Many people who are in the know of Apple and iTunes say that Apple should change their approach to iTunes. They say that it is a good idea for Apple to allow users to access all or most of for a monthly fee. Currently users can buy either a song or a album at one time.

This idea has been popularized by record labels that want a more regular and predicatable stream of revenue from iTunes. iTunes ranks after Wal-Mart as North America’s second-largest music retailer. According to Steve Jobs, it is a better idea for people to own rather than rent music.

Although iTunes does not generate too much money, it does generate interest in the Apple iPod. Many people believe that a subscription model for iTunes that goes in tandem with the existing system would work well. This would be all the more pronounced if the sales were in conjunction with a hardware that is network ready.

RealNetworks, Napster, and the Zune Marketplace have made place for subscriptions in their business plans. After using Rhapsody for sometime, I liked it quite a bit. Rhapsody is not directly competing with Apple. It has got itself embedded in standalone audio hardware like the Sonos Sound system and TiVo boxes etc.