Brilliant: There are reports this morning that Amazon is in talks with Apple about licensing the iTunes Store technology and model. As a power user of both Amazon and the iTunes Store (not as a theorist, but as a cash-paying consumer), I can say this is a marriage made in digital media e-commerce heaven. It also is a clear signal to any of those who have not actually used iTunes and iTunes Store, but claim to believe it will not succeed for any number of reasons: Macs don’t have a big enough market share, Microsoft will compete with them, free is still better than 99 cents. None of these arguments hold water after about 15 minutes of actually experiencing the elegance of the service and how it does not compete with free downloads, but rather is a completely different marketplace: Like comparing eating a peanut butter sandwich you find orphaned in the office refrigerator (who made it?, will I get caught stealing it? how long has it been there?, will it kill me?) with being served a fresh sandwich a gourmet bakery.

They never die: The NY Times takes a stab at answering that pressing question, “What happens to old country music stars?”