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MS Launches Video Download Service
renderhead writes "According to ZDNet and many other sources, Microsoft has launched a new video download service for playing back television content on Windows Mobile devices. Partners include CinemaNow, MSNBC.com, and TiVo. According to another article from ployer.com, the service will require Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5 or higher, and Windows Media Player 10 or higher."
Microsoft has launched a new video download service for playing back television content on Windows Mobile devices
What the detail page doesn't say is whether there are commercials in the video you are paying to download (we're paying them to sell us stuff?). Commercial-free television shows would be a huge feature, so if they did not include a statement about it, then you are paying to watch/download commercials. Yikes! If it *is* commercial-free, and they did *not* mention it -- what are we missing? I see TiVo is involved with this project, so I'm guessing it's commercial-free television. But I could of course be mistaken because nobody seems to be talking about it!
A delivery system without decent content is an empty bowl. Microsoft should spend some of those billions for a content firm like Viacom or Time Warner. LLM
Annoy a Conservative...
Have you seen the ratings on MSNBC? Microsoft definitely is a monopolist on the computer desktop, but their cable news network is best described as an unmitigated disaster.
I'm a big tall mofo.
I think there isn't enough information to answer that. If you put *all* technical issues aside...that is, no OS restrictions, no DRM restrictions, etc...then it would depend on the content and the price. Give me the right content for a reasonable price, and sure, I'd buy it from Microsoft.
The catch is that the technical restrictions are part of the heart of the issue. If MS can force other decisions on you if you want to use their system, then that's part of the cost. The cost could be freedom, purchasing MS OSes at $100-200 a pop, and so forth. You can't separate the technical issues here and give a reasonable answer.
My UID is the product of 2 primes.
and what are the goverment going to do about it ?
/aquisitions can continue forever , what happens when there are 3 companies that own it all ? scrap it and start again ?
its really the beginning of the end for capitalism, unless you think these mergers
Have you seen the ratings on MSNBC?
who cares about ratings? , when you are as big and powerful as MS the only thing that matters are
are they profitable
[ ]yes [ ]no
Cable TV is already starting to put commercials on most channels. When people don't stop paying for it in droves enough to cut into profits, it makes sense to their business. They don't particularly care. "Show me the money!" Right? This will likely happen over time with any Internet-based Video-On-Demand service.
The same rule applies with DRM. The MSN Music Assistant controls DRM in your downloads from their services. This has caused problems for some as one might expect (not particularly surprising.) However as long as people are willing to shell out dollars for the product to make them number one, the company has no incentive to change. After all, we don't see Microsoft wooing the Linux crowd, right?
From the ZDNet article:
Is there some rule that states any mobile video must consist of sports clips, news clips and music videos? (Verizon, I'm looking at you with "VCast"). Seriously, everytime legal downloads of video content are discussed on cell phones or from the internet, these three are always mentioned. Well, I don't watch any of that. Does anyone really want to just watch sports clips on their mobile device? I enjoy sports an all, but I don't want to pay just to see a few clips. And music videos? I guess that's to cater to the teen crowd.
When will I be able to legally download an episode of 24? Or some other show that I actually watch? I don't want snippets of video here and there. I want to watch a freakin' show. I guess I'll stick to torrents when I forget to program my VCR.
Forget the whales - save the babies.
"...the service will require Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5 or higher, and Windows Media Player 10..." ...and a United States billing address.
The mitigation is that the MSNBC holding positions MS for content plays like the one we're discussing. It's precisely the bad ratings that tell the story of the other benefits. Otherwise, MS is holding its stake for some kind of charitable benefit?
--
make install -not war
you can run it on multiple portable devices, giving the consumer a CHOICE. You can't say the same about iTunes which locks the consumer into the iPod family. Microsoft allows manufactors to license their DRM, Apple refuses to license Fairplay to manufactors thus removing "the choice" from consumers. I'd pick Microsoft's DRM anyday over Fairplay because I know I can switch to a different device and my PURCHASED content will still work. I'll probably get modded flamebait or troll for pointing out the which DRM allows the consumer a choice.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
Yes, it will be DRM-encumbered and feature at least its fair share of shite: either get over it or don't avail of the service.
More signal, please, and less noise.
I've spent less time with MSFT products than most (OS/2 -> BeOS/Linux -> FreeBSD and now predominantly OS X [with GNU tools all along for the past ~10 years]) and am no apologist, but give the friggin service a chance - OR DON'T - but having a way to easily* pay for, download and play worthwhile video content could very well be ... worthwhile.
Peace, lux, and thanks -
* - "easily" meaning I don't spend hours / days / weeks building, tweaking and searching for content i can "steal" / use without paying for / however you feel good about stating it.
I tried it and it seems all of the shows are pre-packaged, you can't directly choose what you want it just queues them all up for you.
What I'd be willing to pay say $5-$10 per month for is access to say 5 hours of TV per week. One key show I'm craving is The Daily Show, but I don't want to pay $30/m for one show.
Damien
Note: this installation may upgrade the Microsoft Digital Rights Management components on your computer. When you click install, a unique identifier and a DRM security file are sent to a Microsoft-hosted service on the Internet. The file is replaced with a customized version that contains your unique identifier. This increases the level of protection provided by DRM. no thank you, i'll pass!
If there was, it'd be a precedent. Microsoft has never done anything that's "gone to eleven," as far as I can tell.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, write technology blogs.
Nothing is enough for them.
And to think I am stuck using a real DVR when I could just build one in my spare time using off the shelf parts and loads of spare time...
... and get one that does far more than any commercial DVR.
It just depends on what's important to you.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Step 7: Finally admitting that you are a geek and have no problem wasting your time doing what you should be able to do from over the counter solutions.
Face it, NO ONE BESIDES US will put up with the crap you listed above. It ISN'T easy.
Don't waste time... procrastinate now!
If you feel it's unethical not to sit and watch all the ads, are you honestly saying you never get up and go fetch a drink, go to the bathroom, etc?
Competing with "free" seems pretty easy for Starbucks and the bottled water companies.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I, for one, happen to like the following aspect of TV aesthetics:
There are no user interface elements on the screen, because it is devoted to the video itself. There are buttons on the DVD/video player, the TV set, and the remote, but not on the screen.
MPlayer gets this right by not having a GUI in the first place. There is the keyboard somewhere below the screen, just like there's a DVD/video player near the TV screen. In addition I can use a remote if I like. It just makes sense.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.