Both Apple and Microsoft have revealed possible future directions their respective music players by filing for patents that will allow the devices to share music wirelessly, but in different ways. The two patents disclose plans from both companies that will bring different wireless sharing capabilities to both the iPod/iPhone and the Zune.

Paid squirting

On the Microsoft side, the patent takes the Zune's currently-limited music-sharing capabilities a step further and offers more options to Zune users looking to participate in "the social." Microsoft is taking the commerce-driven approach to music sharing with this patent, believing that there is an entire "offline economy" that could benefit both the copyright holder and the user when Zune users squirt music to one another. Under the system described by the patent, users would be able to essentially purchase copies of songs off of other users without the involvement of a Microsoft media server at all. The original sharer's device would store the purchase information until the next time he or she syncs up with a computer, for example, and proceeds from the sale would go to both the copyright holder, with a (presumably small) cut the person who squirted the music.

This would offer a huge incentive for Zune users to start walking around, squirting music to everybody in sight. And according to the patent, the sale system would even "work" in the case of sharing pirated music, which would allow the copyright owner to still recoup the costs of his or her music being shared.

Music labels shouldn't worry just yet, though, as the patent describes at least one implementation that would involve the attachment of an advertisement to the pirated content. How the device will be able to tell the difference between truly pirated content and files ripped from the user's home collection of CDs, however, is very unclear. Such a system looking that carefully into the content on the device could also raise privacy concerns.

The iPod goes wireless

Apple's patent describes a wireless sharing system oddly similar to that already built into the Zune. Under the patent, a device with wireless capabilities, such as the iPhone or future iterations of the iPod, would be able to wirelessly detect similar devices on the same network. These similar devices do not have to be other iPods, either, as Apple specifies that it could be a media player, PDA, or some other type of wireless device. The users would be able to share various types of data, which naturally includes music and other media files, but also entire albums, photos, computer games, audio/video presentations, news reports, and more. The media could be transferred to the second device either by full transfer (making a copy of the file on the new device) or by streaming.

Apple's patent also addresses part of the system that would allow the user to purchase media from a server directly from the device. The user could either purchase something on the spot or mark it for purchase later (like when he or she gets home to sync with a computer, for example). It could even involve a "shopping list," which would function as a sort of wish list that can be synced with multiple devices and computers. For those of us who have been looking forward to buying directly from iTunes on our iPods or iPhones, the patent sounds very promising.

Apple's patent is a curious one, as it seems to directly overlap some of the Zune's functionality. Apple's patent cites several other patents ranging from media sharing to wireless communications to media players, with application dates falling as early as 2003. Companies are obligated to search for prior art before filing patent applications, and so this could be a case where Apple's patent differs enough from Microsoft's that there is no technical overlap. Another possibility is that a patent examiner will determine that Apple's filing is too similar to Microsoft's and therefore will have to pay to license the content from Microsoft, like it does with Creative over the iPod UI. Similarly, under the first-to-invent system used in US patent filings, Apple may be end up controlling the IP used in the Zune.

Possible patent fights aside, both companies seem to acknowledge that sales of their respective devices (and the music that goes on them) will benefit from much more wireless sharing than either currently provide. And despite Steve Jobs' comments late last year dissing the Zune's wireless sharing technologies—"It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable," he told Newsweek—Apple apparently believes that tethered sharing will be going the way of the dodo someday.