The UK’s Sky and Universal are the latest companies to try, and ultimately fail, to knock Apple’s iTunes off its high horse. The two have teamed up to launch a new service, due later this year, that will be one of those all-you-can-eat subscription schemes. Think Napster and Rhapsody.

Thankfully, songs that are downloadable will be DRM-free.

Universal is the biggest record company of them all, and has bands like U2, the Mars Volta and the Wu-Tang Clan under contract.

It’s 2008 and the record labels are still trying to figure out digital distribution. What an impotent industry.