Apple iTunes is not going to open its gates to renting music, any time soon, and that is because Steve Jobs announced that there is no real interest in renting music : “People want to own their music”, he said. There seems to be lots of calls from the major music companies trying to convince Apple into renting music online, so they could rack more money from recurring income, but since Jobs said there’s little interest, I don’t think they will give in no matter what money they will see in the contracts.

Also, if we think that Apple is putting pressure on the big recording companies to drop the digital rights management (DRM) copy-protection, I don’t think they are interesting in renting right now. Apple has a deal with Emi Group Plc (3rd largest company in the business) to sell music without copy-protection which puts Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Vivendi’s Universal Music Group in a tough position if they won’t accept the new waves.

“We’ve said by the end of this year, over half of the songs we offer on iTunes we believe will be in DRM-free versions,” Jobs said. Let’s see what will happen next! - ALEX ION

[Source : Yahoo!News]

Filed under Apple, iPod, iTunes