TDL Live This week: (7/28)

It's a busy week in Apple news and rumors. TDL Live has you covered:

Something that maybe the Zune did right

As iPod touch and iPhone users stare at the wonders in the new app store, I can't help but wonder if maybe the masterminds behind the Zune may have been onto something.. Hear me out...

One of the most panned features of the Zune is the ability to "squirt" songs (up to three) to another user. They can then listen to those songs in a limited fashion (very limited). Now that the iTunes App store is open, I can't help but notice one major flaw: there's no way to preview apps before buying.

What if a friend downloaded a program they said you had to buy, and you could try it on your iPod/iPhone for a limited time first? It would be a way for app developers and Apple to generate more interest(and revenue) in good apps, and give users a "social" way to try programs before buying them.

So whattya say.. Let's join "the social."

TDL Live This week: (6/30)

After a week off, last night's edition of TDL was particularly ridiculous, but we managed to cover all the important Apple news and rumors too:

If Apple didn't exist...

I know, I know, it's a broad title, and could go in a million different directions, so let's just think about portable devices today. Wipe Apple off the map. Would we be living in an alternative universe where the Zune is the top music player? Or would we still be going along buying CDs? Would anyone be manufacturing mp3 players or phones with sealed batteries (and thinking about it, does anyone else do this now?). Who would have the most talked about cell phone right now, and would it have a touch screen? Would Sony have remained the dominant name in portable music? Would minidiscs become the next big format?
Just some food for thought to start your Wednesday.

Zune juggernaut breaks into more DRM, NBC hot to trot

How do you make the Zune better? Well, naturally you add the ability for it to police your content for anything pirated. What's so wrong with that? You shouldn't be pirating music or videos, has the RIAA not taught you anything!?!

The story goes that NBC abandoned ship because of Apples tight leash on pricing and their unwillingness to police pirated material. Apparently Microsoft is okay with NBC selling their content for the same price as Apple would have just as long as Microsoft absorbs the difference in cost between that price and the price NBC wants to sell it for. Lets look at that for a moment. If Apple was going to sell an episode of Heroes for $1.99, and NBC wanted to sell that same episode for $6.99 then Microsoft is basically paying NBC $5.00 for each download. I really can't imagine why Apple wouldn't want to do that . . . seems like a GREAT business deal.

As if that decision wasn't confusing enough, Microsoft is working on what I can only assume will be an update to it's desktop software, to detect bootleg media and disallow it from being transfered to the device.

My question: How does it know? This is the age old question of the thermos. The thermos keeps hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold . . . but how does it know? When I go out and purchase a DVD and use good old handbrake to make a legitimate backup how is the software going to recognize this as being legitimate and allow me to put it on my Zune (DISCLAIMER: I don't have a Zune, don't want a Zune, and this whole thing seems like a giant disaster)?

As you can see the move to police your library raises all kinds of concerns. I don't see how this approach really sells more of anything for Microsoft. It seems like they're going to lose money on each download AND push the Zune in a less desirable direction (as if poop brown wasn't enough). I think I'll just keep my iPod.