On March 18 Financial Times posted an article on its Web site claiming the House That Jobs Built was negotiating with the majors for a deal similar to the one Universal Music Group struck with Nokia where the label provides at least one year of free music to consumers who purchased certain Nokia handsets.

Called “Comes With Music,” the blueprint is similar to subscription services offered by Napster and Real Networks. Customers can download all the tunes they want, but upon the subscription’s cancellation, digital rights management technology prevents those tunes from playing any further.

The Financial Times article said one approach Apple was considering was to charge customers a premium for iPods and iPhones and then give those same customers the run of the iTunes Music Store by allowing them to download anything that catches their fancy.

The same article mentioned that one of the disagreements between Apple and the labels was price, reporting that Nokia was offering $80 per player to the labels in exchange for providing free tracks. In comparison, according to Financial Times, Apple was offering the labels the low-ball figure of $20 per device.

Financial Times said Apple did not comment on the purported subscription / free music plans but attributed details to “executives familiar with the negotiations.”

But hold the iPhone. Now there are indications that Apple and the labels may not be as close to a deal as previously thought.

According to an article posted on BusinessWeek’s Web site on March 20, reports about discussions between Apple and the labels for an all-you-can-eat music deal were “overblown,” according to “people in a position to know.”

The same BusinessWeek item says such an iTunes subscription plan had been “kicked around” for “about a year” but did not make it to the “meaningful discussion” stage.

However, the BusinessWeek item does mention several reasons the labels might want an iTunes subscription service.

Of course, the main reason would be money. A subscription service where customers pay about $10 per month for all the downloads they want means the labels have a predictable cash flow. Compare that to the current iTunes business model where customers may buy only a few songs spread over the course of a year, and you can see why the record companies might favor subscription services.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has dismissed subscription plans in the past, likening such services to renting music as opposed to his iTunes service where customers can play their purchases as often as they like with no threat of discontinuation due to canceled subscriptions.

However, BusinessWeek gave plenty of reasons for Apple to pursue such a service, claiming that iPod sales may have peaked and citing a 5 percent growth in iPod sales in 2007 compared with 50 percent growth the year before. Since Apple’s focus has been on selling iPods and, more recently, iPhones, some type of unlimited music deal could look very attractive to the Cupertino company.

But is Apple currently talking to the labels about such a deal? That depends on which anonymous sources you prefer to believe. And which ones you hope are true.