It's the battle of the companies at the beginning of the phone book (the oldest tactic in the world). In "Can Amazon Catch Apple?" Newsweek's Brad Stone writes about Amazon.com's pending entry into digital music sales and wonders if the online retail behemoth has what it takes to take on Apple.

It's a fine -- though brief -- article that's built around Amazon.com's hesitance in being a first mover in digital music. "I'm comfortable there will be a second, third and fourth generation of digital media services," Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos told Newsweek in 2004. Now that we're in or approaching that second generation, what has Amazon.com got up its sleeve? Coolfer finds this excerpt to be absolutely titilating (bold is mine):

"Customers who buy a CD will receive a digital copy of the album or song, which they can transfer to a portable digital music player. 'It's the most well-thought-out, consumer-conscious strategy I've seen yet for digital music,' says the insider. ... 'They realize that a very significant percentage of their sales are in physical media products that will almost certainly migrate to digital,' says Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney. 'The writing has been on the wall for a long time, and Amazon knows that.'"

It's not like ripping a CD takes a lot of effort, but offering digital tracks to CD buyers could lead to an exciting new strategy. What kind of purely digital plan, if any, will Amazon.com unveil? Coolfer can't wait to see it. Online music is finally getting the kind of competition and innovation that benefits both consumers and labels. The next year or two should be filled with ideas and ventures that will breath life into music.