Sony was the darling of the music world when it came out with the Walkman during the '80s and the 90's, until the iPod came along and Apple dethroned the Japanese multinational corporation. Now, Sony declares that it's learned its lesson and vows not to have the Sony Ericsson lose to the iPhone.

Sony's CEO Sir Howard Stringer admitted in a rare candid interview that he feels rueful about Sony's loss to the iPod. When he took helm in 2005, the company already had a stubborn design philosophy. All divisions were in their "own little worlds", sheltered from one another and interested only in how one of its products trumped another.

Stringer admitted that Sony's been working with IBM on electronic music distribution as early as 1997, and could have came out with a digital music player five years earlier than the iPod. But the music giant couldn't get its people to understand software. As a result, Apple took hold of the industry with its digital media player, the iPod.

However, Sony's CEO believes that the Sony Ericsson versus iPhone battle would be different. The Japanese-Swedish partnership has warmed up to newer ideas, including the concept of music on phones. But they'll never bet against Steve Jobs. In this new phone battle, thinking that your enemy is weak is a weakness itself.

MSNBC and the Wall Street Journal report that Apple is in talks with major labels to license music videos for sale through the iTunes Music Store:

Apple has approached the four major music companies, Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group PLC, Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group and Sony BMG, a joint venture between Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG, to license music videos for sale through iTunes, according to people in the media industry. The videos, which could go on sale as early as September, would likely be sold for $1.99 each, with the possibility of a discount if consumers buy a music video and a song at the same time.

What's more, a followup story at the Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple may have more than music videos in mind for its video iPod:

Steve Jobs has spoken with Disney President and soon-to-be CEO Bob Iger about ways to license various Disney content for a video iPod, according to an internal Disney email I have obtained. That could include anything from clips from ESPN and ABC News to short cartoons.

...and that the new unit won't be without...particular competition:

If the past is any measure of what?s to come, Jobs will enter the arena late (as he did with the iPod) only to leapfrog over the competition with some entirely different device. And that could leave everyone from Microsoft?s Bill Gates to Sony?s Howard Stringer once again racing to copy their far smaller rival.

The buzz surrounding the family member that will take the iPod to the next generation has never been at such a fevered pitch. With rumors of music videos being sold through the iTunes Music Store as early as September, could a video iPod be just weeks away?