Apple Teases Huge iTunes News

Is Apple about to kill the MP3? The company today devoted its entire homepage to teasing an iTunes announcement planned for tomorrow that it promises, with typical Apple grandiosity, “you’ll never forget.” What could it be? Speculation is flying, but the top theory seems to be that Apple will be announcing a major streaming music service. Fortune points out that the company has just built a massive 500,000-square-foot data center, and that it recently purchased, and then shuttered, the Lala streaming service.

One analyst tracking Apple sent out a note this morning predicting just such a streaming service. “It only makes sense that Apple would deliver a cloud-based media service to leverage its competitive advantage in the space: devices,” he said. MacRumors points to speculation about an imminent streaming service dating back at least to October. And Nicholas Deleon of CrunchGear gushes that the move would essentially kill the MP3. “Why would you maintain a giant collection of hard drive-eating MP3 files when you can access the same songs from a handy App?” (More Apple stories.)