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Apple’s Cloud-Based Music Service Ready to Roll

Maura

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A great post today on All Things Digital’s MediaMemo blog by Peter Kafka, which has a thorough overview of all the latest details to emerge about Apple’s cloud-based music locker, which according to various reports on the web today is about to go live. According to Kafka’s sources, Apple has already sealed licensing deals with at least two of the four major record companies (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony and EMI) in the past two months. His source also tells him that Apple’s Eddy Cue will be in New York today to try and seal the remaining deals with the other companies.

A report on Reuters today, which also covers the story, says that Apple’s cloud-based online music storage system is completed and ready to go, and will launch before Google manages to launch its similar service, which has also been in the works for some time. Kafka notes that although Amazon launched its Cloud Drive online-music locker service earlier in the month, getting a head-start on both Apple and Google, some of the record companies are currently threatening to sue Amazon as it has not yet secured licenses with any of the Big Four. Amazon, according to Reuters, insists that Cloud Locker does not need extra licenses, as the uploaded music is already owned by the user.

MediaMemo’s Kafka says that his sources have told him that Apple's music locker will provide users with space to store songs that they have bought on iTunes, as well as music that is stored on their hard drive, so that they can then play the music on multiple devices. According to Kafka, the deals that Apple is currently working out with the major labels would give Apple permission to store a master copy of a song on its servers, which could then be accessed by multiple users. Kafka has no information as yet as to whether or not Apple will be making this a subscription service or if it will be free to use.

Source: Apple Signing Deals For Cloud-Based Music Service | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD, Reuters
 
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