iTunes Subscription Service

Last month we got a little stick for talking up the benefits of the new Napster subscription service. John commented, "If people want to listen to hit songs for a short time or oldies for a class reunion they can do it for free. It’s called radio!"

So it was nice to learn that even Apple think that subscription’s the way forward! Rumors at Apple Insider suggest that Apple has been quietly preparing a subscription-based model for its iTunes music store:

"Insiders expect the company to introduce the service later this year in an effort to compete with similar services from Real Networks and Napster, which offer subscribers access to an unlimited number of music downloads for a small monthly fee. The subscription service would coexist alongside Apple’s already successful 99 cents per song model, sources said."

They point to the recent hiring of Julia Miller from Microsoft’s X-Box team as a key indicator of this possible move.

Apple Insider Article