There's an update to the Google-Napster-Amazon recap from the other day: Thursday the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon.com is in "advanced talks" with the four major music groups about a "digital music service" with a range of features. One facet is an Amazon.com-braded MP3 player (seems like a weak idea) and a "subscription subscription service that would deeply discount and preload those devices with songs" (which seems like a great idea). Word is that the service could be launched this summer.

MacNewsWorld sees Amazon.com has a formidable opponet for iTunes. "Amazon has a better chance than some of its predecessors to break into the digital music space, thanks to its huge brand name recognition, extremely high volume of traffic and the many related products it also sells on its Web site," wrote Erike Morphy. "The cross sell and upsell marketing opportunities alone may put Amazon within striking distance of iTunes."

Scott Devitt, senior analyst for Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., told the Seattle P-I that Amazon.com needed to compete in this sphere. "They are uniquely positioned to benefit because of their delivery of physical media" such as CDs."

Amazon.com has had plenty of time to check the competition, see what they've done well and what they've done wrong, and put together something other than the half-hearted music stores/services that have hit the market lately. At a minimum, Amazon.com's entry would help raise the bar for all stores and services. Competition -- serious competition -- would help push all services to innovate and differentiate.