Poddable Movie Downloads (And Their Role In Lawyer PR)

Well, you knew it was coming, ever since the very first iPod+iTunes iteration. And even though things like toddler swimming lessons don't go away simply because Steve Jobs is giving a keynote, that doesn't mean I'm not paying attention. Fortunately, Techmeme has this so thoroughly covered you could do nothing but click and read all day if you wanted. Note to Gabe: how about a "search within stories" feature? Like if I wanted to sift through all this coverage to see who had mentioned DRM? (Now's a good time to mention ZDNet's DRM aggregation page, but as yet there's nothing there from today re Apple's announcements.) [Update:] having now looked at some of this stuff, it's clear the huge (pre)announcement of the day was iTV (clip).

Apropos of the Apple announcements and DRM, I'm getting more and more blanket pitches from PR firms representing lawyers, trying to get someone to do a story where their client might be a centerpiece or at least quoted. Talk about an area ripe for vendor relationship management! For the record, in my book stories considering the ins and outs and implications of Apple's movie DRM are legitimate and interesting, as are (to the extent they don't merely focus on iTunes movies, but consider the broader landscape) stories about the usurpation of traditional distribution channels by the Internet, and the related business fallout.

However: pitching stories about how employees are now an even greater threat to waste company time and resources watching movies is (1) a cheap effort to leverage paranoia to get your clent's name in print, (2) "news" that's been around much longer than movies on iTunes, and (3) only conceivably interesting and useful if you're suggesting your client will help businesses appreciate the danger of losing their most valuable asset — their people — if they adopt draconian and shortsighted technology use policies.