Is music something you own or something you rent? How music fans answer that question in coming months will help determine the viability of a new slate of online music services that offer to fill portable music players with an unlimited number of songs for a monthly fee.

Napster, the former US music industry bad-boy, has struck a distribution deal with three major record labels that are launching a music subscription service this summer.

Bertelsmann, AOL Time Warner and EMI have announced they are to create an online music service.