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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."

13 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. Say what you want about Microsoft... by andih8u · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ...their hardware is always really nice.

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    1. Re:Say what you want about Microsoft... by macshit · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Huh? The xbox is clunky, huge, and looks like the industrial design was done by the programmers. It was clearly thrown together quickly from stock parts.

      Apple, of course, is completely the opposite, and one of the reasons people buy things like the ipod is the great design (aesthetic, ergonomic, and otherwise).

      Somehow I think usoft's tagline is going to have to be something like `It doesn't suck too much, and -- hey -- Windows!'

      --
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    2. Re:Say what you want about Microsoft... by redgopher · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The Xbox was not designed to be portable, it was designed to kick ass. How else are you going to fit a 733MHz Celeron PC into a console? Curve the damn thing into a hemisphere?

      We're not talking about product design, we're talking about performance and functionality. That's where Apple fails to meet my needs in terms of personal computers. I'm a gamer, and I will *never* use a Mac for gaming again.

      The only thing I'll give Apple at the moment is the iPod (which rocks) and their product design, but aside from that their products are nearly impossible to upgrade (on-board video? wtf!? -- iMac), and I don't care what anyone says... they aren't as fast as my AMD (gigaflops be damned), and certainly not as inexpensive.

      As far as the media player goes, Apple has them beat, I agree 100%. Windows Media and MP3 just plain suck. The iPod would kick even more ass than it currently does (which is a lot) if it supported Ogg Vorbis, but until then, I suppose AAC will work. My speakers in my Geo Metro aren't that great, anyways. And AAC (at higher bitrates, ie 192Kbps and up) sounds pretty damn close to Ogg. Yeah, it may be bigger, but I don't even have *two* gigs of music on my drive... yet.

      "I can smell an Apple enthusiast from a mile away."

      --
      Insert clever one liner here.
  2. Future-proofing? by Carnildo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What will happen to people using these things when Microsoft deprecates the WMA format, just like they did with the AVI format?

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    "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  3. Ut-oh... by Ianoo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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!

    1. Re:Ut-oh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I feel like a lot of folks on Slashdot keep making the assumption that the Longhorn DRM is to fuck you (yes, you, personally) over. In talking to the developers implementing it, I think, and they seem to believe, that the goal is to allow content distributors to control how the content gets distributed. Not to prevent you from distributing your own content (as, in that case, you would be a content distributor, and therefore would have control over distribution). Keep in mind that Microsoft is only adding DRM because *lots* of people have asked them to do so.

  4. Joy! by LordSah · · Score: 2, Interesting

    more portable MP3 players = more features to choose from in the market + lower prices

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

  5. Add Creative to that list by tedDancin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Here's the press release.

    Interesting to note that Creative is on the list. Will we be seeing a (more) bastardized version of the Nomad?

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  6. iPod prices in Canadian - Dell in American funds by willy_me · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This makes the cost comparison slightly misleading. One American dollar is about 1.50 Canadian.

  7. Re:Far too little, far too late by DavidBrown · · Score: 1, Interesting

    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 wake up next year and say "Gee, I'd like an .mp3 player now." Those people shouldn't base their purchasing decision on what was available in the market in October, 2003. They will purchase one of the products available when they are ready to purchase.

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  8. Re:lix the x-box? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It is possible to mod your Xbox in such a way that you can boot it and play Xbox live, even with an enlarged hard drive installed. There are two ways to pull this off; either reflash TSOP with the original BIOS when you want to play Live! games, which will still read larger (though NOT LBA48) drives just fine, or you get a modchip with room for multiple images and an address switch that lets you select the factory one.

    It's a pain in the tuchus, but it does work.

    --
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  9. Re:The difference between Apple and Microsoft by JahToasted · · Score: 2, Interesting
    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 Jobs' Golden Path. And besides with Hardware people tend to buy what's available right now since hardware is always in a state of flux.

  10. RTA: Software, not Hardware by kylef · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.