Last week, Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine made an announcement that he hopes will “save digital music.”  In a new alliance with , Hewlett-Packard, Iovine hopes to increase the listening experience of digital music for the most discerning ears by teaming with the computer manufacturer to release premium-priced laptops, headsets, and software featuring the “Beats by Dr. Dre” brand.

While Iovine is still careful to officially announce the HP component as yet, he did say in a recent interview that he and Dr. Dre are part of a plan to reconstruct the entire “digital music ecosystem” from the sound file to the computer and culminating with high-end headsets according to CNET.com.

“We have to fix the entire chain,” Iovine told CNET News. “Our position is to go to all the sources and try to improve sound and educate people…We can’t put anything weak in the line. Whoever puts out things that sound bad shouldn’t be as cool as something that sounds great.”

Experts are speculating that this could be a very early attempt to undermine Apple’s current monopoly on the digital music space.  Richard Shim, an analyst with research firm IDC believes that if exploited there’s a niche for potential competitors to take on Apple by offering consumers better sound quality, but added that those who try it might struggle to move beyond the niche audiophile market.

“There is always an opening,” Shim said. “The question is how do you take a doggy door and turn it into a garage door? How do you take something that has a small audience (the market for high quality sound) and push it out to the mainstream.”

While there certainly is a market made of musicians and fans with a more experienced musical palate research that the vast majority of consumers are satisfied with their Apple earbuds and iTunes songs, which are now available at 256 kbps.

“Listening habits have sort of changed,” NPD analyst Russ Crupnick said. “If I’m spending all my time on Facebook and listening to Dr. Dre’s music in the background, it’s not so important that it be the best.”

In the short term the new partnership will give the “Beats by Dr. Dre” brand credibility among hard-core sound enthusiasts in exchange for some “street cred” for the HP brand and create inroads with a younger generation of music fans and computer buyers.However, the long term implications are perhaps what is most important and most intriguing.  If this is  perhaps the early stages of an iTunes unseating, the potential for a more a higher quality service is there with more competition.  At the same time, HP as a partner would be able to charge a premium for more low-end services like music vending by tying it a necessitating lifestyle much like Apple currently does.