Microsoft, Sony Announce iPod Competitors

Pfhreak writes "According to the Denver Post -- Las Vegas section, a little over halfway down the page -- Microsoft will begin selling a $50 music player that will 'look and feel as good as the iPod' later this year. Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft VP, is quoted as saying that the player will give customers more choices than Apple." In related news, Tetsugaku-San writes "The Register has the scoop on Sony's new portable audio/visual playback device. Impressively it plays MPEG2, MPEG4, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF and MP3 (finally they got the message Apple was gonna whoop em!) straight out of the box. Not as good battery life as I'd like to see, but real world tests remain to be seen."

Comments

Competition?

[SubTexel]

Finally some competition in Apples handheld audio monopoly? Good to see the underdog(s) stick it to 'em.

Re:Competition?

[N1KO]

Oh! A sarcasm detector! That's really useful!

funny you should mention that

[switcha]

Microsoft will begin selling a $50 music player that will 'look and feel as good as the iPod' later this year.

What a coincidence. Apple's lawyers are already filling out a lawsuit with the very same title!

Ummm ... BMP, GIF, PNG, and TIFF?

[dmarcov]

Impressively it plays MPEG2, MPEG4, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF and MP3

Really? I can't wait to rawk to my .bmp files. I wonder what my desktop wallpaper sounds like.

Re:Ummm ... BMP, GIF, PNG, and TIFF?

[BandwidthHog]

I wonder what my desktop wallpaper sounds like.

bzzzzt, crackle, fft, pssssst, bzzt, ffft, bzzzzzt, pst, eck, bzzzz, bzzzt, psst, crackle, bzzzzt, crackle, pssst, pst, ffft, bzzt, bzzzzzt.

Oh not again, Bill

[BandwidthHog]

Ours will be just like Apple's, only better.

This time we're serious. It's really cool.

Really.

drunken moderation

[Unit3]

It's a fun game! Moderate the first mention of OGG Vorbis as a troll, because, you know, people aren't allowed to express format preferences... and then, moderate the second mention as redundant, because it is too politely worded to be a troll!

Yeah, I know "don't complain about moderation". Good thing this is an open forum and I can complain about retarded moderation if I want.

Silicone Breast Implants

[malia8888]

Microsoft will begin selling a $50 music player that will 'look and feel as good as the iPod' later this year.

Pardon my cynical attitude but I cannot imagine an item that sells for $50 for 20G versus the Apple model for the same size at $399 looking and feeling remotely the same.

I have one of the original 5G iPods. I have used, abused and it runs beautifully. The design and looks are without peer IMHO.

This sort of reminds me of plastic surgeons who claim silicone breast implants have the same look and feel as the real deal.

I hearby coin a new term

[SuperKendall]

"Blue note of death"

Sneak Peek...

[Dr. Mojura]

Apparently someone got their grubby little hands on a beta version of Microsoft's iPod killer. I must say, it's very stylish, and I wouldn't mind losing the portability of my iPod to show off this baby. Hot!