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Microsoft Media Music

Microsoft Launches Portable Music Player 382

Posted by CowboyNeal from the crowded-marketplaces dept.
prostoalex writes "Microsoft announced Portable Media Center, a digital music player, to be available in the second half of 2004. The announcement follows Dell's foray into portable digital music. Microsoft plans to license their software for the Media Center to third-party manufacturers as well. Samsung Electronics, Sanyo, ViewSonic, and iRiver are already on the list. The actual Microsoft-branded devices are promised to start at $350."
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Microsoft Launches Portable Music Player More

Microsoft Launches Portable Music Player

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  • Well, does it?

    • Re:Does it support ogg vorbis? (Score:5, Funny)

      by bryhhh ( 317224 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:31PM (#7353171)
      That's about as likely as it running a Linux kernel.

      • lix the x-box? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by QEDog ( 610238 )
        That's about as likely as it running a Linux kernel.

        You mean like the X-Box?

    • Re:Does it support ogg vorbis? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      No, it only works with mp3 and their own proprietary secure format that nobody else uses. Their version for the other major platform screws up some computers so badly they won't boot and can't even be repaired. The earlier version of the management software erased some people's entire hard drives (on their own platform!) and their shoddy QA department missed this. You're probably better off with one of the other players that work with multiple portables and multiple media jukebox progr.....

      Hey, wait a s

  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Oen_Seneg ( 673357 ) * on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:29PM (#7353152)
    Are we going to see a blog photo of 50-odd iPods being delivered to Redmond in the next few weeks?
    • Well, someone allready suggested this in a reply [slashdot.org] to that article.
      It remains to be seen if he is going to get fired as well ;-)

  • Far too little, far too late (Score:4, Funny)

    by GMFTatsujin ( 239569 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:31PM (#7353167) Homepage
    In *2004*???

    I'd been holding out on buying a MP3-enabled device until Microsoft put one out. Thank goodness the wait is almost* over!

    GMFTatsujin
    * For high values of "almost"

    • Re:Far too little, far too late (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tekiegreg ( 674773 ) * <tekieg1-slashdot@yahoo.com> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:40PM (#7353280) Homepage Journal
      I was thinking that myself, anyone else but me think the market is just a little saturated right now? What does MS offer that nobody else does in the digital music market? Better rights control for the artist? Better for them I presume but won't help sales much...somehow this digital music player will have to find a niche that helps people.

      Either that or maybe, as usual, the MS brand will make the music player sell like hotcakes (though at the same time MS isn't without it's failures aka MS Bob...*shiver*).

      • The artists signing record deals pretty much destroy 'Better rights control for the artist', don't they?

        sure, it's a nit, but Sony or BMG is by far not an 'artist' unless you put the word 'con' in front of it.

      • MS Technology (Score:5, Funny)

        by DrCode ( 95839 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:01PM (#7353485)
        Don't you know: Portable music players haven't been invented until Microsoft comes up with one.

        (I think it was Petreley who came up with this notion.)
      • What does MS offer that nobody else does in the digital music market?

        Perhaps (and this is only a perhaps) the MS product will have superior integration with XP, in the way that the iPod has been successfully integrated with Apple's OS, and support for WMA files, and an iTunish online product that works well with XP also.

        I'll judge it when it comes out.

        Also, keep in mind that while the "too little, too late" argument may work for you (and more power to you when it does) it doesn't work for the people who
      • Salesman: So do you use MS Windows on your PC? Yes? Then you'll want this MS MP3 player. You see, they work better together. Why, I once heard this problem with a non-MS MP3 player from my cousin's friend's coworker's son's maths teacher's....

    • Re:Far too little, far too late (Score:5, Funny)

      by mcc ( 14761 ) <amcclure@purdue.edu> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:00PM (#7353476) Homepage
      My first thought was that they were holding off on releasing it until the release of the X-box 2.

      My second thought, and the one I finally settled on, is that this supposed portable music player will BE the x-box 2.

      -----

      "So we were sitting around at meeting, and someone said, hey, you know, that handheld gaming market is really heating up, what with the GBA2 and the Sony PCP coming out next year. We really ought to throw something in so that we've got a presence in that market too. So we were sitting there trying to figure out what the hypothetical R&D costs would be, but then Rob, you remember Rob, he designed the X-Box controller, he says, "hey, we're doing prototyping, and the X-Box 2 only weighs 6 pounds. that's less than a two-year-old child. Why don't we just do some rebranding, slap some buttons on the side, and release the X-box 2 as a portable game system?" And we got to thinking about it, and we realized, hey, that's a really great idea. Because look at all the things the X-Box 2 can do that the other handhelds can't. You can watch DVDs on it. You can record TV shows on it. You can do LAN play against other X-Box 2s. You can use it as a wireless way to browse the net and use MSN messenger with your friends [aslongasyouareatthemoment pluggedintoabroadbandconnection byanethernetcable]. But the kicker was when we realized, hey, you can use it as a WMA player. That's a broadside RIGHT AT the iPod. I tell you, when we release this baby, Apple's going to be running scared."

  • Nice features (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:31PM (#7353180)
    It supports mp3, wma, and 0E formats. It also can play video and show pictures. I hear the visualization for IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL is quite soothing.
  • 1. Microsoft is evil, therefore the device will explode and kill you if it detects improperly copied material.

    2. Another music player...so what?

    3. Blue screen of death in audio form?

    4. Don't mention Microsoft and Licensing in the same sentence.

  • It's Out WHEN? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:32PM (#7353194) Homepage
    ...to be available in the second half of 2004.

    So why should I care again? By then another revision or two of the iPod will come out and it will only get better. Dell will have improved their product, so will Creative, and everyone else in the industry.

    MS may make nice hardware (their mice, keyboards, and joysticks are all great), but why should I care? Tell me next summer and I might listen, but is there ANYONE who is even thinking of buying an MP3 player that won't because of this announcement? I doubt it.

    • Re:It's Out WHEN? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:38PM (#7353257) Homepage Journal
      They released a web browser long after everyone else already had, too. Look where we are today.

      As usual, release 1 will suck and release 2 will kill all competition after Microsoft starts implanting them in babies.

      • Re:It's Out WHEN? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by pavon ( 30274 )
        They released a web browser long after everyone else already had, too. Look where we are today.

        The difference is that they won't be giving away free copies of thier hardware with every computer. A more apt analogy would be the xbox. With billions of dollars, smart programmers, and the cooporation of the best hardware companies in the world, yes you can come from nowhere and compete with todays' top players.
      • They released a web browser long after everyone else already had, too. Look where we are today.

        Yep - amazing, isn't it? And, again, MS proved that they can screw up yet another segment, bringing proprietary technology into an area that was supposed to stick with open standards...

        Then there's the Xbox - a perfectly good PC that can only run one good game (KOTOR).

        Gotta love blind, capitalistic companies who can't figure out what thing to screw up next...

    • RTA: Software, not Hardware (Score:5, Interesting)

      by kylef ( 196302 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @09:34PM (#7354505)

      Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the first sentence in the article clearly states that "Portable Media Center 2004" is a piece of software, not a new hardware device:

      MICROSOFT is jumping into the portable media market, launching software for a new line of mobile devices designed to free digital content from a computer and play music, videos and photos on the go.

      It sounds like MS is developing platform software for such devices and will license the platform to the actual hardware vendors (Dell, iRiver, SonicBlue, etc). This seems similar to the kind of relationship Microsoft has with its Smartphone manufacturers: Microsoft supplies the software, Motorola et al. supply the gadgets.

  • Future-proofing? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Carnildo ( 712617 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:34PM (#7353209) Homepage Journal
    What will happen to people using these things when Microsoft deprecates the WMA format, just like they did with the AVI format?

    • Re:Future-proofing? (Score:3, Informative)

      by AuMatar ( 183847 )
      Having just written avi support for an embedded platform, I can honestly say AVI is nowhere near dead. A lot of digital cameras use it for video.

  • Ut-oh... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ianoo ( 711633 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:36PM (#7353226) Journal
    Sounds like Windows CE all over again. Sure, it won't be any good until 2008, but after that, better throw those damned IPods away!

    I also find it slightly unbelievable that it plays MP3, a DRM-less media. I thought Microsoft assumed all customers wanted DRM (which is why it's going to feature so much in Longhorn!). Don't tell me they've actually come to their senses and realised that no-one is going to buy a device that only plays licensed music!

  • Beware the exchange rate (Score:5, Informative)

    by fiannaFailMan ( 702447 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:36PM (#7353228) Journal
    From the article:
    The iPod comes in three models, ranging from $529 to $799, depending on capacity.
    Must be tallking in Ozzie dollars. According to Apple's website it goes from $299 to $499 in US money.

  • Joy! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by LordSah ( 185088 ) * on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:36PM (#7353233)
    more portable MP3 players = more features to choose from in the market + lower prices

    Even if MS's player is crap, we'll win.

    • Re:Joy! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Frymaster ( 171343 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:45PM (#7353327) Homepage Journal
      Even if MS's player is crap, we'll win.

      maybe... but you might lose too. if ms can manage to leverage their desktop os monopoly to favour their music player to the exclusion of others your much-vaunted consumer-choice will actually be decreased.

      name two web browsers with a market share greater than 1%.

  • Add Creative to that list (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tedDancin ( 579948 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:38PM (#7353250)
    Here's the press release [microsoft.com].

    Interesting to note that Creative is on the list. Will we be seeing a (more) bastardized version of the Nomad?
  • Now if someone would come out with an MP3 player that fit in your car stereo slot, and cost less than $300, I'd buy it in a minute. I listen to most of my music in the car, but carrying around a bunch of CDs is more trouble than it's worth. It doesn't seem like it would be that much more expensive to make, but who knows.
  • Why is Microsoft trying to get into the consumer hardware biz all of a sudden? Is there really that large of a market for them to make a decent profit off this or are they simply introducing this to hype there upcoming media box (XBox 2)? I personally still see no point in buying any handheld compressed music player until on has ogg support. I know I'm in the minority on this one but I have major problems being tied to a single vendor (WMA, AAC) and gaps between songs (mp3). I guess I'll just have to wait f
      1. Strong integration of hardware and software DRM
      2. As a hedge against OSS taking market share from MS software
      3. Part of their sinister "World Domination" plot
    • Wow, one of these days I'll carefully read the article before posting. It's not hardware but software which is more in line with Microsoft's current PocketPC and media center strategies. This of course brings up another question: Why would iRiver plan to use this software when they already have a decent in-house solution? Why would any company out source the very thing that could separate them from the herd? I guess being able to throw you support behind your hardware/design guys is nice but is it the be al

  • Did anyone RTFA??? (Score:5, Informative)

    by christopher240240 ( 633932 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:41PM (#7353292)
    Including the author? This is not a piece of Microsoft hardware...

  • iPod prices in Canadian - Dell in American funds (Score:3, Interesting)

    by willy_me ( 212994 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:42PM (#7353294)
    This makes the cost comparison slightly misleading. One American dollar is about 1.50 Canadian.
  • I think this is going to hinge on who has the best media player. According to this survey [osviews.com], iTunes has them all beat.

    (If Microsoft's player doesn't favor WMP, it might have a better chance IMHO)

    Regardless, the ipod is the leader in MP3 players anyways. I don't see why anyone would switch.

  • All your Base... (Score:5, Funny)

    by GSVNoFixedAbode ( 398577 ) <.zn.oc.se. .ta. .dnalyh.fg.> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:42PM (#7353299) Homepage
    and Treble are belong to us
  • Is this a demonstration of the "innovation" that we hear so much about coming out of Redmond?

  • Use the new music format... (Score:3, Funny)

    by khenson ( 706671 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:44PM (#7353317)
    Instead of pirated WMA files use the new WMD format - the U.S. government has a hard time finding them on your system...
  • Why can't they merge these two devices? How hard would it really be to strap a 15 gig hard drive and lithium battery to the back of an existing pda board, add an mp3 decoder and make a really small, lightweight portable device that you can listen to music on. The iPod is definitely the leader on this.. but where it's a black and white lcd, and it's small, your productivity is pretty much nil. Add this feature and it's the next purchase I make (along with some of that nicely priced iTunes songs...)
  • More innnovation from Redmond.

    Now, if they could just invent an online store where I could donwload songs electronically and burn them to a CD.
  • Fall 2004? This is like a full year away! And you know how M$ keeps pushing release dates away, this might end up in 2005!

    If I remember correctly, the iPod project went from idea to finished product in less than 8 months. Now that's speedy!

  • In Other Security News Today... (Score:4, Funny)

    by morelife ( 213920 ) <f00fbugNO@SPAMpostREMOVETHISman.at> on Thursday October 30, 2003 @06:57PM (#7353442)
    Dateline August 23, 2004

    Microsoft released Service Pack 9a for its Portable Media Center music device today, much to the relief of hundreds of thousands of Donny and Marie Osmond fans whose music files were being stolen by remote Chinese Linux users using an exploit recently found in the device's Portable Media Messenger Service.

    Although Microsoft was quick to release the Security fix, they are still working hard to enlist other popluar music artists (besides Donny and Marie) into their roster of DRM'd Pay-for-Play music.

  • it is becoming even more obvious that microsoft realizes that its old model, i.e. box software sales and license fees is ending. not next week, nor next year. but microsoft clearly is looking at the long term, as they frequently do. which is interesting that most US companies don't. anyways, they are looking at 5 years from now. where is the IT world going. who knows, but will it be radically different. and microsoft has a few things going for them:

    1) TONS of cash to weather some, many, screw ups.
  • Somehow all this is beginning to remind me of Record Club of America...

    So for small monthy payments you can buy this device but because we run a free embedded version of Linux on it we can better compete price wise with they likes of Apple and MS..... OR give you so many free songs to get you going, which you will receive so many dl credits for upon the receipt of each of your payments.

    Where the free songs are paid out of the savings we get from using embedded linux.
  • Wow, that's a lot of notice. Maybe they just wanted to announce something since everyone else was.

  • Photoshop (Score:3, Funny)

    by blackmonday ( 607916 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:08PM (#7353551) Homepage
    Break out the Photoshop fark-style, it's time to add some groovy DJ headphones to the Slashdot bill gates cyborg icon. Who's down with DRM? Every last homie!

  • No No No (Score:3, Informative)

    by Cyberllama ( 113628 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:10PM (#7353568)
    Microsoft announced an *operating* system for media players -- primarily for use in PVP's (personal video players). This is basically a stripped down windows CE. They didn't announce an actual player (To be manufactured by them).

  • Stupid headline! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by danielsfca2 ( 696792 )
    Headline: Microsoft Launches Portable Music Player
    Definition: Launch: To actually start selling something, as in "Apple launched Mac OS 10.3 Panther last Friday."

    Article: Microsoft Announces....to be available in the second half of 2004.
    Definition: Announce: To promise that someday you will develop something.

    This is great. Microsoft to users: "Don't buy an iPod...we'll have a poor substitute that sucks and has support for crippled DRM WMAs from places like 'Napster' 2.0 and the rest of the lame new d

  • Second half of 2004? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Aqua OS X ( 458522 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:24PM (#7353706)
    Wow... good luck at catching up to Apple by 2004.

    • All that is AFTER the Pepsi promotion - 100 million songs (and thus millions of new users) from iTunes.

      Apple did say they always thought the online music world would boil down to them and Microsoft - I think they were correct.

  • Microsoft Innovates Again (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mek2600 ( 677900 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @07:34PM (#7353807) Homepage Journal
    Man, it's nice to see Microsoft coming up with some more new innovative items. Next thing they'll come out with is the first ever digital camera!

  • Blue Screen? (Score:2, Funny)

    by neoform ( 551705 )
    if windows blue screens, the xbox green screens.. what with this one do?

  • The difference between Apple and Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)

    by weave ( 48069 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @08:01PM (#7353967) Journal
    Microsoft loves to pre-announce stuff years in advance. Apple goes to great pains to keep things secret until about the last minute so Steve can grandstand in front of the fans.

    Maybe that's why there's always so much excitement when something new comes out from Apple and when Microsoft releases something, it's no big deal.

    • Well, I think Microsoft does this because they know that people will wait for their products. Look at windows 95... People could have upgraded to OS/2 long before windows 95 came out, but chose to wait for windows.

      Mostly I think its because people are afraid of computers and don't want to switch to something different because "it might break it". This way of thinking is whyt microsoft is the powerhouse it is today.

      With Macs, well their customers worship Apple and would never even consider diverging from

  • Just what I need.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by plazman30 ( 531348 ) on Thursday October 30, 2003 @11:16PM (#7355133) Homepage
    An MP3 player than can give me a BSOD and will have IE force bundled with it. Hurray! Where do I sign up?

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