Apple to give away unlimited free music with the iPhone?

According to a report in the Financial Times, Apple is looking to make a break with its traditional pay-per-song iTunes model and switch to offering giving away a swathe of with each purchase of an iPhone (or an iPod, for that matter). In return for unlimited access to the iTunes library, individuals would be expected to pay a premium on the device when they buy it – up to $100 for the lifetime of the device.

As the FT points out, Apple wouldn’t be the first company to bundle in a music subscription with device purchases – Nokia unveiled its ‘comes with music scheme’ late last year, whereby some Nokia phones come bundled with a year of unlimited access to the company’s music store.

While it seems that Apple is only at the negotiating stage on its own plan to bundle music with the iPhone, if it goes ahead with the scheme, it’ll make a major departure for the company. Nevertheless, the promise of all you can eat music is an attractive one, so now Apple just has to find a price that consumers — not to mention the record labels — are happy to work with.