Apple Working on Unlimited Downloads for iPhone and iPod?
Despite the initial coverage blitz, we really haven’t heard much of Nokia’s creatively-named ‘Comes with Music’ initiative lately. Despite a lack of interest in Nokia’s offering to this point and a company history of unlimited service opposition, Apple is reportedly considering a fee-based service that would grant subscribers unlimited access to the iTunes music store. Initially reported by the Financial Times (who oddly dubbed the concept a "radical new business model") as a result of alleged tips from senior Apple personnel, the potential offering is said to be in development and would apply to iPhone and iPod owners. Nokia’s service is structured in such a way that a handset can be purchased at an elevated cost and the difference is applied to fees paid to content owners (Universal in this case). This inflated margin accommodates one year of unlimited downloads, after which the service can either be renewed at a fee or dumped. Apple is supposedly in talks with labels with regards to a similar offering but may be having trouble achieving the desired pricing structure. Referenced studies indicate that customers on average are willing between $7 and $8 per month for an unlimited download service; a hell of a price point when all things are considered. What would you pay for unlimited iTunes downloads?
$7 to $8 for unlimited downloads on iTunes?
I tell ya, I am not the biggest iTunes fan, but for that kind of price, I’ll be all over that!
Though we all know the files will be DRM protected, I certainly hope that there will be no time restrictions on them. Now that would not be worth it.
@ Cesar, a time restriction wouldn’t be so bad because its unlimited. Let’s say if it is set up like the apple movie rental service and then erases itself after X many days, just download it again because you have already paid for unlimited service. A pain in the rear, but that’s just my opinion of a view around it.
If the downloads would expire, then I’m not interested regardless of price. Even with DRM protection, I would pay around $20/month for unlimited iTunes downloads.
I’m with Matheis, no time limit on the files and unlimited downloads would easily be worth $20 to $25 a month. I spend that much or more now just getting two or three albums a month.
Limewire dude…. unlimited all the time!!
id be willing to pay up to 500 bucks flat rate for unlimited downloads for a year and i can keep the files as long as i want, i buy anywhere from 25 to 50 CDs a year so it would be worth it
500 a year? for 25 cds? at ten bucks a pop?
you would pay double your old cost for unlimited? I thought the point of getting an unlimited deal is to save money.
I would pay 100 a year.
$7 TO $10. It’s about what I pay.
It depends on whether you mean “unlimited downloads” or “subscription service” which are two very different things. I’d pay up to about 20 bucks a month for an all-I-can-eat download plan if the downloads were indistinguishable from what I get from the iTMS now. I’m not interested in a subscription service at any price.
Unlimited downloads that have no time expiration make no sense. I could sign up for one month, go on a few marathon download sessions, and thereby own hundreds of CDs for $7. How can any business support that? Don’t get your hopes up.
Instead, it’s probably some type of “rental” or subscription model for that price.
Welcome to some wild speculation, I see. Has anyone, anywhere, approached music consumers with anything like a plan as progressive as all-you-can-eat no strings attached iTMS? Come on, use your heads. Why on earth would Apple do this? It would be a money-losing proposition relative to the business model they have in place now. This is most likely a rental service, or some kind of unlimited streaming wifi radio. Apple has a hard enough time keeping the majors happy as it is– EMI needed to RAISE prices for the less-DRM’d versions, but suddenly Apple is just going to talk all the majors into a new, less profitable business model?
Hello, shenanigans?
It will probably work like the zune pass… just buy the effin music people…
If this turn out to be true, I hope they dont limit it to just music. But also include music video and even movies.
The music industry is the one losing money now. They need to do anything they can to increase the amount of money flowing to them. Basically the music industry needs to cash in on the popularity of the ipod, and pull people away from file sharing sites like limewire.