CNET looked at some of the recent talks between Apple and the record labels recording Apple’s plans for a streaming, radio-like service. According to the report, Apple is working to strike deals with both the Warner and Universal Music groups within the week. Sony would still be one of the major holdouts.
While recent reports have pinned the service’s launch for late 2013, CNET said Apple still wants to have a summer launch take place. The Verge claimed the same just last week. We discovered hard evidence of such a service being in development, suggesting that iRadio is indeed in the works for a launch sometime this year.
CNET’s report said Apple is working on functionality such as quick-button-based access to restart a song and new payment terms for record labels. The report also adds that the Apple service will be more Pandora-like than Rdio, suggesting true, radio-like randomization versus play-on-demand audio content.