Should news be free? DLS thinks so, but some major media outlets think not.

News Corp, the new owners of the Wall Street Journal online at WSJ.com, still believe that users should pay for their news. However, a lack of subscribers and a realization that online content is all about the free availability has began investigating plans to turn things around.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corps head honcho said that his staff is looking closely at granting free access to the Wall Street Journals website, citing that it is a very expensive thing to do, but could pay off in the long-term.

Big media outlets still don't get it do they? Great free content online equals happy loyal viewers and more traffic, thus more ad dollars. The pay for content thing doesn't really work in today's world anymore.

Do any DLS readers pay for content online?

Once upon a time, many a geek would fantasize about a knock-down drag 'em out deathmatch between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Well, it looks like chances of that are pretty slim. While it's well documented that these two industry icons haven't always had been particularly chummy, it appears that they are over whatever disagreements previously plagued their relationship.

Gates and Jobs appeared together on stage last Wednesday at the "D: All Things Digital" conference held by the Wall Street Journal. The interview is over an hour long, and was held by the venerable Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

If you didn't get to see it when it happened, fear not. It's available online in seven parts, and the Cult of Mac blog has pulled the whole thing together into one page for easy consumption. We didn't do it, but we pointed you to it. You're welcome.

[Update: Scott McNulty from DLS sister site TUAW notes in the comments that Apple has put the entire interview up in both audio and video format in iTunes as podcast downloads. Thanks, Scott!]

The Wall Street Journal (which has a subscription-based web site, but is free today as part of a special promotion), has an article on Sony BMG's decision to license music for a series of corporate podcasts being produced by Rock River Communications.

Why is this important? Well, the thing is the music industry has been slow to embrace podcasting. While there's been a relationship in place for decades allowing radio stations to license music for broadcast, there's been no such deal reached with podcasters. Sure, record labels benefit from the free publicity when podcasters feature their songs. But they also have to deal with the fact that a digital copy of their intellectual property is being thrown out into the ether.

In the meantime, a whole culture of "podsafe" music has arisen. Web sites including PodSafe Audio and the podsafe music network have filled the void by creating services that allow musicians to have their music heard, and let podcasters find freely available content for their programs.

Rock River is producing podcasts to promote companies like Daimler Chrysler and Ford Motor Company. Under the new agreement those companies will pay Sony BMG an undisclosed amount of money for the right to license music for podcasts which can be distributed for up to a year. That limitation is entirely on the producer side. Anyone who downloads the podcasts can keep them as long as they like.

While this does represent a major shift in the way the music industry approaches podcasting, it's important to note that we're talking about corporate podcasts here. It's unlikely that the average Joe putting together a weekly talk and music podcast can afford to license music. And even if he can, why would he, when there are so many musicians out there who are happy to give it away for publicity reasons? If the music industry had embraced podcasts a few years ago, the concept of podsafe music might never have taken off. But now that it has, I don't see it going anywhere.

The Wall Street Journal is running an interesting profile on Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's VP in charge of its Media Center division. It's fairly fluffy, yes, but it gives an interesting peek into Microsoft's Media Center strategy: Unlike the very, very slow progression of the classic Windows product line, Belfiore's team has pushed out a new version of Media Center every year, and it will be fully integrated into Windows Vista when it's (probably) launched later this year. The article also touches on the competition heating up with Apple's Front Row. Worth a look for Microsoft-watchers.