Microsoft and Sony in Digital Music...?

From this great digital music news-site:
"Gates Hints at Possible Sony Partnership. Will a partnership between Microsoft and Sony give Apple a run for the money? In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bill Gates hinted at a possible tie-up, but stopped short of confirming anything concrete. The Microsoft CEO noted that the two companies have "a lot of incentive to work together", pointing to possible work on a digital music "infrastructure" play. Sony has been mum on the subject, though the company is looking for
some way to finally make an impact on the emerging digital music space. The comments by Gates follow a rumored Sony overture by Apple in September, allegedly rejected by Tokyo"

That would make a lot of sense to me... eithet way you look at it. Sooner or later Apple's Digital Music plans will encounter these kind of adversaries.