Apple representatives have purportedly been talking with some of the major film studios about enabling iTunes users to store their content on the company's servers, two people "familiar with the discussions" told "CNET" (http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10462562-261.html?part=rss&subj=news&t...). That's in addition to streaming television shows and music.

"CNET" says that, under the plan, iTunes users will access video from various Internet-connected devices -- preferably the upcoming iPad. Last month Apple reportedly talked to record companies about similar plan involving music. Apple's vision is to build proverbial digital shelves where iTunes users store their media, one of the sources told CNET, adding that "basically, they want to eliminate the hard drive."

If all this happens -- and that's a big IF since the movie and music execs will obviously want their product to play nice on devices other than those made by Apple -- the enterprise could involve Apple's recent purchase of Lala. Lala, unlike s iTunes, lets users play the music they own from the web. If Apple introduces its own cloud-based streaming music service, it would let people skip having to download music they buy or synchronize their music collection between their computers and mobile devices. A person’s music library would always be available on the Web and accessible on a computer, smartphone or other web-connected mobile device (such as an iPad or iPod touch).

Apple's goal may be to implement a new iTunes feature that would allow users to stream their purchased media content remotely. In fact, rumors of such a service surfaced earlier this year.

Purportedly, the service -- dubbed iTunes Replay -- would allow iTunes shoppers to build up a digital video collection (music, movies, TV shows, etc.) without having to worry about the intensive storage space involved. iTunes Replay would, per the rumors, stream music, TV shows and movies purchased on iTunes, so you wouldn't have to download them after purchasing, freeing up hard drive space.

-- Dennis Sellers