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Microsoft's Take on iTunes for Windows

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hello-mr-kettle-meet-mr-pot dept.

Skruffy writes "The Register has an amusing article about Microsoft's reaction to the launch of Apple's iTunes software on Windows. It seems that Microsoft is very keen to warn its users of the dangers of using a service that would restrict them from accessing music from other sources... Oh the irony."

18 of 588 comments (clear)

  1. which means they see it as a threat? by westcourt_monk · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I think MS might be worried here. Apple has product placement now and it has the cool factor. MS will have a hard time breaking into the market for sure now. Their stance on DRM makes their AAC criticism look foolish. Do they not have a public relations office?

    If Apple hits the 10 million mark by Christmas I will be impressed, MS will be scared, and the RIAA might start to be quiet.. maybe.

    --
    I am going to hell and I am going to take all of you with me.
    1. Re:which means they see it as a threat? by Luscious868 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I think MS might be worried here.

      Two things. First, you're completely right. Anytime Microsoft or any Microsoft employee talks about "choice" with a straight face then there is definitely something going on.

      Second, they should be worried. I downloaded iTunes when it was released and immediately started using it as my main media player / jukebox. After buying some tracks from the iTMS I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new 40 GB iPod from the Apple store. Granted I had wanted to buy some kind of MP3 player for a while but I was heavily leaning toward one of the 128 or 256 MB flash players. I had absolutely no intention of buying a hard drive based MP3 player and definitely nothing as expensive as even the 10 GB iPod. After using iTunes and the iTMS and reading about how great people thought the iPod was I decided to go with the iPod. I had it shipped overnight and spent the entire weekend ripping my CD collection to MP3 in iTunes and playing around with the iPod. After a few days I can say that I am thoroughly impressed with both products and my satisfaction with them will result in having to take a serious look at a Mac the next time I buy a computer.

      The iPod, while expensive, is such a great product. I can take my whole music collection with me where everywhere I go. The batter lasts 7 - 8 hours, it can be charged to 80% capacity in an hour (it takes about 4 for 100%) and it's small enough to fit comfortably in my pocket. The user interface makes it easy to interact with. It comes with a dock that has a line out jack so I can hook it into my stereo or take it with me to a friends and hook it into their equipment. With the car adaptor kit I can use it in my car.

      The iPod also acts as a portable hard drive and a mini PDA. Setting the it up as a portable hard drive takes one click in iTunes. I had to buy the USB adaptor and a cable but now I can use the iPod to transfer files between my PC at work and my computer at home. You can also export your contact and appointment information from Outlook and store it in the iPod. It's even easier if you have a Mac as iSync can automatically sync your contact and calendar information for you.

      I'm thrilled to death with the iTunes / iPod combo and I don't recall ever feeling this way about anything Microsoft has produced. So, to summarize, I think Microsoft is scared and they very well should be. I'm a happy Apple customer who will consider buying other Apple products in the future. Before iTunes and the iPod I wouldn't have even considered buying a Mac, or anything else produced by Apple.

      Microsoft won't be able to one up Apple anytime soon by bundeling their Music Store / Jukebox with the next version of Windows because Longhorn is still such a long way off. That means that Microsoft is going to actually have to compete with Apple on the merits of it's own software and DRM format. That's going to be increadibly hard to do.

  2. Re:What I'm afraid of ... by Lane.exe · · Score: 3, Interesting
    But Napster 2 sucks. There was a review on /. the other day, and the poor reviewer couldn't get his machine to stop crashing when he attempted to open it. Plus, Windoze users seem to have taken to iTunes like a duck to water (my girlfriend is probably buying music right now). iTunes is here to stay, and I wouldn't be surprised if it had a monopoly on pay-for-play services within a year.

    --
    IAALS.
  3. Feds, states question XP's music link by GillBates0 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    In related news:

    Federal and state regulators have voiced concern that a feature in Windows XP that involves online music purchasing may violate terms of Microsoft's antitrust settlement.

    The issue surfaced in a court-mandated briefing filed jointly by Microsoft and federal and state regulators. The compliance update says there are ongoing discussions over the "Shop for Music Online" feature in the operating system.

    "Plaintiffs are concerned that the feature invokes Microsoft's Internet Explorer, rather than the user's chosen default browser, in a manner that may be inconsistent" with the settlement, according to the filing.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  4. BuyTunes by n0wak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I tried to buy, er, tunes on buytunes.com once, but all I got was:

    Thank you for visiting BuyMusic.com.

    In order to take full advantage of BuyMusic.com's offerings you must be on a Windows Operating System using Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher.

    All for using Firebird. News flash: Microsoft browser monopoly too restrictive. Asses.

  5. More interesting by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is that Microsoft is already being checked up on for their upcoming music service:

    http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2003/10/20/microsof t/index.html.

    Microsoft's idea of "choice" is a button on the side that reads "Buy Music Online". Even if you tell the system "I prefer another browser to yours", or "I prefer another media player to yours", you get sent to the "Microsoft Music Store".

    No way to override that unless you manually start up a separate program to begin with. Looks like you can't just delete that little button from the OS.

    Imagine the phone call when some irate customer calls Apple and says "I clicked this Buy Music Button on my computer and I can't play it with this iTunes thing! What kind of scam are you pulling!"

    Ah, yes - Microsoft, that bastion of choice and freedom! (Well, as long as you choose a Microsoft solution, of course.)

    --
    52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
  6. Re:What I'm afraid of ... by DrEldarion · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeah, but how many home users actually install service packs or upgrade media player? I'd say at least a good 85% of home Windows users don't even know how to get to Windows update.

    Unless it comes in one of the auto-updates (which I really doubt they'd do), I don't think they'd be able to actually get it to a significant amount of people through an update.

    -- Dr. Eldarion --

  7. irony no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    why dont i see any criticism for
    apple$ software with apple only product use.
    microsoft products at least work with other
    vendor products, not only their own hardware (MS from what i know does not have any hardware). I find slashdots criticisms blatantly hypocritical. If MS had MSTunes with wma only music being sold there would be no sympathy on this board. But what makes you people support apple so blindly. makes no sense to me. We should essentially be critical of ALL propietary non-free things.

    I'm supporting MS here, cause at least they dont sell MS hardware. Apple sells their crap on their own hardware. They monopolize more so than MS.
    What IRONY ? MS monopolizes only the software windows end, so what?. Apple monopolizes everything, hardware, software, periperhal products, retail (Apple Stores).
    yeah flamebait me, I dont care.

  8. iTunes can't play WMA by mblase · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Microsoft's #1 complaint, although unspoken, is that while iTunes can play downloaded MP3s, it can't play the DRM'ed WMA files that Microsoft promotes. In that sense, it's at odds with Microsoft's designs. Songs downloaded from iTMS only play on iTunes and iPod players, while WMA songs downloaded from other legal services can't and probably never will.

    In that sense, it's iTMS vs. every other MS-sponsored service, and iPods vs. every other MS-sponsored player. However, Apple hasn't closed the format. It's just as possible for other download services and MP3 player manufacturers to support AAC just like iTMS and the iPod do. They simply don't at this time.

  9. Re:OK... by stanmann · · Score: 2, Interesting

    See the COngressional ruling IRT Betamax and time/media shifting... It it "legal" for me to record TV shows on my computer, it is not "legal" for me to download the same show from the interweb while watching it on TV.

    --
    Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
  10. And in the bright dazzling future... by TyrranzzX · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Accuse me of trolling and mod me down if you must, but you've always got to look into the future.

    Well, lez see, I'd bet Microsoft will use their OS monopoly to get a monopoly on selling music online...then I can also see since media formats have always been proprietary cept' for ogg of course, I can see the windows DRM being used with media player to restirct which formats windows can utilize. So in the distant future, we'll see that microsoft's WMA format becoming the de-facto standard amongst windows users. Stupid people will have to buy their media and probably can't rip their CD's, while smart people will use something else like linux or mac.

    Combine microsoft deciding they don't like competition from p2p apps or other formats with their autoupdating patch system and you've got them eliminating windows machines from the p2p scene altogether. Heck, they might even be brazen enough to do something like brilliant did awhile ago and use users machines as nodes in the network so they don't have to pay for bandwidth to host their website, patches, or anything else for that matter. Mmmm..viral microsoft patches....

    I don't trust apple either, they've done their share of stupid monopolistic stuff too, so it'll be interesting to see MS and apple fight.

    --


    Candy-Coated Knowledge

  11. What's the Difference? by mojoNYC · · Score: 2, Interesting
    now that iTunes and the iPod are available for wintel, maybe some of the windoze dittoheads will realize there IS a difference in how Apple products work--how many times in the past have we all heard, 'bbbbbut, we also have a music player app (media player app, video editing app, etc) that does the same thing...does it really?;>

    -mojo

  12. Re:Laugh all you want... by slashd'oh · · Score: 2, Interesting
    you can easily press "Next track" on the iPod while driving, but it's hard to change CDs, and CD changers are expensive and only hold 6-10 CDs

    I own a large-capacity portable and I think an oft-overlooked feature is the ability to shuffle your entire collection, not just one, two, or ten discs. Plus, there's practically no delay between the tracks as opposed to waiting for the cd-player to change discs. I love the ability to just press play and hear a tune I hadn't thought of in a long while.

    Now, I just wish my player had a rating system like the iPod!

  13. Lack of choices??? by jmors · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Ok Microsoft, you had plenty of notice ahead of time that Apple was going to release the iTunes Music Service on the Windows platform. So, you believe it is restircted and a bad choice? Then I challenge you, Microsoft, to bring to market a truly OPEN system with a better selection. It is easy to criticise, give us something better, something that doesn't force us to use Microsoft proprietary media formats, something that really allows us to use our music puchases as we should be able to use something that we bought and OWN.

    I'd say that Apple has done an excellent job of mixing ease of use and purchase with reasonable restrictions to satisfy the music companies. So, if you can't SHOW us a truly open choice that is better, keep your FUD to yourselves!

    Thank you Apple, I think iTMS is great!

    --
    The Matrix is real... but I'm only visiting!
  14. Re:Is There an Easy Way to Window Shop at I-Tunes? by schmink182 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I, for one, agree with you that it would be nice to know what you're getting into before downloading. I'm not sure why everyone is so up-in-arms about letting you see what the selection is, but it seems like a legitimate complaint. If you have a very specific taste in music, for example, it could just be a waste of time downloading and installing iTunes just to uninstall it a few minutes later.

  15. Re:OK... by Technician · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Both Apple and MS are using something other than industry standard MP3's making both incompatible with both my car and my portable. I guess I'm stuck with the shiny silver disks and my favorite ripping program.

    Too bad the industry doesn't get it that it is possible to sell high quality MP3's from a reliable quality source and compete with free. The bottled water industry gets it. They compete well against tap water. The music industry doesn't get it. Bottled water is drinkable out of the bottle or in your favorite glass. DRM files are not playable in my car or my portable player. Sombody please release a quality compatable & reliable pure source.

    --
    The truth shall set you free!
  16. Re:"Limited Selection" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The thing with Quicktime 4, 5, 6 is the darn slider thing will lock up your system if you keep sliding it around. What good is the slider-thingy if you can't slide it around to hunt for the actual nasty part of the .mov file you downloaded from alt.binaries.multimedia.playboy

    The big litmus test for iTunez will be if the darn slider thing won't hose the entire Windoze environment. I think if Apple can overcome the whole "very pretty but non-functional" problem then they will gain some serious traction amongst all us Windoze gomers. Are you hearing me Jobs, the app must work.

    The whole notion that Windows people are such sophisticates that they care about AAC files or OGG support is just plain silly. Although 128bit artifacts of songs may suck when compared to even the lowly WMA at the same bitrate. The iPod is another really pretty product, but it's darn expensive. Give me a cheap CDR MP3 player and my 14-cent media and I'm off.

  17. he may have a point (bear with me) by MORTAR_COMBAT! · · Score: 2, Interesting

    OK what I'm about to say sounds very strange coming out of my mouth... but here goes.

    I think Fester has a point.

    Using Windows Media Player, I can play DRM tunes from BuyMusic.com, Napster, and other stores which use WMA DRM (of which he purported there are several others). I can send those same DRM tunes to various supporting hardware.

    Using iTunes, I can play DRM tunes from ... iTunes. I can send those same DRM tunes to ... iPod.

    All that said ....

    I have a .WMA song I bought from BuyMusic.com, and a .M4P song I bought from iTunes. I can't play them both in a single player. To me, that's both Microsoft's and Apple's problem to solve. Apple can probably "solve" it by allowing third party hackers to write a Quicktime plugin for WMA. I wonder how Microsoft plans to solve the fact that their Media Player can't play the most popular DRM format (in terms of number of downloads) for music?

    --
    MORTAR COMBAT!