Is Apple planning an iTunes for the cloud?

4 Mar 2011

Apple is reportedly in talks with record companies about giving iTunes customers easier access to music they’ve purchased across multiple devices, backed up in perpetuity in the internet cloud.

The technology giant which brought us the iPod and the iPad, is believed to be in talks with Vivendi, Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI to give users more flexibility in how they buy their music and what they can do with it.

The deal would manifest itself in a permanent backup of music purchases for users if the originals are damaged or lost.

The iTunes cloud opportunity

It would also allow for downloads to iPad, iPod and iPhone accounts linked to the same iTunes account.

In effect, what you buy in the iTunes cloud will forever be backed up in the iTunes cloud.

From a situation a few years ago where the record companies were unyielding about making music available across more than five Apple devices at a time, it seems that record companies are more open to suggestions that would help them thrive in a world where services like Spotify and Pandora are changing the nature and notion of music ownership.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com