• The Wall Street Journal, Friday, December 17, 2010 2:06 PM

The headline says it all: "Amazon Can't Dent iTunes." Though, as The Wall Street Journal story explains, that hasn't kept the ecommerce king from trying with aggressive discounts and price undercutting. "Offering aggressive discounts is a strategy that Amazon ... has used across its businesses, and helps it win new customers," The Journal reports. The big losers, however, might be the music labels, which reportedly worry that such discounts risk undermining the value of their products.

Unlike iTunes price changes -- which generally move in step with prices Apple pays suppliers -- when Amazon promotes a high-profile album as its "daily deal," it typically pays the full wholesale price of $7 to $8 and eats the loss, sources tell The Journal. Amazon's share of the paid digital-download market rose to 13.3% in the third quarter -- up from 11% year-over-year, according to estimates from research firm NPD Group. Meanwhile, iTunes only increased its dominant position from 63.2% to 66.2%.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »