MacNewsBlog

Music producer extraordinaire and head of Columbia Records, Rick Rubin declared that the iPod will be obsolete once an new music business model is in place. Rubin believes that music subscription services are the future of the Record industry.

In Rubin's future, he predicts that with a subscription type business model, we'll no longer need an iPod because our music library will follow us everywhere. From our car, to cell phone to the TV. Umm... isn't that what we already have in the iPod?

From the NewYorkTimes.com:

You'd pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you'd like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home. You'll say, 'Today I want to listen to ... Simon and Garfunkel,' and there they are. The service can have demos, bootlegs, concerts, whatever context the artist wants to put out. And once that model is put into place, the industry will grow 10 times the size it is now.

An interesting thought but what about folks who DON'T CARE about having all of those songs and just want some? Surely they're not going to lay down $20 bucks a month for 2 albums worth of music. Although I will say that if this subscription model comes to light, it may finally give you license to the music rather than the media. Currently, if something better than CD ever comes around, we'll be forced to REBUY all of our music to get it on this new format. With Rubin's future voodoo magic imaginatory world, perhaps we wouldn't need to do that.

At any rate, I doubt another format will come out. Music is going digital and thats the end of it. Media is only for long term storage.