People are really looking forward to what Apple has in store for cloud based music playing after the Lala acquisition, but it’s the music labels who’re holding Apple back from pursuing such killer features. Apple hasn’t been able to get the top four labels to sign on the dotted line, and CNET’s Greg Sandoval has this to say about the whole ordeal:
While it’s hard to say what Boy Genius’ source meant by “soon” it’s worth noting that Apple has yet to obtain necessary licenses from the top four recording companies, according to multiple music industry insiders. They added that Apple has indeed engaged in discussions with the music labels but the record execs haven’t even seen all of the details yet.
So, unless Apple is ready to go to war over this, don’t expect an iTunes cloud service–at least one offering music–anytime soon. Music insiders say that while that the whole sector would welcome an iTunes cloud service, negotiating the licenses will likely take months.
Though hopefully this won’t prevent Apple from rolling out their other various syncing features in the meantime, I imagine Apple would want to roll out all of their cloud features at the same time.
