One of the early criticisms of the Zune, Microsoft’s digital media player, was that it didn’t support podcasts. That all changed with the release of Zune 2. Now, Microsoft is taking it a step further with the introduction of the Zune Marketplace Podcast directory.

Which isn’t a bad idea. If you’re a podcaster looking to get the word out about your show — and you don’t want to be buried amongst the thousands of shows and personalities in iTunes and other podcast directories — then the Zune Marketplace Podcast directory is for you.

Rob Greenlee, the Zune Podcast Programming Manager, said the directory will launch next week with just a 1,000 feeds in its directory, making it nice and clean compared with other listings.

I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with readers and friends over digital rights management, or DRM. Yes, we all agree, it’s evil. And someday, the Evil DRM Empire will be overthrown and freedom will reign.

That day, however, has not arrived. But Ben Drury of the British music download service 7Digital says that selling DRM-free music is working so well for the company that he believes DRM will be overthrown next year.

“By next summer all four major labels will have removed DRM from MP3s,” Drury told The Register.

So, in the end, 38 percent decided to pay for the lastest Radiohead album, “In Rainbows”, while 62 percent did not.

ComScore has provided the first definitive numbers regarding Radiohead’s decision to offer its latest album on a pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth basis. The music world is keenly watching Radiohead’s experiment to cut out the middle man and go it alone. Other bands, such as Nine Inch Nails, are planning similar defections.

During the first 29 days of October, ComScore notes, 1.2 million people worldwide visited the InRainbows site, with a “significant percentage of visitors ultimately downloading the album.” Of those who decided not to pay for the album, 60 percent were from the United States, 64 percent from the rest of the world.

“I am surprised by the number of freeloaders,” Fred Wilson, managing partner of Union Square Ventures and a well-known music aficionado, told ComScore. “The stories to date about the “In Rainbows” ‘pick your price’ download offer have been much more optimistic. I paid $5 U.S. and had no reluctance whatsoever to take out my card and pay.

Many, many years ago, the local National Public Radio Station (NPR) stopped playing music when anybody was actually listening to the radio. I used to tape random chunks of music, not caring what it was, to take with me on trips because it was so good.

When the station stopped broadcasting music when I was awake, and the Internet came along, I turned to NPR’s Web site, its show All Songs Considered, and podcasts to hear interviews with musicians, listen to their music, and find artists I’d never heard before. But, alas, the old NPR site wasn’t much fun to use, especially if you’re on a Mac and don’t care much for RealPlayer or Windows Media.

NPR relaunched NPR Music, and I’m in music heaven again. The new site uses a slick Flash pop-up player that’s super-easy to use and, as an added bonus, works across all NPR properties.

Michael Geist points to a recent study conducted in Canada in part by Industry Canada (a federal agency) about music purchasing habits that includes some potentially bad news for the recording industry. According to the results of the The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study For Industry Canada study, which surveyed over 2,000 Canadians, there is a positive correlation between file downloading over P2P networks and legit purchases of music on compact discs. This might come as a surprise to industry executives who have long complained that peer-to-peer file sharing is immensely damaging to CD sales.

According to the study’s authors, there is “a strong positive relationship between P2P file sharing and CD purchasing. That is, among Canadians actually engaged in it, P2P file sharing increases CD purchases.” The study estimated that there is an increase of 0.44 CD purchases per year for every 12 P2P downloads. When viewed as a whole, the study found no positive or negative effect on CD purchasing from P2P filesharing in Canada.