Apple Developing Music Subscription Service

Apple is preparing to enter the subscription digital music fray with a new online service designed for Mac and iPod owners, according to a report this week in The Los Angeles Times.

Sources say Apple has already signed deals with major record companies for access to their libraries, although nothing official has been announced.

Apple will likely issue a long-awaited new version of iTunes to support the service, which will make use of AAC copy-protected files. AAC is the MPEG-4 audio format used by Apple in QuickTime 6.

AOL recently announced the launch of MuiscNet on AOL, a Windows-only service for AOL members. Pressplay and Listen.com's Rhapsody service are also not compatible with Mac OS X.

Apple refused to comment on the service and pricing details are currently unknown.