Microsoft, Sony Announce iPod Competitors

Pfhreak writes "According to the Denver Post -- Las Vegas section, a little over halfway down the page -- Microsoft will begin selling a $50 music player that will 'look and feel as good as the iPod' later this year. Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft VP, is quoted as saying that the player will give customers more choices than Apple." In related news, Tetsugaku-San writes "The Register has the scoop on Sony's new portable audio/visual playback device. Impressively it plays MPEG2, MPEG4, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF and MP3 (finally they got the message Apple was gonna whoop em!) straight out of the box. Not as good battery life as I'd like to see, but real world tests remain to be seen."

Competition?

[SubTexel]

Finally some competition in Apples handheld audio monopoly? Good to see the underdog(s) stick it to 'em.

funny you should mention that

[switcha]

Microsoft will begin selling a $50 music player that will 'look and feel as good as the iPod' later this year.

What a coincidence. Apple's lawyers are already filling out a lawsuit with the very same title!

Ummm ... BMP, GIF, PNG, and TIFF?

[dmarcov]

Impressively it plays MPEG2, MPEG4, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF and MP3

Really? I can't wait to rawk to my .bmp files. I wonder what my desktop wallpaper sounds like.

Only on Slashdot

[Atario]

...does the first reply in an article get modded "redundant".

Oh not again, Bill

[BandwidthHog]

Ours will be just like Apple's, only better.

This time we're serious. It's really cool.

Really.

Re:Competition?

[Aqua OS X]

And when I think of "underdogs" that produce digital devices... Sony and Microsoft are the first to some to mind.

(note: that's a 10 on the sarcast-o-meter)

Yes but

[smartin]

It will be the size of a postage stamp and hold one song.

drunken moderation

[Unit3]

It's a fun game! Moderate the first mention of OGG Vorbis as a troll, because, you know, people aren't allowed to express format preferences... and then, moderate the second mention [slashdot.org] as redundant, because it is too politely worded to be a troll!

Yeah, I know "don't complain about moderation". Good thing this is an open forum and I can complain about retarded moderation if I want.

Look and Feel?

[quantaman]

Microsoft will begin selling a $50 music player that will 'look and feel as good as the iPod' later this year

Please note thatt by "look and feel as good as the iPod" they mean they're selling a rounded green and blue plastic shell, they also threw a couple a couple beads inside which you shake, when they rattle it makes the shell a music player.

Re:Ummm ... BMP, GIF, PNG, and TIFF?

[BandwidthHog]

I wonder what my desktop wallpaper sounds like.

bzzzzt, crackle, fft, pssssst, bzzt, ffft, bzzzzzt, pst, eck, bzzzz, bzzzt, psst, crackle, bzzzzt, crackle, pssst, pst, ffft, bzzt, bzzzzzt.

Silicone Breast Implants

[malia8888]

Microsoft will begin selling a $50 music player that will 'look and feel as good as the iPod' later this year.

Pardon my cynical attitude but I cannot imagine an item that sells for $50 for 20G versus the Apple model for the same size at $399 looking and feeling remotely the same.

I have one of the original 5G iPods. I have used, abused and it runs beautifully. The design and looks are without peer IMHO.

This sort of reminds me of plastic surgeons who claim silicone breast implants have the same look and feel as the real deal.

Re:Realistically

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Not to mention really ugly and hard to use. What a bargain.

I hearby coin a new term

[SuperKendall]

"Blue note of death"

Re:Geeks don't understand fashion

[CentaurisII]

As for Microsoft being cool? Yep, it's called MSN Messenger, and if any computer doesn't have it, it's NOT cool. *cough* *barf*

Don't believe me? Remove MSN Messenger from an average teenager's Internet-Connected PC and wait for them to scream bloody murder. Oh, and download it again.

The Microsoft Marketing Machine continues....

Re:Look and Feel

[megalogeek]

640KB is enough for me, you insensitive clod!

-- James

vaporware...

[0WaitState]

The Microsoft music player will feature a complete selection of air guitar tunes, encoded in the new MT format.

Re:Geeks don't understand fashion

[cft_128]

Geeks do not, by their very nature, understand fashion.

My imaginary girlfriend would totally agree with you if she didn't live in Canada.

Re:Loss Leader

[John Newman]

Except there's already another monopolistic group determined to make an obscene profit on the music sales, who will probably not appreciate being squeezed by MS. But if MS wants to get into a licensing brawl with the RIAA, part of me thinks "go for it".

Re:Price is too low?

[NutscrapeSucks]

They could also comprimise on the form factor a little. For example, one of these [ebay.com] could be adapted into an "iPod-Killer" for less than $50.

Who cares if they lose money...

[nonameisgood]

they'll make it up on volume!

--
Anyone else notice that MS stock is going for less than Apple?

At Long Last!

[qkw]

finally, a device that allows me to play my BMP files anywhere I want!

Inexpensive mobile MPEG players? Look out.

[br0d]

Time to hire more janitors and double the amount of toilet paper in all public bathrooms.

Sneak Peek...

[Dr. Mojura]

Apparently someone got their grubby little hands on a beta version of Microsoft's iPod killer [hotandfruity.com]. I must say, it's very stylish, and I wouldn't mind losing the portability of my iPod to show off this baby. Hot!

Re:Competition?

[jhunsake]

Uh yeah, you just made the same joke. Dumbass.

Re:Price is too low?

[TechniMyoko]

I doubt you'd need windows. Considering its microsoft it's safe to assume it'll actlike a normal USB mass storage device with FAT32 file system. Plus MS seems to like Macintosh, so that'll be supported. And MS may not wish to piss the linux ppl off, so may toss them a bone too. Plus they'd love linux people to like MS stuff.

Simple Explanation

[stephentyrone]

"Microsoft will begin selling ... later this year"

So, under the usual microsoft meaning of "later this year", this product will actually hit store shelves in 2007, by which time the iPod mini will sell for $60, and archos will make a HD player that sells for $40. So, yeah, $50 seems about right.

Re:Competition?

[N1KO]

Oh! A sarcasm detector! That's really useful!

Is MS doing the OS on this iPod look alike?

[ITR81]

If so get ready for bugs, blue screens of death, reboots, and viruses.

I doubt it will compete with the next gen of iPods.

Re:Is there any way

[Dachannien]

If you've ever spent hours on end staring at and fondling your iPod, then the Microsoft audio alternative is for you!

Dunno what you're gonna do if you actually want to *listen* to the damn thing....

Re:Is there any way

[Babbster]

...if you think $50 is significantly less. $50 is how much a dinner for two costs

I think you might be shopping at the wrong grocery store.

Re:Is there any way

[Anonymous Coward]

"You ask, I deliver."

Yeah, you bring t3h b00lshitz in t3h buck3tz.

"Firstly, In terms of sales, Xbox is second. Gamecube is third. PS2 is first, and not surprisingly, as they had a two year head start on the pair.

Leave it to an obvious American to throw the rest of the planet out the window.

In terms of installed base for current game-specific systems, the PS2 generation of Playstation consoles is first. The GameBoy Advance generation of GameBoy handhelds is second. The GameCube generation of Nintendo consoles is third (you're not wrong about that). But the Xbox generation of Microsoft consoles is fourth.

"Secondly, in terms of capability, Xbox is the winner, hands down. It's simply a more powerful machine than the PS2, with better graphics, an internal hard-drive, an internal network adapter, 4 controler slots compared to PS2's 2, has the ability to rip your own music to the hard drive, et cetera, et al,"

Right. MS bleeds money on each Xbox sold, considering the costly components included with each one. They are buying their first generation of customers like champs.

"ad infinitum."

Oh, I get it: Fanboy!

"Again, not surprising, as the PS2 is a two year older design, and Gamecube went the budget route."

YES. MS has ensured that returns on console sales are of quaternary concern (behind market penetration, market perception, and software sales). This is different from the established players.

"Thirdly, the reason you've only heard Halo included with 'good game' and 'Xbox' was because you're not a console gamer."

I'd like to point out that there are other reasons that it could be the case. I've been a console gamer for 25 years (and that's not some stupid fanboy inflated number that equates to the number of years I've been alive, that's the number of years that I've been actively playing console games, starting with my Sears 2600 clone). When my circle of gamer friends talks about Xbox, more often than not, they are talking about Halo.

"Otherwise you'd have heard Splinter Cell,"

Cross-platform

"Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow,

Announced to be completely cross-platform (like the first) by early July

"Knights of the Old Republic,"

Cross-platform

"Crimson Skies,"

Propeller Arena

"as well as plenty of cross-platform games like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Grand Theft Auto 3/Vice City (The last three all have better graphics on the Xbox than the PS2 counterpart)."

But not better than their PC counterparts.

Strange that your list of Xbox hits is composed entirely of cross-platform games, plus one flying game that's derived not so subtly from a Sega arcade flyer.

"So yes. You're talking out of your ass."

Well said. Oh, you weren't talking about yourself? My bad!

Re:I hearby coin a new term

[mehtars]

Thats c#

Re:Rio Karma

[tyrione]

That's, "Sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls" to you.

Re:Is there any way

[Anonymous Coward]

As a geek...

Uh huh....

Apple, a company of relatively small size and resources can make computers and electronics more aesthetically pleasing than atlest half the women I've dated

Uh huh... :-)

Re:No .ogg, no sale.

[filmsmith]

You can verify this? You've actually requested OGG and they've said "NO! You didn't buy our product so we're not listening! LALALALALALALALALALA!!!!!1!"?

...or are you just jumping to conclusions?

fs