When Microsoft’s own answer to the iPod debuted back in November of 2006, one neat little feature it boasted that the iPod didn’t was the ability to share a song on your Zune with a friend for up to five plays by squirting it through WiFi to them when both your Zunes were in range. It was a really neat idea that, like many mechanisms allowing a user to lend digital content, ended up being crippled by chintzy, overly protective publishers.
Perhaps for just those reasons, Apple never did come up with their own way to share songs between iPods, but now, there’s an app for just that: Eavesdrop, which allows you to broadcast your iPod’s music library to any iOS device within range over WiFi and Bluetooth.
It’s a really neat idea. Unfortunately, since the functionality isn’t baked into iOS, both you and your friend will have to pay $1.99 for the Eavesdrop app to listen to each other’s music… and I can’t help but wonder how long it’ll be before Apple pulls the app due to recording industry complaints. So get it while it’s hot.
