iPhone could see Apple launch subscription music service
Though Apple has rejected the idea of a subscription-based music service in the past, recent comments from Les Ottolenghi, the CEO of Intent MediaWorks, who distribute content via P2P networks, suggest that Apple could be toying with the idea.
A subscription-based iTunes, whereby users effectively rent music to play on their PCs and portable players for as long as their subscription remains active, would require some kind of hardware such as a secure hardware clock, to ensure that tracks were only available for as long as a user's subscription was active.
Wired reports:
Unless Apple has been secretly embedding similar clocks in iPods in anticipation of a subscription, or has developed some other tamper-proof solution, Jobs won't be able to offer music subscriptions to users of existing iPods without facing resistance from the record labels, who are understandably cautious about letting people download upwards of 2 million tracks for $15 bucks without a bulletproof mechanism for expiring these tracks when the subscription is terminated.Of course, Apple does have a new music player on the horizon: the iPhone. Since the iPhone can connect to Apple servers over Cingular's wireless network, it's possible that Apple could enable music subscriptions on the iPhone without needing to incorporate a hardware clock into the device.
Any iTunes service would almost certainly continue to be restricted to Apple devices. Would such a move make the iPhone more attractive to consumers?
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