during my mini-hiatus over my wedding weekend (and subsequently) was the Apple-Universal Music story. It took me by surprise, but I agree with this analysis from Eric Hellweg of CNN/Money: it is a very tantalizing idea.

It’s clear that the record industry is too antidiluvian to figure this out on their own – even Sony, who would be a natural for a similar strategy, can’t seem to figure this out. But this whole thing is like the classic prisoner’s dilemma, but one in which all of us could benefit from the defection of just one player. In a way the music business is correct as it stands now – as long as none of them defect, they are achieving their optimal outcome as a group. But when one of them does decide to go, that’s it – the only optimal course will be to join the flow.