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Thanks to MP3s and a device called the iPod, as well as iTunes, Apple became a dominant player in the digital music business. Today at its annual developers conference, the brand will be unveiling its entry into the Internet radio service/music streaming game. 

Reports the New York Times:

Now, Apple is giving online services another try, in an area where it has long been the leader: music. On Monday, at the opening of its annual developers conference in San Francisco, the company is expected to unveil an Internet radio service that will stream songs over a data connection instead of storing them on a device, according to people briefed on the negotiations. The service is expected to be free, but supported by ads.

With its Internet radio service, Apple will be following other online music services, like Pandora, Spotify and Rdio. But it could spread this type of music consumption further into the mainstream, some analysts say.

“The genius of iTunes 10 years ago was that they made the mainstream consumer understand what digital music was, and how it all worked,” said Russ Crupnik, an analyst at NPD Group who studies the digital music market. He said Pandora was mainstream, with 200 million registered users, but it was not a dominant global player, and that a similar service from Apple would expose more people to online radio.

The streaming music business is getting crowded. Besides the aforementioned Pandora and Spotify, Google launched it All Access streaming music service on May 15 while Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine hope launch their “Daisy” music subscription service sometime this year. Last week, it was reported that Jay-Z was close to signing a $20 million deal with Samsung that could potentially involve streaming music from his Roc Nation label.

Also expected to be revealed at Apple’s developer’s conference are new MacBooks and an update to the iOS operation system.

Will Apple dominate the music streaming biz or are they too late to the party. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Photo: Apple