According to Reuters, Apple is ready to roll out a new cloud-based music storage service for iTunes users and plans to beat rival Google to the punch in the process. The article claims that Apple’s reason for the tardy launch of their cloud service is due to last minute discussions with major labels.
According to Reuters own sources, Apple is yet to sign any deals with the five major record labels to facilitate such music distribution, although it is likely Apple will be hanging its hopes on securing post-launch licenses. It is also said that Apple has not yet informed insiders within the music industry of the service’s launch date.
Apple Inc has completed work on an online music storage service and is set to launch it ahead of Google Inc, whose own music efforts have stalled, according to several people familiar with both companies’ plans. Apple’s plans will allow iTunes customers to store their songs on a remote server, and then access them from wherever they have an Internet connection, said two of these people who asked not to be named as the talks are still confidential.
Amazon has already received complaints from music companies that their cloud-based service was violating licensing agreements. Amazon argued that the music users uploaded was already purchased by them, and this would just just give them a wider range of access.
Bloomberg however denies the claims that Apple is working on a cloud-based music service and instead says that it has heard the company may be looking into unlimited audio content downloads, facilitating the free re-downloading of audio content previously purchased from the iTunes Music Store.
[ttjad keyword=”general”]
