An "All You Can Listen To" iTunes Plan?

Is Apple ready to jump on the music subscription bandwagon? It seems out of character, since they won't (at least so far) even go so far as to consider tiered pricing, but the reports are there. More to the point: does it make sense for Apple and the music industry?

According to FT, Apple is in discussion with the industry over an "all you can listen to" plan. The service would either be offered with a premium paid up-front (building the cost into the device, much like Nokia's "Comes With Music" offering), or via subscription. According to the report, an industry exec indicated studies have shown consumers would be willing to pay as much as $100 for an "up-front" deal or $7- $8 per month.

$100 is a lot to add onto the price of an iPod or iPhone. Additionally, the report goes on to say that the subscription model is only being considered for the iPhone, where "it has a monthly billing relationship with customers through the mobile phone operators."

Questions emerge:

• iTunes is pretty simple now. $0.99 per track, easy to understand. Not just that, iTunes is currently the #2 music retailer. Would Apple want to muck with success? Of course, despite the numbers, it's been said Apple makes very little off each iTunes purchase.
  

• What about owners of older iPods? Can they opt-in by paying the same or similar fee?
  

• Is this really a one-time fee forever? I could see it being an up-front fee and then yearly renewals, but forever?
  

One sticking point right now: Nokia is said to be offering almost $80 per handset to music industry partners, to be divided per market share. Apple, being the dominant tough guy (anyone who can get carriers to give them a share of monthly fees is a tough guy) has so far offered only about $20 per device, two executives said to FT.

"It’s who blinks first, and whether or not anyone does blink," one executive said.

What do you readers think? Good idea? Bad idea? Or do you have a Zune?