Apple released iTunes 11.1 beta 1 to developers on Monday, a release that includes iTunes Radio for the first time on a Mac. iTunes Radio is a streaming music service that will compete with the likes of Pandora, and to a lesser extent, Spotify.
iTunes Radio was announced in June during Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference. The company said it plans to launch the service this fall, most likely when iOS 7 is released.
iTunes Radio allows users to create stations based around a particular song, artist, or genre. It also comes with preloaded stations including 80s Dance Party, Artists on Tour, Decade of iTunes, Trending on Twitter, Alternative, Best of the iTunes Festival, and our personal favorite, If You Like Justin Timberlake...
The service is ad supported, and Apple is making it possible for users to directly purchase songs they are hearing in iTunes.
Apple has had versions of iTunes Radio in the developer seeds of iOS 7, but the service hasn't been available on a Mac until now. Presumably Apple will include a beta version of iTunes 11.1 for Windows, as well, but this first version is for Mac only, according to download screenshots published by 9to5Mac.
The version included in the iOS 7 betas is part of the Music player, and it has made steady improvements in usability. It looks very similar to the iTunes screenshot below (except for iTunes window interface elements, which currently differ considerably between iOS 7 and OS X.
iTunes 11.1 Beta 1 iTunes Radio Screenshot posted to cl.ly