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Microsoft Launches Portable Music Player

Posted by CowboyNeal on 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."

4 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. It's Out WHEN? by MBCook · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ...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.

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
  2. Re:Far too little, far too late by tekiegreg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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*).

    --
    ...in bed
  3. Re:Well my friend... by tgibbs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My business faces ruin. CD sales have dropped through the floor. People aren't buying half as many CDs as they did just a year ago.

    I'm buying more CDs than I was a year ago. But I'm not buying them from stores, I'm buying them through Amazon.com or half.com, mostly used. CDs I'd never consider at new prices, I'll readily buy used. Most stores focus on selling expensive new CDs, and the used titles are stuffed halfhazard into a bin in a corner.

  4. The difference between Apple and Microsoft by weave · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.