on the number of songs you can skip.
iHeartRadio All Access
- All the benefits of iHeartRadio Plus.
- Build your personal music libraries: Completely create, control and curate playlists from a library of millions of tracks.
- Gives you total flexibility to listen to your music the way you want, when you want: With no playback cap and the ability to reorder, delete and sequence your playlist experience as well as manage unlimited playlists.
- Access offline listening: You can now enjoy offline listening and take your music and playlists with you everywhere you go, even when you don’t have a data connection.
It’s interesting that the All Access tier was realized through partnership with Napster. Both new tiers have begun rolling out in beta for iOS and Android users.
Grab iHeartRadio free from the App Store if you haven’t already, sign up for a free 30-day trial in the app and give the new services a whirl.
The two new services will be fully available on mobile and desktop in January 2017. The free iHeartRadio service, enjoyed by more than 90 million registered users, will remain free for the time being, the company has confirmed.
Source: iHeartMedia