The only way I can make sense of the Beats acquisition is to assume that Apple is responding to landscape changes like the end of broadcast television, the rise of Comcast [1], and Amazon's Hachette-crushing book monopoly.
Beats makes sense if Apple intends to go direct to Creatives and bypass the usual channels and distributors. In that case they need an LA beachhead. It makes sense for Apple to start with music - they have a history there just as Amazon has a history with books.
The next step would be for Beats to contract for video/film properties for distribution to AppleTV/iPad - and Android/Microsoft.
I'm not optimistic about books. I don't think Cook is more of a reader than Jobs was.
[1] "the largest mass media and communications company in the world by revenue"
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