Steve Jobs: Customers Don't Seem Interested in Music Subscriptions

Reuters reports on comments by Apple's Steve Jobs about the possibility of subscription-based music sales for iTunes.

According to Jobs "never say never, but customers don't seem to be interested in it". The article suggests that he is unlikely to give into pressure from record labels to offer a subscription model for music on iTunes.

The news comes as Apple begins re-negotiating contracts with the major record labels for the music content on iTunes. Despite recent rumors that Apple was seriously considering a subscription based model, Jobs insists that "people want to own their music." This has been a consistent stance for Apple since the launch of the iTunes store.

Meanwhile, Apple is expected to push for the elimination of digital rights management protections (DRM) on more songs. EMI and Apple first announced that EMI's catalog would become available on iTunes without DRM in May. According to Jobs the other music companies are "thinking very hard about it right now."

"We've said by the end of this year, over half of the songs we offer on iTunes we believe will be in DRM-free versions," Jobs said. "I think we're going to achieve that."