Universal Music Group has entered into a deal with Virgin Media to offer an unlimited music download subscription service to Virgin’s broadband customers in the UK. You read that right—this is a subscription service that lets you download unprotected MP3s that you can keep forever, even after you cancel your subscription. The idea is to lure customers away from pirating music over P2P networks by letting them download legal music to their heart’s content, though Virgin is still planning to adopt a system to deal with pirates.

The two companies described the deal as the “world’s first” unlimited download subscription service, and said that Virgin Media broadband customers will be able to stream and download as many tracks and albums as they want from Universal’s extensive catalog. There will, of course, be a monthly fee (that neither company has chosen to disclose at the time of this writing), but customers will be able to keep their music forever once it’s downloaded. There will also be an “entry level” tier for customers who still want in on the action but don’t want or need unlimited music.

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