Rumor: Revamped MobileMe Music Locker Coming Soon For $20

Posted on March 25, 2011 by AppleBitch


A rumor concerning a revamped MobileMe, expected to be launched in April, is suggesting that the new system will include a ‘music locker’ for users and that the price tag for the new service will be somewhere around $20 per year.  The report comes from music blogging site The Music Void (via 9to5Mac) and suggests that Apple has already secured deals with Warner Music and is using it as a bargaining point for other labels to join in the agreement.

The new system could potentially offer two key features which, when combined, would offer users complete access to their music on-the-go.  The first, as mentioned above, would be the digital music locker, where users would be able to store all of their music as a backup versus the current iTunes protocol of only allowing downloads once.  This would bring the music that is available on iTunes more into line with app purchase policies i.e. download as many times as you want.

The cloud based music locker could also act as a central source to allow on-demand downloading of tracks wherever the user was, simply by accessing MobileMe (just as an aside, it would be interesting if a new 10th anniversary iPod Classic had wireless access to allow integration with MobileMe and on demand downloads).  It is not clear, however, if Apple would allow storage of non-iTunes purchases in the locker or if the company would simply use a consumers purchase history to determine eligibility for repeated downloads and on-demand access.

Unfortunately, there is no way of assessing the veracity of the rumor other than waiting until the new MobileMe is announced, which is expected sometime in April.  Certainly, it has long been thought that Apple is working on some type of cloud based music service and this ties in well with a new MobileMe service.  The $20 price is a new detail that had not been previously mentioned as rumors of a free service have been fairly prevalent most recently.

Paying $20 for the privelege of storing music online seems fairly reasonable but it would rather cool if this was the fee per year for the entire MobileMe service. Apple’s current $99 price tag is now obsolete given the many free cloud-services offered by other companies such as Google and DropBox. But $20 is around the price point that many people could get on board with.

It’s Surely Not Free…

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  • Jason

    I really hope an update is announced soon…. and wondering if they’ll extend expiring accounts pending an update. Mine expires Apr 1st (yes April Fool’s day!) …. on the fence about renewing a service that is rumoured to be changing so much… BUT at the same time, not sure I’m ready to move email accounts! Hmm.. what to do?!

  • Prof. Peabody

    I’m not sure it really makes any sense to complain about MobilMe prices. It’s only $8.00 or so a month and most people spend more on that per day for coffee. Also, your phone is probably costing you close to MobilMe’s yearly price for just a month’s service and if your credit card can’t handle a hundred dollar purchase once a year, what the heck are you doing using computers in the first place?

    I understand the desire for cheaper service and it is overpriced currently realtive to the market, but I find most of the handwringing about how expensive it is to be hyperbole.

  • Dick Bacon

    This is my new favorite apple news site.

    I’m a big fan of MobileMe, although I hate the name. It’s pretty much perfect for my needs. Of course, it could be cheaper.

    • http://www.applebitch.com AppleBitch

      Cheers Dick – we’ll try and keep our articles tip-top-tastic just for you – and unlike MobileMe, we are free :)

      • Prof. Peabody

        Free with adverts though. ;) not actually free

        However I too love this site. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to some of the others.

        • http://www.applebitch.com AppleBitch

          Got to buy new shoes :)

          Thank you for the compliment.

  • shelltops

    you should consider using a spellchecker before posting, or just change “priveledge” to where it needs to be

    • http://www.applebitch.com AppleBitch

      Haha – thanks for spotting. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

      I do like to think of my occasional mis-spellings as the prosal version of ‘Hunt the Sausage’

  • C Los – NYC

    I think it would be worthwhile if one could access this said media from an Apple TV device as well. Then you would not have to stream it from a device merely from a cloud service.

  • Jason

    This isn’t a good rumor in my opinion. Not in terms of whether it’s accurate, but in that if it is, it’s kind of a ripoff. The AppStore’s purchase once, always have access model is really the best model to use and I’ve been hoping since January that iTunes would be following suit. You figure with that type of guarantee, CDs and DVDs would actually become obsolete. And it would put an end to the neurotic multiple hard-drive back-ups I do every month.

    I guess my other concern is what happened to the rumors of the free MobileMe coming this summer? As it is now, it’s so expensive that I can’t use it as a primary email account because there is no way of knowing from year to year if I’ll be able to extend it.

    • http://www.applebitch.com AppleBitch

      You are probably voicing many of the concerns that MobileMe customers are currently having.

  • http://www.ohsnaphappy.com Byron D

    I would love to see Apple kill Rhapsody, Napster, Mog, etc with a monthly subscription service! I’m a Rhapsody subscriber now and it irks me that their music play on Mac is flash-based, it stops playing all the time right in the middle of songs. But I never hear anything about Apple going in this direction :(

  • Ellie

    I think it should be free, but when is anything from Apple free? LOL

    i love reading this site. Your articles are always interesting and well written.

    • http://www.applebitch.com AppleBitch

      Thanks Ellie. Free would be great!

    • motionblurred

      I don’t think it would be free just because every time you stream it’s cost money. As it is, Apple breaks even on the iTunes Store.

      I wonder why they don’t go with a low-cost subscription service that would discourage piracy. As it is, there would be very few people who could not fit their iTunes purchased music on their iDevices. In my case, as I’m sure with others, it’s pretty useless. Most of my music was purchased and ripped from CDs. I seriously doubt they would let me stream those purchases.