The music industry’s online forays have always inspired head-scratching, but this one is odd even by those standards: Project Playlist, the online music service currently being sued by Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, is bolstering its tech staff by buying the assets of… a music service owned by Universal Music Group. But the lawsuits have yet to be resolved. Confusing? Of course.

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The last time Amazon held a press conference in New York City was in February, when it introduced the Kindle 2.0. Now the company has scheduled another one for Wednesday morning at Pace University in lower Manhattan. Expect a new large-format device that’s optimized for reading newspapers and magazines.

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Everyone who wondered why Randy Falco and Ron Grant were still running AOL finally got an answer today: Time Warner was lining up their replacement. Google sales chief Tim Armstrong becomes chairman and CEO of the troubled Web property, effective immediately.

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While it’s true that Time Warner’s magazine unit is embattled, there are bright spots in the portfolio. Take People.com: The gossip magazine has always been one of Time Inc.’s strongest performers. Now its companion site is, too. Who gets credit? Some of it goes to celebs like Ashlee Simpson, and their babies.

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Next up on today’s layoff parade: RealNetworks, which is cutting 130 jobs, or 7.5 percent of the workforce. Standard explanation: The company is trying to “bring expenses in line with revenues in a time of economic turmoil.”

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More fuel for the online advertising pessimists among you: Advertising revenues at AOL dropped six percent in the third quarter. Given that those results cover the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, which only included a couple weeks of flat-out economic collapse, there will be worse news in store for the last quarter of the year.

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