Jack Bauer here.

@ Kevin -- You rock. Nailed every point perfectly. I'm sorry you had to work with Gracenote before and Macrovision now but at least you are irrefutably authoritative on the matters at hand. Let us know the next time you are in California. I'll be at CTU LA.

@ Ian Lamont - No offense, but you are basically all wrong.

1. As I posted on Techcrunch and Kevin articulated so well here, there are plenty of options out there for Apple. In fact, every option is waiting for them (build their own, partner, acquire, etc.)

2. Sony BMG provides plenty of music to the iTunes music store. Sony Pictures provides plenty of movies to the iTunes Movie rental store. Sony hardware components are included in many of Apple's hardware devices. Seriously -- if Sony wanted to turn the screws, don't you think they already have ample ammunition and would have done so? Do you really think the now-finally-once-and-for-all-commoditized CDDB is their secret weapon against Apple? And don't think Sony doesn't know how to turn those screws. Just ask Toshiba! It is rather obvious: Gracenote tricked Sony into thinking their non-CDDB assets were somehow vital to Sony's future.

As a side note, If you had done a little more homework (google is your friend) you would have noticed that the executive in Sony's press release announcing the acquisition is a former Apple engineer. Maybe time to make some news reporter-esque phone calls and let us know if there is any water at all being held by your theory?