The service, often called “iCloud” or “Music Locker,” will offer users online storage for the music in their iTunes library. Record labels Warner, Sony and EMI have apparently already signed licensing deals with Apple, leaving only Universal to come onboard.
Those licensing deals will let Apple’s service mirror user’s music libraries without requiring customers to upload songs themselves, according to BusinessWeek. Songs in user’s iTunes libraries with audio quality that falls below a certain threshold will be replaced with higher fidelity versions, and music will be accessible from computers, the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
Users with songs that the record labels deem to be pirated will be safe with the online storage service, too, since they’ll be receiving licensing payments from Apple.
Apple’s service will allegedly include a monthly fee of sorts, although it’s unclear what form that will take. There is speculation that the feel could be absorbed into annual MobileMe subscriptions.
Rumors claim Apple could introduce its online music storage service during its annual World Wide Developers Conference in June. The company, however, is maintaining its usual tight-lipped stance on unannounced products, so for now iCloud — or Music Locker — should be treated as a rumor.