For those of you wondering what will become of all-you-can-eat music services in the next few years, mosey on over to this post at paidContent that quotes Sony BMG's global digital music president Thomas Hesse.

This idea of bundling music or access ... enjoying music on a fairly large scale with either a device or with access, be it a cell phone contract or a cable contract ... to me, that’s the next frontier. We feel quite optimistic about it. ...

Access to music so that music becomes something you can access in a very free way with very little encumburences.

Last October, reports surfaced that Universal Music Group was working on an industry-owned music service called Total Music plan, an unlimited (but presumably tethered) music service whose fees would be embedded in the price of compatible hardware. In addition, UMG is working with Nokia on Comes With Music, a music service for Nokia handsets. The service's costs will be embedded in the device's price.

Coolfer is optimistic about this kind of embedded service. A great number of people don't put much value on digital music, and they care little about subscription services. The best way to frame the cost of such a service, in order to take it to the masses, is to render it as invisible as possible. Labels would receive income from the sale of every device, which is far better asking device purchasers to take a second step and opt in a music service. Maybe then would consumers embrace music services in light of their inability to work with Apple products, their DRM, their catalogs that don't dig as deep as the illegal options.

One thing is for sure: Either subscription services have done a horrible job marketing their products, or consumers just flat out don't want them.