iTunes presses play on video

The all-conquering iTunes Music Store looks to be morphing into a multimedia download shop.

The latest update, which Apple Computer released earlier this week, reveals that the song shop may be turning into a video vendor.

The new iteration of iTunes comes with new features for the music store and updated QuickTime video support, leading to speculation that the update is paving the way for Apple to sell music videos or longer film downloads alongside its traditional singles and album business.

Apple is already using the updated capabilities to sell a small number of video downloads as extras to individual purchases. For shoppers buying the Gorillaz album through the U.S. store, iTunes throws in four short video clips.

Other artists to get the iTunes video treatment include Morcheeba and The Shins. Most of the videos are thrown in as freebies.

Unlike Apple's controversial stance on its pure music downloads, the videos are all sold without any digital rights management attached.

Several digital music sellers are already considering movie clips as the next logical extension of their business, among them British supermarket giant Tesco and Napster.