It appears that early advantages over the Ipod include a larger screen (50% larger), wireless music (although there are security features embedded that only allow you play a song sent to you for 3 days or 3 plays.. whichever comes first) and photo sharing between Zune players and and an FM tuner. No word yet on pricing, but those are features that may lead many to opt for the Zune player. We shall see. Below are videos showing the wireless sharing between Zune players as well as a general overview of the Zune capabilities. For inside information on the Zune, you may want to checkout ZuneInsider

Wireless Sharing:

General Overview:

So you’re amazed by the awkard bends of contortionists? Wait until you see this video of a woman showing off her bow and arrows. This was taken from America’s Got Talent and got a Whoaa from David Hasselhoff and a Standing Ohhh from the crowd of disbelievers.

So I did a little search for parachute pants and in case you’re dying for a pair (I’m getting the parachute jump suit for myself), here’s a yahoo store that sells them.

Sony doesn’t plan any major changes to Grouper at this time, but may eventually develop ad supported and premium content business. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. the first company providing quality tv shows and possibly movies completely supported by advertising will have a runaway winner. In my opinion, most people aren’t going to pony up cash for television shows.

Techcrunch reports that Sony will use Grouper’s technology to share lower quality Sony videos online, distribute DVD quality by P2P and allow users to create mashups of select Sony media properties. Grouper sets itself apart with industry leading technologies such as desktop video editing and a closed P2P network which the company spent two years building. Techcrunch has crunched some interesting numbers and finds the $65 million Sony paid is a bit out of whack when you consider the number of unique visitors. Viacom’s recent acquisition of IFilm and Atom/Shockwave for 50 and 200 million respectively represents a per unique visitor valuation of $15 - 20, while the Grouper deal represents $70 - 120. With this mind, Techcrunch puts YouTube’s valuation at roughly 2 billion. Wowza!

Brand Channels will be much like other user generated channels, only they will be sponsored. For example, the Paris Hilton Channel will be sponsored by Fox’s “Prison Break”.

Also rolling out today on YouTube is another monetization effort called PVAs or Participatory Video Ads. These ads will appear on the YouTube home page along side the featured videos and users can rate and comment on them just as they would with user generated content. Just how it should be.. the best ads generate the most buzz all without disrupting the YouTube experience.

This particular video is thought to be taken from a BBC series, called Planet Earth narrated by David Attenborough.

.. but here’s the problem. Most of the non user generated content is provided for a $1.99 fee. I just don’t see this working. Are people really going to pony up for an episode of Laguna Beach? I can understand charging for movies and the most popular tv shows, but most of the content will have to be ad supported for them to make money. In all fairness, AOL does provide free episodes of Growing Pains. Thank you AOL. The appeal of YouTube, MySpace and Google Video for the most part is that it’s user centric, while AOL Video is more of a sales pitch for it’s subpar paid video content. I just don’t see site as being a hit and cash cow for AOL.

Check out AOL Video and decide for yourself.