Universal Music will not renew iTunes contract

Sounds like a bluff to me.

Maybe they'll do it, maybe the won't.

These same reports were brought up the last time contracts were due to be renewed, except then they talked about variable pricing. Steve Jobs held up his middle finger and stood his ground, and the labels backed away.

All I see so far is reports that they are "considering" not renewing. Again, sounds like a test-shot against Apple's bow. Now, it's Apple's job to not act nervous about it.

Universal Music has been a real thorn in the side of music consumers for a long time, actually. It's one of the few media groups that also consistently disallows embedding of it's youtube videos (unlike Warner Music), and constantly makes Google remove any fan-uploaded content that it asserts is its intellectual property (although that's debatable in some cases).

So lets see... retail sales are down 16% this year, continuing a 7 year decline. Meanwhile, online sales continue to rise.

So they're going to part ways with 900-pound gorilla of online music sales? Not likely, unless they just WANT to go out of business. I suspect Jobs will say, "Go ahead... let me know how that works out for you."