The rumors have been going on for some time now… But it looks like the iTunes subscription rumors are coming up yet again. Yipee!
According to a report over at the Financial Times, Apple is currently in discussions with major music labels about a new model that would give all of us free access to the entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying premiums for iPod and iPhone devices. Really? Hmmm… now that IS intriguing!
Since iPhone already runs on a monthly billing cycle, a subscription option would more than likely be the best option there.
A report from engadget noted that the major holdup is apparently ‘Apple’s hesitation to pay big bucks in order to access the labels’ libraries’…
I sincerely hope this actually happens… Unlimited music downloads for a monthly fee would be incredible. Premium pricing for an iPod and/or iPhone would be ok too, but I would much prefer the subscription service.
What do you think? Discuss this in the forums >
[via engadget]
I think I have no interest whatsoever in paying a monthly subscription, no matter how much music I can listen to. As an iPhone user since day 1, I can state that the “iPod” feature is probably the least used of its major features. So paying monthly for unlimited music that I will only hear occasionally seems to still be a big rip off to me.
Now on the flip, paying a premium fee to purchase an iPod or iPhone to have unlimited music access for the lifetime of the product is a whole different perspective. That I would pay for because it would be a one-time purchase and would never “remind” me of what I’m paying for each time a bill shows up.
That would be a success, but a subscription, in my opinion, is still a losing prospect no matter how much you want to sugar coat it for consumers. Pirates are not idiots.
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you can look at it this way, what would happen, if someone took the membership, and downloaded like mad, and after having all the music they could ever want for a long time, just cancel their membership and if they need it a year later, subscribe again. Unless they have some sort of agreement that binds you for a year. There probably is a lot more than just not wanting to pay out the big bucks. They’re probably trying to figure out the best way to make it work for us and them.
Well some like this way, Buy I think you should consider the another side of the toppic too. Thanks
rhapsody does this and it’s a great servive. $15 a month and you can copy unlimited music over to a portable device. The music expires 30 days after you copy it so you have to sync to the service to renew the music date. It keeps people from loading up on music and cancelling. The only bad thing is it doesn’t support iphones. if itunes did this i would use their service instead. No need to reinvent the wheel, just do the same thing rhapsody does.
I think this is a great idea because i dont like buying gift cards every month and i keep forgeting what songs i wanted and then when i use up all the songs on a gift card, i cant put anymore because theres no money left. My dad wont put his credit card number in because he doesnt want me buying hundreds of songs and he pays 100 dollars or more because of me. So i think you should do a monthly fee for about $12.00 and have unlimited music for the ipod.
Let me pay 10 cents per songs, and let me keep them forever. I think that could be the best thing for everybody.
If recording artists don’t want their songs copied or listened to or shared, they shouldn’t put at out there. It sickens me that they’re hoping to become millionaires overnight for spending a few hours in a recording studio. If you don’t like your music enjoyed everywhere, then go play guitar in a bar somewhere for a 100 bucks a night and shut up about it.
This is my opinion, and I think many people would agree with this. Thanks.
Oh my God I hope they do this! I was actually about to post something on like yahoo answers or something about this. 99 cent a song is incredibly too expensive, and limewire has destroyed every computer I’ve owned. So yeah this would be incredible!
you can download any song in the world for free if you wanted to. i believe that if we are trying to be “lawful” then we should have reasonable prices. 99c a song is far too much. i agree with the monthly subscrption. maybe try adding in some kind of extra’s for being a long time member, or using the 30day then update plan. still my biggest complaint is 99c per song. it adds up easily, and like i said, people could always download it for free.
Freeway to success allow unlimited search and play over 15,149,778 free songs and videos all for the cost of $5.00 a month.
D9 you are needless to say a moron1!!What to dumb to figure out your monthly bills?
Have an yearly fee with setup payment plans through your account. That way you have easy monthly payments and getting all the songs you want while they are protected with the annual yearly fee from people ripping them off. WIN WIN
If there really is a subsription, How can I get it without having to pay a dollar for every song I want?
hey we can use frostwire!!! Fun fun fun! But now on the real a subscription deal would be the ideal situation because for people who do like music a lot, they know there’s way too much out there to be able to afford. The reality of it is that music is so overpriced most people just steel it and trust me it’s spreading like none other. If they made it ten cents it would be a reasonable price and record companies would still make money. Bands that matter aren’t worried about their records selling because the more of their music that gets out there the more people want to see their show, this might encourage a new strive for actual talent on stage, and that would be great. I can be sure of this though if music continues to be overpriced more and more people will frost wire or torrent it. It may even end up like prohibition and authorities will just stop caring and records will be free and concerts will cost more. Just someone that matters please please do something about this shit so little 15 year olds like me that have a huge fetish for music and plays drums doesn’t have to resort to steeling and worry about the risk of phat ass charges you feel me? I kind of felt like the level of formality needed to be lowered because really if your opinion matters so much that you have to act all smart on some website no one knows about, then do me a favor and talk to itunes thanks
hey we can use frostwire!!! Fun fun fun! But now on the real a subscription deal would be the ideal situation because for people who do like music a lot, they know there’s way too much out there to be able to afford. The reality of it is that music is so overpriced most people just steel it and trust me it’s spreading like none other. If they made it ten cents it would be a reasonable price and record companies would still make money. Bands that matter aren’t worried about their records selling because the more of their music that gets out there the more people want to see their show, this might encourage a new strive for actual talent on stage, and that would be great. I can be sure of this though if music continues to be overpriced more and more people will frost wire or torrent it. It may even end up like prohibition and authorities will just stop caring and records will be free and concerts will cost more. Just someone that matters please please do something about this shit so little 15 year olds like me that have a huge fetish for music and plays drums doesn’t have to resort to steeling and worry about the risk of phat ass charges you feel me? I kind of felt like the level of formality needed to be lowered because really if your opinion matters so much that you have to act all smart on some website no one knows about, then do me a favor and talk to itunes thanks
I personally think that thus would be a great idea…I use rhapsody currently for my iPod…
But the new app for rhapsody always crashes and since I have a 8 gb iPod touch it won’t let me multitask like the actual music app. I think that they should do $10 – $15 a month for unlimited music and playing over a couple devices. And, to make sure they aren’t just buying a butt load of music in one month then canceling, they could just check for the subscription everytime they download a song, video, rental, etc..
There Apple, Inc.
Problem solved.