CNET news is reporting that current Google CIO Douglas Merrill is leaving the company to take the helm at music industry giant EMI's digital unit.

It hasn't been so long since February's interview where Merrill claimed to have "the best CIO job in the world" so you have to wonder if the position went downhill that fast or he decided he didn't want to be a CIO. Or, more likely, EMI threw gobs of money and a customized position at him and suddenly the "best job" started to look second best.

It's interesting that most of the coverage of this so far focuses on what a good career move it could be for Merrill and a smart play by EMI to revamp their digital strategy and hold on to the fading power and influence of the recording industry; these perspectives both rely on one another in that they assume that the recording industry isn't going to eventually evaporate and that Merrill will be the one to prevent it from doing so, which seems to be a lot to ask of one guy even if he is coming from Google. Speaking of which, while the EMI position may be "better" in pure spreadsheet terms, where's the street cred? I happened to see "21" last night and Kevin Spacey has a line where he is talking about a member of his high-IQ card-counting operation who has recently left to take a job at Google. Asked by another character why, if card-counting is so hot, the other guy left, Spacey looks annoyed and spits, "I said Google, not Sizzler."

EMI looks a lot like Sizzler from here.