Apple’s Eddy Cue announced iTunes Radio on stage at WWDC 2013, putting end to numerous reports speculating the company was set to launch a streaming music service. iTunes Radio is only available in the US, most likely due to licensing issues, but the service is available in iOS 7 beta.
But what if you’re an American that wants to use iTunes Radio in Canada or outside of the USA? Or a Canadian that wants to try out the service here? All you have to do is sign into your US iTunes Account within the App Store and re-launch the Music app. iTunes Radio will appear and work without any problems as the service is not geo-restricted (via 9to5Mac).
The service launches with a short iAd, but if your US account is subscribed to iTunes Match you won’t see it. Song skipping is limited to 6-7 and stations are plentiful with a wide variety of genres and artists. We have long covered how to setup a US iTunes account in Canada (here, here and here with Vanilla MasterCard), so for those registered iOS 7 developers with accounts it’s up to you if you are going to try this out.
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Is there not limits on how often you can change your store within itunes or the account that you use?
Nope
I thought you could only associate a device with an Apple ID every 90 days and still have access to your previously purchased items. I could successfully go into my Apple ID and change my store from Canada to the USA and back to Canada but I wasn’t sure if that was going to mess things up either. I have purchased a lot of stuff on my Canadian account and would still use that as my regular store.
You can buy stuff or download for free from the US store without “transferring” your device to this ID. It’s only when you try to redownload either music, a film or a tv show that it asks you if you want to transfer. If you say no, you cannot re-download them.
Apps are fine though for some reason.
I have my laptop and iphone on my canadian account and switch my ipad between my US and UK accounts as needed. Bit of a pain but nice to have access none the less.
Nope. I have an American/British/Canadian/Saudi itunes account. I switch constantly.
Just tried it, working nicely; But the drawback of having to go back and forth between my US and Canadian account is pretty painful… I think I’ll stick with the Pandora/Onavo combo for now
Yeah Onavo works well for that.
i take it you need an american credit card in order for it to work?
No, you can sign up for an american itunes account without having that.
Really? How? I made a new Apple ID and it wouldn’t let me sign in to the App Store unless I put a credit card
check one of our links in the article as they explain how to do it without a credit card.
Is there any indication that they might start using geo-tags? I wish they didn’t, but iAd’s are constantly using your location. It will show them based on a combination of the iOS device’s current location and the iTunes Store account’s location.
Thanks for this, it works great. One question, does anyone know how to reset the skipping function? Or how long it takes to reset? Just curious as I was playing around and now it won’t let me skip at all.
Erm – “in Canada OR outside of the USA.” In Canada is outside of the USA, last time I looked.
What about Mexico?
They won’t geoblock it. It would mean that all the Americans won’t be able to use it while travelling. Itunes US is perfectly usable in Canada and always has been.
That’s not really the question. What we want to know is, do we have to remain logged into the US iTunes account, or can we switch back to the Canadian account once we have iTunes Radio enabled?
No, unfortunately you have to stay logged in to the US account while you want to use the itunes radio. Its a bit of a pain.
Once you sign into your US iTunes account and enable iTunes Radio, can you then switch back to your non US iTunes account and have it still work? Or will the feature disappear?
It is stupid that Cancon gets their fingers into this pie. I hate our Canadian government because of this. Don’t even get me started on the Super Bowl ads debate!!
This has absolutely nothing to do with Cancon regs or the Canadian Government. Different companies in Canada license the digital distribution rights to music: they are the ones who are not negotiating with Apple. Blame the private sector, not the public.
I disagree, the Canadian government regulates the private sector very intensely and it is even more so with international businesses. Netflix USA content differs greatly vs Netflix Canada. CanCon stipulates that media distribution must contain 33% Canadian shows or artists. So yes trust me CanCon is involved. Again dont get me started on the superbowl!! Seriously I can only take so many Canadian tire ads!! hehe
CanCon currently does not have any influence or control over Netflix. They’re trying to though.
Sorry but all the music companies are sticking it to Canada, Keep on Torrenting people
It worked well for the first day and I loved it… but yesterday the Radio Tab was not there… and I was logged in my US account… Tried to log out and in again … still no Radio Tab. Seems I can’t get it back, any suggestion?
I tried to sign in with my apple id and it told me i had to add a credit card. I dont want to make a new apple id so what should i do?
Apple this is bullshit, when I bought my iphone 5 I was under the impression that I could use a non third party streaming service without jumping through hoops. The demo model had the iTunes Radio selection in store.
False advertising