Rumor: Apple's cloud service comes with subscription fee

CNET has heard from "music industry insiders" that Apple's long-rumored cloud service is indeed coming, but with a subscription fee. When it first launches, the service, which supposedly will act as a "music locker," allowing you to store and access a music collection in the cloud, may be available free of charge. But the plan is to eventually charge for it, and most estimations (also known as guesses) are falling in the $20 per year range.

We'll have to see how this all plays out -- Google is also reportedly working on a service like this, but of course, the details are still up in the air. And it remains to be seen what deal Apple is working out with the record companies as well. Will only your iTunes-purchased music be able to stay in the cloud, or will we be able to upload any music that we have installed in iTunes? Or will, as Billboard suggests, Apple try running a Netflix-style music service, where a standard fee gets you access to a certain library of music?

Either way, it'll be good to see whatever Apple's been working on finally revealed, hopefully later on this year.