AfterDawn: News

iTunes subscription service finally coming?

According to new reports, Apple is set to introduce a new unlimited music subscription service through iTunes dubbed iTunes Unlimited.

The service would begin in October and would begin with half of iTunes current catalog available at a flat rate.



According to MacDailyNews, the service would work like so:

- 256 Kbps music; highest quality digital music subscription service ever
- 50% of U.S. store available for iTunes Unlimited at launch, U.S.-only launch
- Available through iTunes or retail box a la MobileMe, funds applied through iTunes gift cards cannot be used towards subscription purchase
- $129.99 stand-alone or $179.99 with MobileMe, current MobileMe subscribers can add iTunes Unlimited for $99.99
- One-year subscription period
- Current a la carte options unchanged
- When signed in to subscription account, “Buy” is “Get”
- “Download and Play throughout iTunes Unlimited Subscription” or “Buy and Keep”
- “Buy and Keep” option available for downloaded subscription songs, purchased version replaces subscription version
- Late October launch with iTunes 7.8

We will keep you updated.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 21 Aug 2008 16:13

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• 10 comments

• lxfactor

  ill do it =D
  unlimited music for a year for that price sounds fair
  how does burning go? prob wouldnt be able to burn anything*

  21.8.2008 16:25 #1

• DarkJello

  ...probably not...

  21.8.2008 16:51 #2

• CF01

  if you cant burn cds with it why is it worth paying for i would rather go buy the album but i do like the idea of this it is a good concept

  21.8.2008 18:09 #3

• CNDLG

  Half the catalog? better get more than that and soon! or you'll keep finding your fav song is not available except to buy.... nice one apple!

  21.8.2008 20:23 #4

• drach

  Hopefully the files will be mp3s, but for some reason, i doubt that very much.

  21.8.2008 23:42 #5

• SProdigy

  Originally posted by CNDLG: Half the catalog? better get more than that and soon! or you'll keep finding your fav song is not available except to buy.... nice one apple!Not much unlike the other services out there, such as Rhapsody.
  
  Originally posted by drach: Hopefully the files will be mp3s, but for some reason, i doubt that very much.Why? MP3's aren't nearly as good as AAC files, and at the advertised bitrate, AAC will not only sound better, but take up less disk space.
  
  This may be exciting news. Hopefully they offer a trial. It may be my answer to getting Napster to work with my iPod!

  22.8.2008 08:22 #6

• hermes_vb

  Originally posted by drach: Hopefully the files will be mp3s, but for some reason, i doubt that very much.MP3 can't be the format used by a suscription service because MP3, AFAIK, doesn't have DRM capability.

  22.8.2008 10:05 #7

• saint101

  pretty good deal, unlimited downloads for a year i like i guess people with like 500GB of downloads a month could download like nearly the whole catalogue in a year lol
  
  bad thing is i dont have a credit card and its not going to take gift cards :(

  22.8.2008 10:54 #8

• david94

  Originally posted by saint101: pretty good deal, unlimited downloads for a year i like i guess people with like 500GB of downloads a month could download like nearly the whole catalogue in a year lol
  
  bad thing is i dont have a credit card and its not going to take gift cards :(
  ye u should use someone elses credit card :)

  23.8.2008 03:49 #9

• janmv

  I like the idea of a subscription service, I'm sure I will download a lot more music than I do now. However having read other articles on the matter, the subscription service doesn't seem as straight forward as it is made out to be in this piece. If you found this article interesting you will want to read what The Music Void's Jakomi Mathews has to say about itunes entering the music subscription market.
  http://bit.ly/cE4RDe

  4.5.2010 06:48 #10