Kirk McElhearn talks about how we listen to music and a future of unlimited music for subscribers:

The way we listen to music changed when, after decades of coming from needles in grooves, it went digital. Now that digital music is mature, the next step is to disembody it entirely and stick it on central servers somewhere. No more will we need to worry about what to put on our iPods; someday soon, we’ll have an unlimited choice of music—for a monthly fee—wherever and whenever we want it.

I don’t see this happening anytime soon because I can’t imagine an affordable subscription model that would allow for unlimited choice and still generate revenue for Apple to be profitable and still pay the record labels.

Tomorrow marks the special event for Apple. As with most fall events, this one will be iPod/iTunes centric. (Probably safe to throw in the iPhone as well…)

So, what’s to be expected? There are plenty of folks out there giving you their lists. Outside of what these far-more-knowledgeable folks (and by far, I mean, like, way more knowledgeable) have said, I can only tell you what I want.

Here’s the Top 3 items on my Let’s Rock wishlist:

1. iTunes music subscription service. Unlimited downloads. Wireless downloads. $9.95/month. That’s what I want. I bet we get unlimited downloads for $19.95/month. The wireless downloading could go either way. ($9.95/month model possible for limited downloads.)

2. iTunes movie subscription service. Why stop with music? I want a movie subscription service, a la Netflix. The current 24 hours to watch a movie is ridiculous, especially if you have small children. My wife and I never watch a movie all the way through. If Apple wants to really take a step forward in home entertainment and boost the AppleTV, this is the way to do it.

3. iTunes Super Duper subscription service. You guessed it. Combo the music and movies together for $25/month. Unlimited music downloads. 12 movies/month. (OK. I’d settle for 8, but 12 would be swell!)

That’s it. That’s what I want. No need for an iPod Nano. I don’t understand watching a movie on such a small screen.

I look forward to iTunes 8, especially if it has all that is rumored. HD movies would be especially nice. That would mean I can use my MacMini media hub to watch.

Firmware updates to iPhone would be good as well. Mine is still sluggish, but that’s for another post.

For now, give me my iTunes subscription service — music AND movies. (Or at the least, relax the 24-hour watching period. I’d do with that, for now…)