After 10 Billion Songs, What’s iTunes’ Encore? (PC World)

Apple's iTunes Store reached a field mark this hebdomad when it delivered its 10 billionth song, an circumstance that highlights the enthusiastic success of Cupertino's digital-download service.

But as flourishing as the iTunes Store has been in its nearly heptad eld of existence, a newborn program of challenges module order it to develop to meet competitive. These allow a ontogeny sort of online movie-streaming competitors, a doable migration by consumers to Web-based penalization services, and a newborn pasture of element devices (e.g., the iPad and kindred tablets) that modify the mart for digital content. Combine these factors with band speeds that should uprise significantly in the reaching years, and there's a beatific quantity that iTunes circa 2020 haw be rattling assorted from today's service.

What changes are in accumulation for iTunes? A some near-term possibilities:

Web-based iTunes: When Apple bought online penalization assist Lala terminal year, playing watchers acknowledged Cupertino would combine Lala with a Web-based edition of iTunes. It relic to be seen what plans Apple has in accumulation for its newborn purchase, but a cloud-based assist that stores customers' penalization on Web servers kinda than on a restricted sort of element devices makes sense, specially for users with multiple, Web-connected takeout devices.

Subscription services: The epoch of the 99-cent (or thereabouts) strain download haw not be over, but are its life numbered? Music-streaming services such as Pandora and Rhapsody are favourite among iPhone and iPod contact users, and trusty a moving choice would be recognize by iTunes fans. There's also speech of an iTunes TV subscription assist for most $30 per month.

Cheaper TV shows and movies: According past rumors, Apple haw revilement the outlay of iTunes TV exhibit downloads to $1, a advise that could coexist with the iPad's promulgation in April. Apple currently charges $1.99 for standard-definition TV shows, and $2.99 for high-def. As with the questionable iTunes TV subscription service, it's blurred whether tone studios would concord to these aggressively priced proposals.

AppleTV: This nifty lowercase media contestant for the experience shack hasn't gotten such (if any) marketing fuck from the folks in Cupertino. Perhaps Apple isn't quite trusty how to mart the box, which manus tightly into the iTunes Store and downloads movies, TV shows, music, and more. Now haw be a beatific instance to trumpet AppleTV's virtues, however. A sort of well-funded competitors, including Netflix, Amazon, and Wal-Mart, the latter of which meet declared plans to acquire video-streaming assist VUDU, are making a endeavor for the online flick business.

Contact Jeff filmmaker via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.