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Report: Apple asking labels for unlimited music downloads

If an agreement is reached, Bloomberg reports, people would have access to purchased music from all devices associated with their iTunes account.

Jim Dalrymple Special to CNET News
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop.
Jim Dalrymple
iTunes everywhere? Apple

Apple is reportedly in talks with music labels to give its customers unlimited downloads of music they've purchased.

Citing "people with knowledge of the plans," Bloomberg reported today that if an agreement is reached, people would have access to purchased music from all of the devices associated with their iTunes account. If the deal goes through, customers would basically be given access to an online backup of the music purchased through their iTunes membership.

Companies reportedly in talks with Apple include Universal Music, Sony, Warner Music, and EMI.

The report from Bloomberg echoes earlier ones that Apple would allow people to store more of their content online, transforming MobileMe into more of a storage locker and making people's content more accessible.

Bloomberg speculates that the move by Apple and the music labels would also be a way to offset the growing popularity of online services like Pandora.

Music isn't the only media Apple wants to put in the cloud. Last year, sources in the film industry told CNET that Apple executives discussed building a cloud service for content, including video.