Michael Robertson, founder of Linspire and MP3.com, seems to always have something new up his sleeve. He has added a new online storage service called MP3tunes Locker which lets users upload and synchronize songs to the Internet. Songs can even be streamed from the Locker or through iTunes with a special plug-in.

Online MP3 storage is nothing new for Robertson. He had a similar service with his MP3.com website that allowed users to upload MP3s from their own CDs. While many Internet users were happy with the service, the Recording Industry Association of America showed its displeasure by suing MP3.com. "It was a music locker that came with a giant pile of lawsuits. Music Locker is the same concept with some differences," says Robertson.

There will be a free and paid version of the MP3tunes Locker. For $40 dollars per year, users will get unlimited online storage space, unlimited bandwidth, device synchronization and high-quality streaming. Robertson told us the low price should be enticing to many people, adding, "It’s worth it just to backup your music." Free users will have lower quality streaming and less synchronization features.

Users will be able to upload their music into an online music "Locker" and have it synchronize to other devices. Robertson told us that with one click the user can copy everything to their locker and then, "You can go to another computer and download it all back down."

Some people have music collections of hundreds of Gigabytes, so how is Robertson able to charge just $40 per year ? "For sure there will be hard-core music fans, but we expect that the average will be 5 to 10 Gigs of music," says Robertson. In addition, he told us that the company has built a cost-effective storage system running on CentOS.

Collectors with multiple Gigabytes of MP3s also get to compare the sizes of their music libraries to others users in what Robertson calls, "Locker Envy". Users are ranked and given a designation such as fan and groupie, depending on how large their collection is.

Synchronization of music is often a time consuming and complicated task. While the online storage is impressive, Robertson told us, "This version is all about synching to your PC". Future versions of the Locker will have synchronization to consumer devices like PDAs and car stereos. "My vision is you will be able to add music to your office computer and have the music ripple to all of your devices," says Robertson.

There is also a Firefox plug-in that will add a little note icon next to MP3, Windows Media Audio, OGG and AAC links. Robertson explained that the song will automatically be loaded into their locker if the user clicks on the link. He calls this "Sideloading" because the songs are being transferred sideways from server to server. Users can also copy and paste a link into their browser and Robertson calls this "Webloading".

One could see how MP3Tunes Music Locker will directly compete with the current juggernaut of online music, Apple’s iTunes, but Robertson has embraced iTunes users. He says that with a plug-in users will be able to stream and synchronize their MP3Tunes Locker songs through iTunes. The plug-in was developed without Apple’s help and Robertson told us, "There was no cooperation. I didn’t even ask because I was pretty sure what the answer would be."