Apple today updated its homepage with an announcement teasing a major iTunes-related announcement to be made tomorrow at 10:00 AM Eastern time. 
 
 Tomorrow is just another day. 
 
 That you'll never forget. 
 
 
 
 Check back here tomorrow for an exciting announcement from iTunes. 
 
 There have been no specific hints as to what the announcement might entail, but Apple has of course long been rumored to be moving to a cloud-based iTunes where users' music would be stored on Apple's servers and streamed to a variety of Internet-connected devices. Apple has also been rumored to be working on a subscription-based music service that would complement the existing pay-per-download service.Either of those services could be supported by Apple's massive new data center in North Carolina that is set to go online by the end of the year. ||||| Could Tuesday be the day Apple (AAPL) lights up on its billion-dollar server farm in North Carolina, launching its entry into cloud computing? That's what the big tease that appeared on the front page of Apple.com Monday morning suggests. [UPDATE: See One more time: The Beatles on iTunes? and Behind the Beatles-iTunes deal.] 
 
 Among the threads that seem to be coming together this week: 
 
 The 500,000-square-foot data center in Maiden, N.C. -- nearly five times the size of Apple's giant data center in Newark, Calif. -- which COO Tim Cook has said is on track to open this year and could very well be ready to go this week. 
 
 Apple's purchase last December of Lala's streaming music service, which it shuttered five months later, presumably to replace it with a streaming version of iTunes. 
 
 The high-quality live web-streams of Steve Jobs' last two performances, suggesting that Apple may have developed the capability of streaming video as well as audio. 
 
 The latest version of iCal, which replaces locally stored data with calendars stored on Apple's servers. 
 
 The launch of the new MacBook Airs, which Jobs described as the shape of notebook computers to come. Their relatively small storage capacity (starting at 64 GB) suggests that in the future, Apple may expect users to store their files in the cloud, rather than on their hard drives. 
 
 The latest iteration of Apple TV, which replaces hard-drive storage with streaming video. 
 
 In a note to clients issued Monday morning, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster had this to say about the "online iTunes-related event" scheduled for 10 a.m. EST (7 a.m. PST): 
 
 "We believe Apple could announce a cloud-based iTunes service for content streaming to connected devices. Apple is developing a data center in Maiden, NC that we believe could serve as the hub for such a service. The company has indicated that the data center is on track to be completed by the end of CY10 and it will begin using it then. With Apple's growing family of connected devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Macs) it only makes sense that Apple would deliver a cloud-based media service to leverage its competitive advantage in the space: devices. As part of this, the new Apple TV with limited storage, a lower price, and a focus on accessing content over the internet would fit in nicely. We see this device, and the potential iTunes cloud-based service, as a stepping stone for an all-in-one, connected Apple television." See also: 
 
 [Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped] ||||| Apple has posted a cryptic message on its Web site, teasing the world about an “exciting” iTunes announcement that’s coming tomorrow. What could it be? I saw that someone had suggested The Beatles were finally coming to iTunes, but really, who cares? If you want The Beatles on your iPhone you can grab the newly remastered albums that came out last year, “rip, mix, burn,” then off you go. Not very exciting, no. What could be exciting, though, is a streaming music service. In an instant, Apple would have killed the MP3 once and for all. You hear that? That’s the sound of the RIAA thanking Apple over and over again. 
 
 A streaming music service would make all kinds of sense for Apple, and it wouldn’t be too bad for us consumers either. Streaming services have already seen much success, chiefly with Spotify in Europe and Rdio here in the U.S. But an iTunes Streaming service, probably given a slick name like “iTunes Stream,” would instantly take the idea of streaming from something only techie geeks care about to something the whole family can enjoy. 
 
 Think about it. Every song ever (deals with record labels permitting, of course), right there on your iPhone, your iPad, your Apple TV, your MacBook, on-demand and always at the ready. If you can access the Internet (“the Cloud”), then you can listen to your tunes. 
 
 And just like that, your MP3s are worthless. Why would you maintain a giant collection of hard drive-eating MP3 and AAC (the file format iTunes uses) files when you can access the same songs from a handy App? 
 
 Let’s see… gigabytes upon gigabytes of music files versus a single App that can stream any song with the touch of a button. Well, the touch of a screen, as it were. 
 
 It’s a no-brainer, and everybody wins. 
 
 Apple collects $10 per month (or whatever) from you, you get access to an entire Cloud’s worth of music, and the record labels no longer have to worry about pesky kids “trading files” any more. Not because illegally trading iTunes-purchased music was ever a problem for the record labels, but that iTunes Stream would represent a very clear change in the culture of music consumption. Kids wanting to listen to Kanye West’s “Monster” won’t think to look for an “MP3,” they’ll grow up learning to fire up iTunes Stream on their iPhone. 
 
 I can see audiophiles not particularly caring about any of this, complaining about the compression used in the streaming, never thinking to listen to music on a phone, but the number of people who listen to 24bit lossless vinyl rips (give me FLAC or give me death!) using Foobar2000 and $500 headphones is non-existent compared to people who are cool with listening to Nicki Minaj on YouTube (read: rubbish quality) using $10 earbuds. 
 
 And now we play the waiting game, waiting for Apple to kill the MP3 once and for all. 
 
 Hopefully.
– 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?”