Music purchased from on-line music services other than Apple's iTunes Store will not play on Apple's iPod. That has some music executives worried about Apple's dominance in on-line music sales according to an article published on-line at the Wall Street Journal's free access site on Wednesday.

In a good follow-up to a previous story at the WSJ, Ethan Smith and Nick Wingfield report that Blue Note has allowed Yahoo to start selling the latest Nora Jones single in an unprotected MP3 format. This is seen as a experiment by Blue Note and reflects recognition that the labels need to make their music more compatible with the industry leading iPod. eMusic has reached the number two position behind Apple by selling unprotected MP3s, but the music is mostly from independent labels.

There is a general frustration in the music industry with the past and current middlemen who have controlled music sales such as radio broadcasters, MTV, and now Apple. The fact that the music industry was unable to devise their own popular on-line music sales business is "shaping up as the latest in a long series of strategic blunders" for them according to the authors. Releasing some music in MP3 format may be one way to create awareness and accelerate traditional sales. It's also a possible sign of turnabout and resignation towards the success of the iPod.

The article points out with considerable clarity the difficult situation the music industry has found itself in and how they're struggling to achieve their goals.