Coming Soon To iTunes Music Store. More Skin.

It had to happen. It was merely a matter of time. The time has come arrived. Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition on your Mac or PC’s iTunes.

What a playlist. First Shania, now this. There is a God. Lovers of pretty skin, your world is about to change.

The New York Times reports that Apple will soon be selling bikini babe videos swimsuit videos on the iTunes Music Store.

How? Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit videos at $1.99 each. If this doesn’t make news, I don’t know what will. I gotta work down that credit card balance.

There are 3.3-million subscribers to Sports Illustrated. Add an extra 1.5-million to the newsstand sales of the annual bikini swimsuit edition.

No magazine gets passed around more or ripped off from doctor’s offices more than the annual bikini swimsuit edition of SI.

Mark Ford, president and publisher of Sports Illustrated, said the annual issue has about 60-million readers. And collectors. I don’t know how many I have but they don’t fit under the mattress anymore.

The SI annual soft porn review is a whole industry of DVDs, calendars, not to mention the talk around the water cooler.

Is all that coming to iTunes? So says none other than the New York Times. Could there be a more reliable source for hard core news?

This is actually a no brainer and I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of it. Apple is peeling the onion slowly when it comes to video content on the iTunes Music Store.

First there were a few music videos and TV shows. Then more. And more. Finally, months later, something worth watching. Again and again.

The New York Times reports that the specially produced videos will be sold at $1.99 each, though there’s no indication of the length of each video. Does size really matter?

I can just hear some of the conversations that will take place in Mac and PC homes later this year:

Dad: “Son, what are you downloading?”

Son: “Oh, just some statistics and videos from Sports Illustrated. It’s for a report.”

That’s just for starters. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit videos likely will have some seductive music playing in background as the models lie patiently on the beach as cascades of waves from the ocean spill over their scantilly clad and well tanned bodies.

Whew. Is it getting warm in here?

Anyway, other conversations may go something like this:

Dad: “Son, I thought I heard different music coming from your room. What happened to rap, reggae, and rock?”

Son: “Well, Dad, I’m taking your advice. I’ve downloaded music that’s more soothing, soulful, diverse.”

Dad: “That’s good to hear, Son. Could I listen for a few minutes?”

Son: “Oh drat, Dad. My battery just died. Maybe later.”

You get the idea. It’ll be the soft stuff from iTunes Music Store that starts junior on the road to sin, then Playboy Bunny podcasts, then a life of crime. That’s how it works, right?

The Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is a hugely profitable and popular venture.

Jay Leno will introduce the latest magazine on The Tonight Show.

Promotions are planned with Anheuser-Busch and others.

How will the kids know about the iTunes Music Store connection (when and if there is one)? iTunes will have promotions online, but imagine a unique number printed on the back cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

The magazine would direct the reader to the iTunes Music Store; entering the number would get the reader a free video download.

2006 may prove to be another exciting year for Apple and Mac and iPod users. It will be just as exciting for teenagers with access to iTMS.