My guess is that if there's anything to this rumor at all, Apple is buying PressPlay (the music download service jointly owned by Vivendi Universal and Sony), not the entirety of Universal's music operation.

Neo dives into Agent Smith and destroys him from the inside out? ---It's VERY wishful thinking, but OMFG, if anybody could pull it off it's Apple.

.Mac morphs into .Music at $125 per year, with fast downloads and reliable catalogs, with real playlists.

I believe this could be, might happen. Thing is, it would be about what WILL be, not about what music distribution is now. Now it is hopelessly behind. The technology the distributers of today fear so much aint going nowhere. Do you really think that a few years hence, you and I will still be going to Borders, Tower, or even Amazon for CD's?? Why?

I am not sure which end of the pipe the naysayers are sucking on but this seems like a pefect fit to me. I have said for a couple of years that if the right huge music conglomerate would just get over themselves and recognize that doing downloadable music IS where it's going and make that actionable before everybody else..... they would have a goldmine in their pocket.

Jobs is just the visionary/gambler to see and do this.

Stock wienies have NEVER liked Apple...but they Do have like, 6 billion in the bank, so they must be doing something right.....

<<-- picturing a drowning person flailing around, then trying to grab anyone else in the water with them, and drowning them too in return....

Martinetti family infomercials aside, Apple's biggest strength, from my perspective, is that they are a tech company that ISN'T also an entertainment company. This allows them a design freedom that, for instance, Sony doesn't have.

I really hope this is just another wacky Apple rumor. If it's true, it's likely to change Apple's attitude towards its users, and eventually cripple OS X.

They could break the $1/song price fixing. Wait--Apple undercharge? Mwa-ha-ah-ahhaaaahaha.

Bah. All smoke and no fire. It will happen when Sun buys Apple, or after Sony buys Apple, or after IBM buys Apple. Or When Apple brings out the next Newton.

This is either the best decision Jobs has ever made, or the decision that will ruin him.

Pros:
1. Entertainment industry cred: See PIXAR
2. Tech cred: See Apple
3. Consumer cred: See Apple
4. Media synergy: See PIXAR, Apple, iPOD, iFilm (iMovies?)

Cons:
1. Piracy: but see 2 and 3 - I think they'll figure something out.
2. Debt load: Maybe, maybe not - see Apple cash holdings (nice)
3. Media synergy: See Sony, see AOL

btw, where's Barry Diller in all of this?

Of course Apple isn't Sony, but I think Sony's example can be illustrative. Let's.

This is a strange play on Apple's part, but it may make sense
considering that the Apple-branded online music service
is rumoured to be ready "real soon now".

Content for the still-unnamed service would be a necessity.


tom
-=W=-

It seems if this is true...it would be a reflection that Apple feels limited in innovation because of all the RIAA nonsense. If Apple did own one of the biggest media companies...perhaps being one of them they can help to change the system from the inside. I think it would be hard for the RIAA to intimidate a company that is one of their biggest contributors.

I worry that owning a music biz would make Apple more prone to DRM nonsense.