Tesco to launch its own iTunes alternative - Digital Locker

Supermarket chain and internet service provider, Tesco has confirmed it will be launching its own cloud-storage enabled online music and movies service in an attempt to take on iTunes in the UK.

According to tech website, Home Cinema Choice the announcement came at the recent Futuresource Entertainment Summit in London. Here Tesco confirmed it was looking to provide a Digital Locker service which would allow users to play bought media on up to 12 registered devices.

Shedding some light on Digital Locker, Richard Bron, CEO of Blueprint Digital (a company working in collaboration with Tesco on the project), told the audience at the Summit: "The way it would work practically is that when you buy a disc in store or online, that title would be put into your Digital Locker which would immediately be accessible from a device registered to that locker." He added: "The content could then be either streamed or downloaded to that device whenever or wherever they are."

Of course, as this Digital Locker service would be offered by Tesco there would also be scope for users to collect Tesco Clubcard points when they purchased their music and movies.

Although it hasn't been formally confirmed it looks as if Tesco's Digital Locker would be free of Digital Rights Management (DRM). Bron commented: "There are lots of retailers selling discs. We don't want to have a situation where a customer can buy a disc at HMV, Play and Tesco and only be able to access that content centrally on one title."

According to Blueprint Digital Tesco's Digital Locker business could be available to customers from as early as October 2010.