Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the world's most iconic brand that just can't do wrong at the moment, opened its largest retail store recently in Boston. What's amazing is that it was conceived eight years ago, before the iPod even existed and before Apple made its march back into the limelight as the premier maker of portable consumer electronics.

The store, originally planned to be a single story, now has a three-story layout, with the first floor displaying the Mac laptops and desktops which are the company's bread and butter. Make no mistake: the iPod's halo effect that so many journalists have written about for years now is causing Mac sales to soar.

Add the iPhone into the mix and Mac sales are being pumped up even more. Just what Apple CEO Steve Jobs wanted, and it's happening. The new Boston location, arguably Apple's flagship retail store, can accommodate up to 1,000 customers per day. It's a green store too, with vegetation growing on the roof and a rainwater recycling system to boot. Yes, Apple's New York City store might be more architecturally innovative, but it doesn't have the size of the new Boston location. And, Apple won't have a problem keeping the new location filled with eager customers.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) may be interested in offering a music download service that is free of digital rights management (DRM), similar to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iTunes plus and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN)'s music download service. It's safe to say that the end is coming near for proprietary, restricted, protected music downloads that are incompatible between different types of music players and music download services.

The only problem is that Yahoo! did not started the initiative earlier and has left the competition to take the initial market share pie of music download lovers who want music free of use restriction. It's not that Yahoo! made a bad choice here; it's jumped on the bandwagon with every other music download provider. It's just that it may be too late for it to take any significant market share, unless it offers something compelling the competitors don't.

Yahoo! has apparently been talking to large music labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group Corp. and EMI Group to allow music from all those global catalogs to be available on the new service (rumored to be out sometime this year).

In terms of strategy, this makes sense for Yahoo! The company, which has failed with many of its paid subscription offerings in recent years, will most likely supply advertising in some form with this new service to grab the revenue it hasn't been able to make headily with its monthly paid music subscription model. Just don't look for unprotected MP3s to become a core component of Yahoo!'s revenue any time soon.

The future of the music industry seems rooted in everything but the industry. This month has certainly showed how far that reality is after Radiohead's self-release of In Rainbows, the band's seventh album, as an internet-only download (for the time being). But Radiohead is not the only successful band to eschew the input of the music industry. Even before Radiohead's album became sensational news, fellow English band Oasis had announced the release of an internet-only single, "Lord Don't Slow Me Down," as a self-release as well.

Two examples may not seem threatening for an industry that has been around for decades, but when artists can self-release music as wide as these have been, the music industry certainly looks decrepit. A self-release always seemed to amount to nothing more than an underground tape, or a limited pressing, but with the internet and the "efficiency" it has over the music industry, that just is not the case anymore. These two examples (and many other cases not mentioned here) are important because artists do not need the industry anymore.

What remains to ask is if we, as consumers, need the industry anymore? It's too early to give a well-educated answer to that, especially as many of the big artists are still "controlled" by the industry. This should not sound as a industry blast either, because despite the decline that seems to be occurring, the music business still offers a number of products and offers that are entertaining and wanted. At this point, we need the industry and that may never change. What will change hopefully is the way the music industry operates.

If the industry could make is all more accessible, then there would be no question between paying less for an album in ten days versus waiting three months for an overpriced CD.

In the latest slap to Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes and iPod platform, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) has released a "beta" (as in, being tested) version of its 'Amazon MP3' digital music store as of today, accessible through www.amazonmp3.com. While Apple continues to be the largest seller of digital music files on the planet, its recently launch of the 'iTunes Plus' selection was hailed as a larger experiment in the music industry's transition from the CD to the file download. The experiment? Apple removed digital rights management (DRM) copy protection from these iTunes Plus files, making them susceptible to file trading among friends and all over the Internet.

The music industry knows that DRM-free music file downloads are the future, and are relenting from paranoia about internet users everywhere stealing music slowly but surely. In Amazon's case, its new MP3 store features over two million songs from 180,000 artists represented by over 20,000 music labels. And what do you know -- that entire music catalog is being offered in DRM-free MP3 format, making all two million songs virtually universal to every music player from the iPod to in-dash CD players in most new cars. And, without protection, buyers are free to copy and share the files -- without any protection -- to their heart's content. That's the potential mushroom cloud-size problem the music industry execs go to bed with each night.

Although consumer electronics retailer Circuit City (NYSE:CC)has declared war on the American worker, the electronics chain has at least made up for it (yeah, right) by entering the online music world in a large way. The grandaddy of online music brands, Napster(NASDAQ:NAPS) ,has signed on with Circuit City to unveil a $14.95/month music download service that wouldn't be tied to any specific digital music player. That's good -- because customers, ahem, like variety.

This is almost a non-event for Circuit City in the shocking wake of its announcement of the jettisoning of 3,400 higher-paid employees to make room for cheaper ones. But hey, what a nice distraction tactic this is, right? Since Napster is already a brand that sells copy-protected digital music files for this price (as an "enhanced" option), this announcement with Circuit City is really a non-event. Nice try, Schoonover.

Will this partnership even affect a few thousand dollars of revenue for Circuit City? Of course it will, as the chain isn't going anywhere (literally and figuratively). Those who shop for and purchase digital music players at Circuit City then go home to sign up for the "special" Napster deal will give a cut to Circuit City for the referral. Whether this will be noticeable on Circuit City's income statement ,however,is highly questionable.