iTunes to offer unlimited downloads?

Posted by Flick in Opinions on 03 19th, 2008 | 4 responses |

Apple iTunesThe debate over access versus ownership of music is about to heat up. According to Financial Times, Apple is considering a subscription model where iPhone users would pay $8 per month for a limited number of downloads, or “up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device.” If the negotiations work out, you would be able to pay $100 for your iPod or iPhone and have unlimited downloads as long as you’re using that device.

“Subscriptions would work only for its iPhone devices, where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers through the mobile phone operators offering the device, while the ‘comes with music’ model would work with iPhones and with iPods.” (Financial Times)

This comes on the heels of a “comes with music” deal that Nokia made with Universal Music. Financial Times points out that it appears Apple is feeling the pinch to offer a similar service for their iPhone users.

In order to have access to unlimited music, will the DRM (Digital Rights Management) be the answer to maintaining some control as music flies through the doors? Will music listeners accept limits to what they can do with their music in exchange for unlimited access? These are questions that the access versus ownership debate will stir.

It seems that if the access model takes hold, it won’t be in the Mp3 format. At a time when the music industry was being pushed to ditch the failed DRM, the access model will give DRM a new purpose. The reason being that Mp3 files can’t “expire” like DRM can; if a member cancels their subscription, the service provider would need a way to “expire” the files. Apple has their own DRM format, and Ruckus, who currently offers unlimited access to music, uses Window’s PlaysForSure DRM.

Gerd Leonhard co-authored a book about the concept of access versus ownership of music in The Future of Music (website). He predicted in 2003 that in the future people will pay a monthly fee for access to unlimited music, much like they would pay for water. He furthers this discussion in his book Music 2.0 (website).

4 Comments »

  1. avatar iTunes to offer unlimited downloads?-Download Music Free Says:
    March 19th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    [...] unlimited music downloads wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAccording to Financial Times, Apple is considering a subscription model where iPhone users would pay $8 per month for a limited number of downloads, or “up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device. … [...]

  2. avatar Gerd Leonhard Says:
    March 19th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    thanks for the mention here. Funny that… it just took longer. Check out my new book “Music2.0″ at http://www.music20book.com - lots of stuff on this subject (available as radiohead-like ‘free’ pdf, too)

  3. avatar Ignace / @micronauta Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 1:28 am

    To me it seems unlikely. For such a service to be sustainable, it would have to use DRM and Steve Jobs has so firmly said no more DRM (in spite of the fact that iTunes’ DRM is what built his music business empire), that it just wouldn’t make sense.

    Personally, I wouldn’t pay for a service that offers limited unlimited, if you know what I mean. We need to remember here that any music business idea now has to compete with free.

  4. avatar Anonymous Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 4:38 am

    Your comment box is fun to type in.. I like the fonts.

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