My trusty old iPod is finally dying on me... battery doesn't even last through a flight to San Francisco any more!

I'm not a huge fan of carrying multiple devices - if I had my way I'd just stick music onto the 4GB microSDHD card in my T-Mo Shadow but the non-standard speaker connection (the phone headset isn't really hi-fi!) and the battery life mean I probably won't want to do that with a full day of travel.

So, the top 2 tiny music players are the iPod Nano and the Zune Flash. Both are 8gb, about the same size and match on a bunch of features (the iPod screen is a bit bigger, the Zune has an FM tuner etc)

iPod means I'm stuck installing iTunes which is a horrible piece of software (I like it on the Mac, but on the PC it just doesn't play well) vs the Zune which has a great desktop client from what folks tell me.

I have iPod accessories (car adapter, home stereo adapter with remote control) but we don't use them that often these days (Satellite radio and a 6 CD stacker in-dash in the car, and Logitech Squeezebox streaming music at home), I don't buy DRM music so iTunes Music Store and MS Marketplace are not really going to be much influence.

Guess I'll have to see which fits the hand better and make a choice. Of check out what Creative and others have

I'm no big fan of DRM. It seems the march of technology into entertainment has been accompanied by a reducing in fair use but at the end of the day it's not a show stopper. I can still buy or rent books, DVDs and CDs and the world is good.

That doesn't stop the tinfoil brigade getting all paranoid that just because there are some new standards for DRM and content protection and they are supported by Vista that Microsoft is own to own their entertainment and eventually their mind.

One of the biggest proponents of this fear, uncertainty and doubt has been Peter Guttman who has published a long rambling paper sub-titled "The Longest Suicide Note in History" which is apparently a well researched, factual breakdown of how Microsoft are out to rule the world through DRM.

I tried reading it once after seeing a lot of chatter in the blogsphere about it, but decided that it wasn't worth the effort to wade through the rambling tome. I know some researchers can be a bit eccentric but at least they usually make sense

It turns out that I wasn't alone in that opinion. Ed Bott has started a three part analysis and examination of this work of art to actually correct some pretty fundamental mistakes.

It makes great reading and clears up some of the mystery... or at least adds some common sense and real analysis to the subject - Everything you've ever read about Vista DRM is wrong"

I do however share Mr Guttmans (warning: Strong Language Ahead) view on Lotus Notes (though I'm not sure I see the point in posting it as an Acrobat document when there are perfectly acceptable graphics formats available for the Internet that are not encumbered with useless DRM)