iPod Could iPod & iPhone support date expiring DRM?

[isjamp]

Hello,
I have been pondering the music subscription model and the fact that Apple does not offer one.

Is it simply because they do not wish to, or are there also technical reasons that make it impossible or hard to implement within the iTunes-iPod-iPhone structure?

It is clear that for a music subscription service to work one must enable the tracks to actually expire on the MP3 player if the customer does not pay the monthly fee. Therefore the device itself must somehow be able to keep track of time in a protected manner.

As far as I can tell none of the iPod models nor the iPhone have a protected clock device... Does anyone know differently?

Could Apple retrofit iPods to have such a capability should they wish to down the road?

Any thoughts?

 

[gnasher729]

Hello,
I have been pondering the music subscription model and the fact that Apple does not offer one.

Is it simply because they do not wish to, or are there also technical reasons that make it impossible or hard to implement within the iTunes-iPod-iPhone structure?

So far, all music subscription services have been losing money. That's not what Apple wants to do.

 

[isjamp]

Yes, so far they have not been very successful...Not that the iTunes store is selling much either...when the number of purchased tracks is compared to the number of iPods out there.

The question I have, though, still remains: does anyone know if a date stamp or protected time tracking capability could be fitted in the iPod and/or iPhone or is it impossible to do?

And is that capability something done more by software or hardware?