Note: Allen's on a well-deserved vacation. You've probably already figured out what he's been doing. (Harry Canary, indeed.)

Today's installment has Mike chatting with special guest (well, he's been a couple of times now so maybe he should be referred to as a semi-recurring guest) Derek Slater.  (Derek has major chops. Check out his blog at: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cmusings/2006/07/06#a1799.)

Derek and Mike kick around the recent decision regarding CleanFlicks and associated cases that utilized different methods to achieve the same goal: editing out or bypassing violent, sexual or otherwise objectionable content from copyrighted movies. 

Censorship? Violation of artistic integrity? Or is it really a needed check on creators/copyright holders' control over how their work is consumed by paying customers? 

Disclaimer: Neither Derek nor Mike are lawyers.

In today's installment, Allen and Mike discuss the "new" look of online movie services: permanent downloads (for twice the price!) available when movies hit the DVD-release window.

This is a tune-up for a rare "live" (where we're both in the same place) podcast scheduled -- more or less -- for later this week.

Some more thoughts on NBCU content on the video iPod:

1. There has to be search. I want to find the episode of “Dragnet” where Joe Friday said, “No one said that to me ma’am.” (My wife’s favorite Dragnet line). Rich media search can do that.
2. I don’t think all shows should be priced the same, but for starters it’s fine…the marketplace will show these Media Titans what sells and what doesn’t (and rejigger pricing to suit). I don’t think an old episode of “Adam-12” is worth the same as last week’s “Monk.”
3. There has to be recommendations to sort through the titles. Just like celebrity music mixes or mixes from music aficionados, I’d like to see (Tv critic) Tom Shales’ top 10 episodes of “Law and Order.” Or maybe even (former Tv critic) my top 10 episodes of “Hill Street Blues. (wink, wink). That will get TV shows to fly off the shelf.
4. By the way, with NBC-U, I’d like to see “The Rockford Files,” “Hill Street Blues,” “Cosby,” “I Spy” and (of course) “Seinfeld.”

The best is yet to come. Welcome to a new world order for TV. Apple is at the forefront. No suspirse!

M2 here, coming in on three days rest to do some short relief for the "master." (He always asks me to call him that during our podcasts but I generally refuse.)

. . . So, even though Allen's not here at the moment, I think he'd agree with me that based on this story, it would appear that Morgan Freeman's film company, Revelations, and Intel are teaming up to do what any right-thinking entreprenuers should be doing right now: challenge the orthodoxy.

"Anytime, any place on any device" (their motto) and "...making content available online isn't an option, it's an imperative for the industry..." (atributed to CEO of ClickStar, the name of the new service the two entities are creating).

Difference between this and other online services, MovieLink and CinemaNow: a) the major studios are not majority owners or otherwise heavily invested in clickstar as they are with the others and b) this service is going to focus on first-run movies. In other words, they are NOT worried about goring the sacred cow known as the DVD Sales/rental market.

Wow, sounds like they might get it.

Now, if only they can get some compelling content . . .

As promised/threatened, here's a post-game recap of today's Arizona Diamondbacks-San Francisco Giants game at Scottsdale Stadium.

In order to not infuriate MLB.com, we have only one game highlight. Instead, Mike and I focus on our typical chatter.