In today's installment, Allen takes us through the news that MySpace selected Google to serve ads to the biggest name in social netorking.

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, we go over Allen's run-ins with YouTube regarding his postings to the site. Before listening, note that ALL OF ALLEN'S FOOTAGE USED IN THE VIDEOS WAS PERSONALLY SHOT BY ALLEN WITH A STANDARD VIDEO CAMERA AVAILABLE IN VIRTUALLY ANY CONSUMER ELECTRONICS STORE. This was not video captured via TV-tuner card or stream ripper. The video was edited using standard editing tools available in many general-purpose consumer software packages.

After listening to Mike and Allen's drivel, consider the following: Will media companies and major "entertainment" brands e.g. Major League Baseball ever fully leverage the explosion in consumer-generated content and commentary if they continue to rely on extending copyright laws created for an analog era?

Respectfully, we say NO!

Today's installment: various random musings on mobile content etc.

Mike and Allen discuss the implications of theYahoo-eBay partnership announced this week.  Is it a partnership that could have been forged awhile ago or an alliance necessitated by today's circumstances.

In this installment, Mike and Allen talk about Yahoo in Google in the wake of their respective analyst/press days. 

With the first item, Allen and Mike ruminate (aloud) on what Real Networks' freshly minted patent for online streaming video will mean to the nascent online video market.

As for the second item about EMI and Skype? Beats the heck out of us.  We're going off of one press release.

In today's installment, Mike and Allen trade shots over a curious new addition to Yahoo's stable of beta products, Yahoo Answers. What does it mean to extend to the online world the physical world experience of asking a general question to a group of people? We try to provide . . . an answer.

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.

In today's MADCAST, Allen and Mike discuss how the coverage of last week's tragedy in Seattle exemplified the challenges and opportunities facing today's media incumbents.

In today's installment, Allen and Mike weigh in on Amazon's alleged entry into the online music business. Is it too late? Can the company create a unique and compelling alternative to iTunes and the iPod? In an era where definitive answers to anything are hard to come by, we provide them. Kind of . . .

* Denotes First 'Cast using New Gear

In today's installment, Allen and Mike discuss Super Bowl 40 commericals.
This is the first 'case we've done using iChat and Garageband. While we've had an issue or two we'll discuss in subsequent 'casts (and a few "issues" with this one were the result of operator error), the creation/editing/posting work was relatively smooth.

In today's offering, Allen and Mike discuss Microsoft's refinement of its policies regarding Spaces blog content that violate "local laws." This particular case involves a Chinese journalist whose blog was removed from MSN Spaces after complaints by the Chinese government officials.

In today's installment, Allen and Mike 'cast about the evolving online video market -- a subject we'll be returning to regularly.  For today, we'll focus on Apple's iTunes vs. Google's online video offering. Will consumer-created content be a deciding factor in who owns the online video market?

Allen and Mike take some time out during CES to get a perspective on mobile TV with Daniel House, director of marketing at goTV (wwwgotvnetworks.com).

Mike and Allen try a new field-recording kit at a place where both have worn out more than a few shoes: CES in Las Vegas.

In the most recent installment, Allen and Mike talk about PC-based media-editing applications vs. web-based editing tools; AOL-Google and media overload. Oh, and we audibly cringe at the SFGiants new, but really really old, outfield.

In this installment, Allen and Mike discuss commerce and community, two essential forces driving the evolution of podcasting. 

We address these issues through the lens of Podshow, the well-funded venture headed by Adam Curry and Ron Bloom. 

Mike is somewhat circumspect during this discussion as some parts of the Podshow story are still under wraps. 

In this edition of the MADCAST, Allen and Mike discuss tagging and consumer-to-consumer taste sharing and their importance to the next stage of growth in media industries.

It's the end of the week and we decided we just had to do another 'cast. Highlights of todays 'cast -- Yahoo's RSS-enabled e-mail and Michael Robertson's latest shot across the music industry's bow.

Today, Allen and Mike return from the holdiday weekend after  extended travels to places like Phoenix Muni and the western suburbs of Chicago (Mike, that is).  What do we have to talk about? TV over the Web which is different than IPTV. Yes, yes it is different. 

Listen and see what we mean.

Allen and Mike take on recent announcements from Microsoft and others that outlined various efforts to digitize and make searchable all the print material that exists, and then some.

Mike and I ponder the plight of Judth Miller and credibility issues surrounding reporters and blogger-reporters. Can software replace editors in determining quality of content and reliability of sources? Also, we touch on the New Times' purchase of the venerable Village Voice.

(excuse the lousy audio editing...My skill set is video editing)

Today's 'cast is a condensed version of conversations Allen and Mike have. Conversations that typically start something like, "Dude, I just saw the coolest thing . . . "

Clipmarks, FilmLoop and others crop up in the conversation.

It's an end-of-the-week grab-bag. (A marketing person would refer to it as a "synopsis of important industry events." Somebody else, like my mother, might label this 'cast nothing but garden variety rumor mongering.)

In any event, Allen and Mike share their recommendations on how Google could spend the $4 billion they just raised in their secondary offering.  Allen muses on the rumors about Microsoft and AOL.  Mike muses more about the Future of Music Summit in D.C.

Word's out -- I mean even the WSJ had a story today -- that the latest version of iTunes, 5.0, is letting consumers post video podcasts that, in most cases, can be viewed from the little window in which iTunes typically displays the cover art of the CD/album containing whatever song is currently playing in iTunes. Modesty might prevent Allen from saying so, but I'm happy to point out that Allen and some other podcasters discovered  iTunes "secret videopodcast" capabilities in the previous version, 4.9, about a month ago. 

One can subscribe but you cannot view all the videocasts in the window within iTunes where album art or music videos display. This probably has something to do with the way the videopodcaster is creating their XML feeds. For those that don't launch within iTunes, for one can view them in Quicktime by calling them up from the iTunes folder. (I had to do this to view the videopodcast cited in the WSJ story.)

Given the frenzied rush by the media industry and technology companies to find some advantage in the burgeoning ecology of consumer-generated content, this move is another interesting play by Apple. Can Apple do for videopodcasts what they did for podcasts? How will they handle the inevitable posting of some copyrighted content?

Stay tuned...

Live from The Future of Music Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., Mike provides some insight into what’s on the mind of thought leaders in the area of copyright protection, legal sharing and other related topics. Joining us today is special guest Derek Slater, a student fellow with the Berkman Center, who is on a panel with Mike on Sept. 13.