martinibuster - 4:28 pm on Nov 20, 2003 (gmt 0)

When AOL and Time Warner joined together in the first place the plan was for an Internet media empire, ...adding a multi media search engine to the portfolio is a step in the right direction.

This has nothing to do with creating a multimedia empire. TimeWarner discontinued that strategy months ago.

As MSGraph pointed out above, TimeWarner is desperately trying to sell their music division [nytimes.com] in order to cut $24 Billon in debt. So it's not creating a media empire. If anything, AOL is making a good move to keep it's constituents by hopping on the music bandwagon.

AOL controls a major share of the Hispanic market by focusing on delivering relevant content to them (soccer, latin american news, etc). AOL is pursuing the same strategy here, regarding the music. It's what AOL does best.