Apple to Launch Subscription iTunes?

[MacRumors]

CNN Money's Media Biz blog reports that they have heard that Apple may be interested in joining the subscription service model for their popular iTunes store.

According to the blog, Les Ottolenghi, CEO of INTENT MediaWorks, has had meetings with Apple and believes that they will be launching a subscription service for iTunes in the next six months:

"I think Apple is seriously considering a subscription offering right now even though they will probably tell you otherwise"

INTENT MediaWorks is described as "a digital distribution system that works with peer-to-peer networks".

Apple's official stance has always been against the subscription model for music sales, but with the introduction of movies, TV shows and the Apple TV, they may be revisiting this idea.

[Small White Car]

For music? Yuck. I'll pass and I'm sure Apple will too. It hasn't been successful yet as a business.

For movies? Yeah, I'd pay for that. No question. It would compete with Netflix and Blockbuster. Clearly lots of people DO want to rent movies even though they don't want to rent music.

[oilster]

i seriously doubt that

[Voidness]

But such a subscription service wouldn't work without DRM. Isn't Apple's future strategy is to try to move away from DRM?

[slffl]

Bring it on! I'm willing to pay at least $100/month for a all-inclusive subscription.

[iEric]

even though i highly doubt, i would actually subscribe!
the songs must be burnable though cause i want CDs in my car!

[thegoldenmackid]

ummm... pricing estimates?

[belovedmonster]

I dont see what Apple stand to lose by introducing choice into the equation. People can either opt to pay a monthly fee or buy individual items. Simple. Even my Granny can understand that.

[odedia]

Originally Posted by Voidness

But such a subscription service wouldn't work without DRM. Isn't Apple's future strategy is to try to move away from DRM?

Not for movies.

Steve made it very clear during the announcement of the DRM free music. He said "Music was always DRM-Free (CDs). Movies always had DRM (VHS with macrovision, DVD's, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray)"

[PlaceofDis]

i don't think this is for music, but more for movies, where there already is a huge base of people who basically use subscriptions. and i would certainly download and pay for it on a subscription basis. also, DRM issue wouldn't matter since that only applies to music for now.

[xUKHCx]

Originally Posted by iEric

even though i highly doubt, i would actually subscribe!
the songs must be burnable though cause i want CDs in my car!

They wouldn't be burnable because you could just a CD and put in a normal CD player forever, negating the subscription DRM.

I don't think they will do it.

[Kingsly]

As others have said, I'd definitely use it for movies. I simply can't justify paying $9.00 for a movie download. A subscription, on the other hand, would be ideal!

As for music? I want to own it!

[grockk]

a subscription like emusic would be ok. 40 downloads for 10 bucks per month.

[calculus]

It depends what you mean by 'subscription'. If it's the same model as emusic - where you pay a monthly fee for a certain number of downloads that you can keep - I might be interested. If it's a rental model then I'm not.

[jwa276]

I sincerely hope this is for movies. I would really consider paying a subscription to see movies on the iTunes store once new releases are closer in quantity to that of NetFlix & Blockbuster.

It could really work, and it would also probably help control the pirating of movies if it was a competetive price. I mean, think of how many people use the iTunes store and how easy it is. With NetFlix & Blockbuster, you have to go through all this mumbo jumbo to deal with a subscription. With iTunes, it's as easy as sign up here and get your movies On-Demand, whenever you want them! No mailing, postage, waiting, blah blah blah.

This could be really cool!

[grpaul349]

I would definitely be interested if the price was right. I still think the 99 cents for a song is too high, especially when I can buy a physical CD and rip an album for about the same price as purchasing it on itunes.

I would love Apple to come up with a music only and then a music/movie monthly subscription. I think if they came up with a reasonably priced hybrid it would go over well.

[Mac Fly (film)]

If this rumor is true I think personally it will be for TV Shows. iTunes iPTV FTW!

[MarcelV]

Steve has said several time, people want to buy music. And want to rent movies. I can see a dual use in iTunes Store for movies. Build a 'Netflix' model as subscription, and buy as DVD replacement. I can see using both. Watch the movies, and for the ones I want to collect, buy them. That combined with the AppleTV, and iPod, very well built eco-system.

By the way, when downloading music from iTunes, I am currently getting around 500k per second. For podcasts between 300 and 450k per second. But for movies, it's around 900k till 1.1MB per second. I have a 10Mbps connection, but it looks like Apple has done a capacity split between music and movies. Wondering if anyone sees a similar difference. Also, downloading movies is now pretty fast, and my last download, this weekend formovies was around 17 minutes. So, even if they would go HD, and my feeling says NAB is involved, it would be very realistic for download times.

[johnee]

Originally Posted by slffl

Bring it on! I'm willing to pay at least $100/month for a all-inclusive subscription.

that's a bit excessive for me....

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by Voidness

But such a subscription service wouldn't work without DRM. Isn't Apple's future strategy is to try to move away from DRM?

What does DRM matter for rental files you don't even keep?

Nothing Apple says about DRM for purchasing is useful in determining what they can or can't do with subscriptions.

I wouldn't be into monthly subscriptions, but I DO want individual rentals. Not for music (though I don't mind them offering harmless option for other people) but for movies and TV.

We're really talking THREE models:

* Purchase

* Rental

* Subscription (which Netflix has and I'd prefer them to offer rentals--same would go for iTunes)

[ariza910]

Originally Posted by belovedmonster

I dont see what Apple stand to lose by introducing choice into the equation. People can either opt to pay a monthly fee or buy individual items. Simple. Even my Granny can understand that.

With the current iTunes scheme if you decided to sell/break your iPod you are more likely to buy another iPod because of all the DRM music you have purchased from iTunes.

With a subscription service you loose the 'lock-in' factor, as soon as someone stops their subscription they loose all their music and they are free to move on to the next service and mp3 player.

From a business point of view I dont know why Apple would want DRM free music or a subscription service - since you loose that 'lock-in' factor that keeps people buying new iPods.

[Max Payne]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

For music? Yuck. I'll pass and I'm sure Apple will too. It hasn't been successful yet as a business.

For movies? Yeah, I'd pay for that. No question. It would compete with Netflix and Blockbuster. Clearly lots of people DO want to rent movies even though they don't want to rent music.

I agree. It's NO No for music, but slightly acceptable for movies.

[vincebio]

this is defo how apple gets all the big studios side by side on this...

they do the subscription for new movies..kind of like your current rent a dvd system from home..

they will not touch audio for this service, i seriously doubt that jobs would tamper with a successful business model for a so far unproven one.

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by ariza910

From a business point of view I dont know why Apple would want DRM free music or a subscription service - since you loose that 'lock-in' factor that keeps people buying new iPods.

That lock-in may be more myth than reality: by some industry estimates, iTunes DRM music makes up less than 5% of what people have on their iPods. Most of it's already DRM free because most people still buy music on CDs--not to mention their accumulated CD library they already owned.

"Locking people in" is not actually what drives iPod sales.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...les_ipods.html

[rockthecasbah]

I would not be interested in subscription service at the least, but if it was a separate choice of service in addition to the current 1 time by platform then i guess it wouldn't harm anything. It would be better as a VIDEO service to be subscription like instead of the season pass thing i guess, but still i like OWNING what i pay for.