Microsoft Considering Digital Player To Rival iPod

[moneoa]

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday confirmed that it's considering plans to build its own portable music player to rival Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod

BusinessWeek reported Thursday that the Redmond, Wash., software maker was working on plans to develop its own device, rather than just rely on partners to take on Apple, which is becoming a dominant player in entertainment on the Web. Quoting sources inside the company, the magazine reported that Microsoft had put together a team to consider the business behind such as initiative.

A spokeswoman called the BusinessWeek story "speculation," but confirmed that Microsoft was considering its own music player, along with many other projects stemming from a major reorganization announced last year. "Officially, nothing has been announced," a spokeswoman said. "I don't think anything has been officially decided."

In September, Microsoft reorganized its operations into three divisions, including an Entertainment and Devices Division that was meant to improve the company's ability to provide software and services for mobile devices.

Despite having portable media players before Apple, the iPod has trounced rivals in the market, capturing about three-quarters of sales.

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[moneoa]

God what a DRM infested piece of shit that would be........
I would rather hang myself than buy an over glorified WMA player.

(don't be shocked if that is the default codec)

[Auggie2k]

I remember reading about this recently and all I could think of were two little abbreviated words...

DRM and WMA.

OMG!

[CrashPeer44]

hey hey7 hey i don't think it will be a DRM'd peice of shit, sure it WILL play WMA DRM and WMA but hey when taking on the IPod they need all the MP3 they can get. plus the iPod has DRM shit too.

I hope Microsoft takes this in a good direction for the customers and makes a real goo iPod killer

[boogiedan]

im really impressed with ms coming out wiith this
im by no means an ipod fan
n i would love MS to whoop their arse n bring out some sh.t hot players

[CrashPeer44]

im really impressed with ms coming out wiith this
im by no means an ipod fan
n i would love MS to whoop their arse n bring out some sh.t hot players

yup
MS vs Apple
me thinkie MS could make a comeback!

[mountain_rage]

I dont feel like having to install a virus scanner, firewall, and update my player with patches every week.

[Jorge]

i would buy one if the drm was not an issue. MS has the ability to make some cool stuff.... if they can pull it off is another topic...

[Digital Bliss]

Just great this just means more of those click here and get a free winpod >_<

[Ne007]

Don't put it past microsoft to put out a hack for the software...making it play mp3, mpeg, avi....etc.

[kokanezub]

add ogg and all other forums of audio and ur set

see now their turing to p2p for $ yet want to fight it

[drei]

How about they forget the damn media player and stabilize my WinXP install?!

[fonzbear2000]

what is drm?

[NoneyaD]

If Microsoft were smart, which they seldom are (strange a company can have so many talented individuals and still screw everything up) the would just put a 5GB hard drive on a pocket PC with media capabilites, leave out the phone crap, and give it bluetooth and wifi.

But they aren't smart. They'll spend tons of money on R&D and then still fail, when they could just use their existing technology and trim down some features and build up others.

I'd rather have a PocketPC that held 5GB of whatever I want to put on there, than an ipod.

The ipod is moving towards a more PDA sort of setup anyway.

call it convergence of technology.

Eventually, you'll have a
PDA/Smartphone with 200GB, WIFI, Bluetooth, USB, Firewire, and media player applications with configureable (and replaceable) codecs, a 6 MegaPixel digital camera, and a built in projector for presentations.

but thats not til next month ;)