More on the digital future and where opportunity lies

The Long Tail: Updated music data: "The result of these two trends--online expanding, offline
contracting--is that the market is shifting even more towards niches.
Last year music that wasn't available at Wal-Mart accounted for 23% of
Rhapsody's business. Now that's 28%. Some of this is due to the
statistical effect of Wal-Mart carrying fewer CDs and the vertical line
below shifting to the left, but even at last year's level Rhapsody is
seeing demand shift gradually towards the niches (its 50% line, where
half the demand is ahead and half is below, has shifted from rank
12,000 to 12,500). "


To add to my previous post: what does Rhapsody have that it's competitors (current and future) don't? What does Wal-Mart have? The barriers to entry are so minor, it's easy to assume that it won't be long before anyone with a customer base will be able to sell music online. Lifestyle shopping.