What happens when albums get smartly bundled with interactive extras, instead of positioned as one-off, flat downloads?  Good question for a recording industry still reeling from the implosion of its once-prized physical bundle, the CD-based album.  But according to a report surfacing Sunday in the Financial Times, Apple and the majors are discussing the possibility of offering interactive album bundles within an upcoming, touch-sensitive tablet device.

The initiative is apparently code-named ‘Cocktail,’ perhaps referring to a potent mix of musical ingredients – or something like that.   Either way, a tablet-based album sounds unlike anything fans have seen before, and the concept could arrive within a matter of months.

And that could be interesting both for fans and the industry alike.  Just recently, Apple managed to dislodge a multi-year plateau on iTunes Store downloads by launching true, over-the-air track downloads.  Now, the hope is that some album-bundling glory can be recaptured, or at least reinvigorated to some degree.