The iTunes Store is still king, but that's not for a lack of trying. Reuters caps off the year in digital music by reporting on how several fresh faces emerged onto the scene this year, buoyed in part by "record companies' newfound willingness to experiment with different business models," but also by the departure of several high-profile competitors.

It's a good summary of the current online music mosh pit, mentioning first the services that disappeared (MTV Urge, Sony Connect), the ones that stuck around but haven't gained much ground (Rhapsody, Zune), and finally which ones joined the fray this year (Amazon, Slacker, Imeem).

Curiously, the article didn't mention Yahoo Musicmatch, which the company bought to much fanfare in 2004 only to kill it this year in favor of its own Music Unlimited service.

New Music Services Reach for Slice of Digital Pie [Reuters via PC Magazine]