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."

Comments

Tried it

[BoldAC]

Here the link:
http://www.msnvideodownloads.com/

If it's anything like their current web-based service, each free 2-3 minute clip will be preceded by 1 30 minute commerical and 10 seconds of Microsoft ad space.

Plus, it looks like you'll have to sign in with passport.

If you sign-up for the free service, you'll have to agree to "INSTALL THE MSN MUSIC ASSISTANT"

To download videos from MSN Video Downloads, you need to install the Microsoft Music Assistant (the same technology that the MSN Music Service uses), which will download video content and automatically put it into the My Video folder on your computer.
This will take about 20 seconds on broadband, or several minutes by modem. When you click Install, an installation dialog will appear. Click Yes to accept the MSN Music Assistant and proceed.

To download videos from MSN Video Downloads, you need to install the Microsoft Music Assistant (the same technology that the MSN Music Service uses), which will download video content and automatically put it into the My Video folder on your computer.
This will take about 20 seconds on broadband, or several minutes by modem. When you click Install, an installation dialog will appear. Click Yes to accept the MSN Music Assistant and proceed.

On the positive side, it does look like it will have a bunch of stuff from FOOD TV. The more Alton Brown I can get, the better!

Re:Tried it

[DeathFlame]

Excpet the article says you have to pay an annual $19.95 subscription for this. And SOME free content is available too.

Re:Tried it

[BoldAC]

preceded by 1 30 SECOND commerical... sorry...

Re:Tried it

[jarich]

Give me content from the Sci-Fi channel (Battlestar, Stargate), and I'm there!

Where's the list of content?

Re:Tried it

[Trelane]

Step 1 Build mythtv box Step 2 Record a show (manually or automatically) Step 3 Use nuvtranscode (or whatever the name is; my box died a quite while ago) to export to divx/mpeg2/mpeg4/whatever Step 4 Place final video on SD/CF/whatever card (or on your webserver) Step 5 Enjoy videos on your palm, laptop, or whatever, without commercials (if you've removed 'em) or drm crap to get in your way Step 6 Try to get momentum behind a mythfrontend port/server version to make steps 3-5 reduce to "5) Attach your webserver (with proper auth, natch) to your mythtv server and enjoy your shows wherever you go without commercials (if you've {auto,}removed them) or drm crap to get in your way"

Re:Tried it

[Ciaran_H]

This is why you learn to download the "Windows 98" version. It's the same, it just doesn't include iTunes. :D

Re:Tried it

[Seanasy]

Somebody told me about this software. It's called bittorrent or something. I don't know, maybe you should check it out. It might have something to do with what you want...

:P

Re:Tried it

[Nastard]

This may interest you.

Re:Tried it

[ignipotentis]

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.

Re:Tried it

[Nastard]

What effort to hide it? I went to apple.com/quicktime and clicked the "standalone installer" link in the upper right corner. It was directly under the download link for the bundled version.

Re:Tried it

[inventric]

I knew the food network would do this to me! They got involved with this because I started my own online reality food network.

Although, no hard feelings. Alton, if you're reading this, we'd love to get you on the show. We'll pay you oodles more, of course assuming your involvement catapults me into wealth :)

Re:Tried it

[the way, what're you]

It was I!

Everybody run, it's a cereal killer!

Re:Tried it

[dooglio]

/me looks for the Linux version, to no avail. :-(

Commercials?

[dolo666]

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!

Re:Commercials?

[Anonymous Coward]

you are paying to watch/download commercials

Just like with cable television!

Re:Commercials?

[abb3w]

So how long until the FCC jump or get pushed in to try to regulate the ratio of commercial time to content time on such downloads? And how long until someone tries bending that ruling to apply to ad-infested webpages?

Re:Commercials?

[ad0gg]

Hopefully never. Because once the FCC gets involved with the 'internets', it means internet based content is now subjected to their morality standards.

Re:Commercials?

[SmokeHalo]

I see TiVo is involved with this project, so I'm guessing it's commercial-free television.

I wouldn't assume that. This story about TiVo ads "popped up" two days ago.

Re:Commercials?

[michrech]

Wouldn't matter. Servers with content that would be deemed 'morally wrong' in the US will just move to another country.

backed by a trustworthy brand name

[sdMMk]

Sounds great - where can I sign up?

The Mask Comes Off

[Doc Ruby]

Now we see the truth behind all the corporate assurances that MS ownerships in MSNBC, ComCast cable and other media holdings is "just financial investment", or "just funding innovators". This is the beginning of MS leveraging a truly mass market monopoly. Combined with their DRM ubiquity in new DVD players, the MS octopus can now begin to squeeze the entire broadcast industry, and the world that depends on it for information, from its Internet lair.

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[bigtallmofo]

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.

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Swamii]

Nice consiracy theory and all, but FYI, MS has been trying to sell its stake in MSNBC. They sold Slate magazine too, by the way.

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Anonymous Coward]

and what are the goverment going to do about it ?

its really the beginning of the end for capitalism, unless you think these mergers /aquisitions can continue forever , what happens when there are 3 companies that own it all ? scrap it and start again ?

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Doc Ruby]

Nice coincidence theory, but what do you think "synergy" means? It means "strategic corporate cross-ownership". One man's "synergy" is another man's "conflict of interest". But since you don't understand corporate strategy, I guess you don't understand the value of a media monopoly.

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[xtracto]

Well, people said the same when Microsoft entered the console market with the X-box... and, to the webmail market... and btw, their webmail is also an "unmitigated disaster" and a lof of people likes it, also X-box is an time bomb, and a lot of people likes it, you see, United States citizens are known from other countries to have a use-and-throw culture so it does not mather that something is shitty as long as there is a new version within next 1 or 2 years, its okey! at the end It is cool to have the last bleeding-edge [your-favorite-tech] it does not mather that your older one works JUST FINE!!.

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Doc Ruby]

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?

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[FidelCatsro]

Ok whenever i see his posts and i have mod points i will randomly mark them up to balance this out ;) .Well no i wont , But i will go out of my way to read his comments and if they are good i will mod them up . ;) ofcourse if you want , you can randomly mod me down too

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[GtKincaid]

;) meta-moderation is fun , plus i will spare a mod or so , just to annoy the stalker

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Doc Ruby]

As Slashdot forms up into rival, overlapping modblock factions...

The Friend/Foe lists are public, though listed only per-user. I wonder if anyone has a Slashdot spider that shows the association maps. This could get interesting, if noisy.

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[FidelCatsro]

It would indeed ,a major ammount of spirals ,, To be honest i was just shouting my mouth off there , i dont moderate , i prefer not to as i dont trust myself not to be bias towards my freinds or enemys .The anon coward is most likely some troll without mod points anyway so i doubt it matters

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Doc Ruby]

I post what I think, regardless of mod points. It's nice when people say something interesting in reply, or become a "Fan", but it's the freedom of expression that gets me off. The freedom of others to receive it, without mod suppression, is not as high a priority for me. So this weirdo is really just wasting their time, and perhaps keeping others from reading my posts. The biggest joke is that they think they're the only ones who see through my "worthless" posting habits, and make it their personal mission to save the poor, simple Slashdotters from reading my posts.

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[FidelCatsro]

I post what i think regaurdless of thought some times ;) thus my spelling and loyal following of trolls always there to correct me .Well it is nice to have fans even if they are obsesive maniacs out to destroy your world by moderating you down ;)

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[FidelCatsro]

#Im pretty sure we are all jumping around for nothing , and i feel rather silly as i may have for the first time in years fallen for a troll :S doh

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Swamii]

Nice coincidence theory, but what do you think "synergy" means?

I dunno, some market-speak babble? :-)

Re:The Mask Comes Off

[Doc Ruby]

Yeah, the same kind of gibberish as "bundling" - MS never made a buck off that, right?

Weird.

[bigtallmofo]

I gave it a spin but the only thing I could see was some insane bald man screaming, "DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!"

Re:Weird.

[14erCleaner]

Thanks! I was wondering if they'd have the monkey dance!

Re:Weird.

[dooglio]

I think what scares me the most is the fact that the audience applauded, cheered and appeared to like it. I'm sorry, but I'm just embarrassed for the guy.

You know, you never would catch Linus doing something like that...

Philosophical question

[Darth Hubris]

Technical issues aside, if you could install this on your OS of choice legally, would you?

Re:Philosophical question

[BridgeBum]

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.

Anti-trust bait?

[J Barnes]

Why do they persue and advertise these as minimum requirements? Microsoft Windows XP required, Microsoft IE required, Microsoft Media Player 10 required...what no Microsoft stock requirements?

Re:Anti-trust bait?

[slagdogg]

WMP 10 requires XP, and WMP 10 requires IE (so it can host an embedded browser for DRM license delivery, etc.).

I asked Microsoft about this, and apparently the primary reason for WMP 10 requiring XP is that they didn't want to delay its release by testing on older platforms.

They didn't entirely rule out making it available at a later time, so if enough people scream ...

Microsoft needs content now.

[LaughingLinuxMan]

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

Re:Microsoft needs content now.

[Goeland86]

the sad part is, they might. Not only that, but they also have MSNBC, which they can virtually get anything out of, AND make ads for their service once it quits the alpha stage and is ready for the commercial beta-testing MS makes us used to as (once) customers...

Re:Microsoft needs content now.

[Celt]

Time Warner already have their own content setup its AOL...if their smart they provide more content and allow users to get AOL BYOA (bring your own access).

Doing so would give AOL the best of both worlds...more users and PR for the company/brand.

Re:Microsoft needs content now.

[SmokeHalo]

According to this story, NBC Universal is looking to buy out Microsoft.

Re:Microsoft needs content now.

[Goeland86]

well, I guess it tells us that MS doesn't know how to do too much... It can't make decent software OR a decent media service, eh? I feel like all the lawsuits are more like a swarm of mosquitoes distracting MS from the penguin looming in the darkness. When it finally attacks (I know penguins don't attack, but just for the sake of this metaphor) it'll be a quick kill. This means I expect to see the MS empire to disappear within my lifetime. And I'll do anything be able to grab some credit of the kill. At least I'll be able to say I did some good on this world...

Re:Microsoft needs content now.

[justforaday]

Don't go giving them ideas...Sheesh!

Re:Windows Media Player 10 or higher?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not yet. That's so when they do release another version of it they don't have to update the page.

I use MythTV

[drewzhrodague]

MythTV is great -- plays shows I record, DVDs, and even plays TV shows downloaded from the Internet (via mPlayer, which still blows my mind). KnoppMyth is easy to setup and install, and works with even old misengineered equipment.

I say this becasue I don't do Windows anymore, and my life is easier for it!

Re:I use MythTV

[mattyrobinson69]

i agree - its still a pain in the arse to setup DVB (im using the cvs version from about 2 weeks after 0.17 was released), but once its setup its a mazing (dvb is broadcast in mpeg2 so if youve got the space, there's no need to transcode, therefore hardly any CPU is used for recording).

Its nice to look at night and think "ooh! two episodes of the simpsons were recorded today, i'l watch them".

Its on my desktop though, so i just use mplayer for downloaded video's

Re:I use MythTV

[swillden]

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.

Re:I use MythTV

[Rich0]

Has anybody been able to do dual-tuners on DirecTV without paying for two receivers? And what is the price tag on the hardware?

My main issue with MythTV is that it is somewhat expensive to set up (you probably couldn't get away with an old Pentium 120 in the basement - you probably need something with a little more power), and it doesn't have dual tuners like a DirecTivo.

If I had dual tuners I'd drop Tivo in a heartbeat. The other week I had to reimage due to terminal slowness following an upgrade (it was almost terminally slow before the upgrade). It also sounded like the hard drive was on the edge of death. Now, I understand that hardware gets old, and I'm fine with that. The problem with Tivo is that there is no support for fix-it-yourself outside of a hacker community. With Myth you can actually talk about how it works with the people who made it, and as a result if something goes wrong you can actually fix it yourself...

Re:I use MythTV

[BRTB]

Dual tuner MPEG2 encoder.

Caveats: Only NTSC air/cable, so unfortunately no, this doesn't do two DirecTV streams without two separate receivers. But that's only because DirectTV/Dish/etc aren't exactly eager to put their satellite signal reception/decryption on a PCI card one step away from being perma-descrambled and distributed to oblivion.

Re:Windows Media Player 10 or higher?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, that's what makes it better than RealPlayer or Quicktime. They go up to ten, but sometimes you need just a little more media than that, and that's when it's good to have one that goes up to 11.

Commercials vs. DRM

[rawyin]

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?

Re:Commercials vs. DRM

[Qzukk]

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

Well, I tell you, as soon as my cable tv provider started showing commercials, I called up the other 30 cable tv providers and found one that was promising to never run ads in the premium channels, and I switched my subscription on the spot and never looked back. I even called around to get commercial-free versions of Food TV and Cartoon Network, so now I'm all set! Of course, the two minutes of blank screen every 5 minutes is a bit annoying, but what can you do?

Re:Commercials vs. DRM

[Ucklak]

Just curious, how can you even get 1 cable provider to supply competing content?

Where I've lived, cable companies have monopolies in neighborhoods. Your only alternative is Sattelite or VDSL.

Re:Commercials vs. DRM

[mpathetiq]

you may have missed this:
Warning: Slashdot may edit out the <sarcasm> tags.

FoodTV huh?

[ImaLamer]

http://www.digitaldistractions.org/

pay nothing...

requirements...

[peter_gzowski]

Or, I could hop on over to any number of torrent trackers, which require any OS, any bittorrent client, and any media player. The television industry could compete with free, but it seems that they don't want to.

Re:Windows Media Player 10 or higher?

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

Yes. It comes bundled in the new Windows XP - Derek Smalls Signature Edition.

Why God? Why??

[M.C. Hampster]

From the ZDNet article:

Microsoft said subscribers will be able to select content such as sports clips, news headlines and music videos from the MSN Video Downloads Web site

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.

XP and IE5?

[sumdumass]

i thought that XP came with IE6. IE5 being a requirement kind of makes you think that it will work on older OS's but they restricted it for some other reason.

Maybe i'm missing somethign and the windows mobile devices only use IE5 or somehtign. I wonder how long before someone has a hack to let it work with WIN98 or somethign.

great

[suezz]

now you can get your tv shows with spyware.

I record my own shows my own way from cable/airtv to my pc and if I want to keep them for viewing later I ditch the commercials and put it on cd/dvd.

why would I want to try this? I guess I can't since I don't use windows any more - and this certainly won't get me to go back to windows.

Gee I guess they will start monopolizing video now along with SBC and iptv - and before you know it I will be in jail for running linux because it is an illegal operating as you all know.

How dare I want to learn how hardware and the os interact and use linux - I am from the US and I am suppose to be a microsoft drone.

Re:great

[suezz]

at least I have the guts to have an ID -

and this wasn't totally off topic -
ya I ranted a little bit - sorry you hate me so much

this is only the beginning of the microsoft media conglomurate

Re:great

[suezz]

ya I know I mistyped conglomerate -

Incrementally better?

[rpdillon]

This looks like another one of those cases where it seems like it's a good idea, but when all is said and done, it is not actually offering a product that is incrementally better than TV as we know (and use) it.

Downloading content leaglly sounds good, but it looks like it has a subscription price, and they'll be adding commercials to the front end of things. It also requires Windows, which cuts out a decent portion of geeks who are the type to be early adopters (like me).

Sure, it offers digial timeshifting, but this is something we already have with a TiVo and MythTV, the latter without any DRM of subscription fees.

I don't know...it looks like it has some advantages, but too many of the same old problems to be "the next big thing" in TV.

You forgot something...

[M0nkfish]

"...the service will require Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5 or higher, and Windows Media Player 10..." ...and a United States billing address.

sports, news, music videos

[Cheeze]

Sounds like a new advertisement channel... ...AND NOTHING ELSE!

Mods, get to work

[Dav3K]

I can't believe the parent post hasn't been modded as +5 funny yet.

TiVo?

[AstroDrabb]

The post says:

Partners include CinemaNow, MSNBC.com, and TiVo

It then says:

the service will require Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5 or higher, and Windows Media Player 10 or higher.

Exactly where does Tivo fit into this? Tivo is Linux based. Does anyone know if Tivo developed a DRM enabled WMP player that runs on Linux?

Re:TiVo?

[One Louder]

It just means they suckered Tivo into getting involved in some way, just to get the brand recognition. Apparently Tivo hasn't been paying much attention to what happens to companies that do this or somehow naively believes they'll be treated differently.

Once Microsoft has sucked out all the juices, they'll leave the dessicated husk behind.

Re:TiVo?

[jangobongo]

I think that it is Tivo's TivoToGo transfers that's being referenced. TivoToGo is a service that allows people to download content to their PC, according to the web page. One needs to be a Tivo subscriber to use this service. From there, its just a jump to the portable device.

Not all shows are available though. They've included this caveat on the TivoToGo web page:

Not all shows may be eligible for transfer from your TiVo box to your computer. Programming providers may restrict or limit the ability to record, display, view or transfer any particular program using a variety of copy protection mechanisms.

List of content

[jangobongo]

The following programming will be available on MSN Video Downloads according to this AOL news article:

-- MSNBC.com. News and business headlines updated throughout the day, as well as segments from "Today"

-- BreakTV. Behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive interviews television's hottest celebrities

-- COOKIE JAR Entertainment Inc., a global producer and marketer of children's entertainment, offering children's programs such as "Paddington Bear," "Animal Crackers" and many other popular kids' television series

-- DIY Network. Videos about home improvement, crafts, hobbies, indoor-outdoor living, and kitchen and bath remodeling

-- FINE LIVING TV Network. Inspiring programs featuring travel destinations, mind and body enrichment, ideas for entertaining and home design as well as videos for automobile enthusiasts

-- FOX Sports. In-depth news, analysis and unparalleled national and regional coverage of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the National Basketball Association, and select college basketball and football highlights, as well as FOX Sports Net original programming including "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" and "Beyond the Glory"

-- Food Network. Fun and interesting videos featuring grilling tips, ideas for entertaining, healthy eating, quick-and-easy recipes and pop-culture food specials

-- Fun Little Movies. Specializing in original, live-action comedy content; new "Fun Funny Phone Films" including the following series: humorous headlines in "Comedy USA," sci-fi parody "Spacey Movie," and the "Mini-Bikers," where little people on little motorcycles fight crime, a little at a time

-- Headliners Entertainment Group Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: HLEG), the operator of Rascals Comedy Clubs, presenting a selection of comedy clips from Rascals Comedy Classics, including performances from popular stars such as Tim Allen, Rosie O'Donnell, Drew Carey and Ray Romano; only Rascals can bring viewers comedy superstars, before they were stars, and the breaking stars of tomorrow, today

-- Home & Garden Television (HGTV). Selected programs featuring remodeling, home-building, design and decorating, kitchen and bath to enhance a home's curb appeal

-- IFILM. Movie trailers, viral videos, short films and other IFILM- exclusive content

-- TotalVid. Deep selection of action sports clips including surfing, snowboarding, skiing, windsurfing, street racing, kiteboarding, skateboarding, climbing, kayaking, off-road, Moto X, mountain biking, inline skating, BMX and more

-- Want Media. Music videos, live concerts, Broadway shows, extreme sports and motor sports programs, full-length films from independent filmmakers and underground cinema

The following are content partners for Windows Mobile-based devices:
-- ATI Technologies
-- BreakTV*
-- CinemaNow Inc.
-- COOKIE JAR*
-- DIY Network
-- FINE LIVING TV Network*
-- Food Network*
-- FOX Sports*
-- Hauppauge Computer Works Inc.
-- Headliner Entertainment Group*
-- HGTV*
-- IFILM*
-- MediaPass Network LLC
-- MLB.com
-- MSN Music
-- MSNBC.com*
-- MTV Networks
-- Napster
-- NVIDIA
-- Pinnacle Systems Inc.
-- SnapStream Media Inc.
-- TiVo Inc.
-- TotalVid*
-- Want Media*
-- watchmusichere.com

* Content provider for MSN Video Downloads service

Re:List of content

[British]

-- MTV Networks

Any chance of accessing their whole music video library, a la the videos played on VH1 Classic? If I could download a buncha music videos from the 80s and such, I just might pay for it.

Re:Why God? Why??

[Anita Coney]

I agree with you. It makes no sense. There is absolutely NO demand to watch what are essentially advertisements! But yet they keeping pushing it like it's the next big thing.

Then again, MS has been trying to push Tablet PCs for nearly forever, and there's not much demand for that either.

Wouldn't it be great for Microsoft to concentrate on what we really want: A stable, fast, and secure OS!

What do you expect for twenty bucks a month!?

[woodsrunner]

Besides, most pda's don't have room for a tv show... at least not at the annointed DVD DeCSS size they don't.

Anyways, it's **only** twenty bucks a month. How can you beat that!? That's like if you download one item every day to your PDA it's less than 99 cents per day for stuff you can watch on your big TV for free or $15/month for basic cable.

Oh yeah, it is a bad deal, isn't it!?

Re:What do you expect for twenty bucks a month!?

[westlake]

Anyways, it's **only** twenty bucks a month

Twenty bucks a year, actually. MSN - Video Downloads

Re:What do you expect for twenty bucks a month!?

[jarich]

it's **only** twenty bucks a month.

It's twenty bucks a YEAR not a month.

http://www.msnvideodownloads.com/

The latest news, sports and entertainment are yours for a one-time membership fee of $19.95, good for one year.

How does this matter

[f00zbll]

Is this really even news? So MS decides to give video d/l a try. Plenty of people have tried and failed to make it work because the media companies want to own the market. end of story, nothing to see here.

At least..

[ad0gg]

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.

Re:At least..

[TheRaven64]

Apple refuses to license Fairplay to manufactors thus removing "the choice" from consumers

Unless, of course, you count Motorola...

Re:At least..

[NiceGeek]

So burn your iTunes music to CD and rip it. Problem solved. Yawn.

Re:At least..

[ad0gg]

Yes because double encoded music sounds just like the single encoded music I purchased. Buy a clue thanks.

Re:At least..

[Darth Hubris]

If there were such thing as a standard, non-proprietary DRM (I know; fat chance). Would it make it more palatable? It would be nice if there were no such thing as DRM of course. Official, non-purchased studies seem to indicate it's not necessary but politicians can be bought unfortunately.

This started out as a question about the idea of MS on another platform, but kind of morphed into the idea of DRM at all.

Re:At least..

[dooglio]

DRM attempts to control the use of content, but that is the same as attempting to control your computer. Companies like M$ will always opposed open source because you can get around the imposed restrictions.

I say, fair use needs to be taken into account.

MS beats Apple to the video punch?

[ps_inkling]

Apple has the color iPod, many people say it's the perfect way to store and show video clips. Apple claims that the processor in the iPod is not powerful enough to display video, and sits on their hands.

Microsoft brings out their VD service, and for once beats Apple to the party. Yes, the MS offering only works on WinCE devices, will probably be DRM (no sharing video clips!), and require payments over time. Not to mention the advertisements before the clips (I, for one, am tired of our advertising overlords).

If Apple was working on a video iPod, it's time to make press releases or do damage control.

Re:MS beats Apple to the video punch?

[SmokeHalo]

Microsoft brings out their VD service

Oh great, not only do I have to worry about computer virii, now I gotta deal with real infections? Or does that mean that MS is giving out penicillin with each new copy of Windows?

Re:MS beats Apple to the video punch?

[OhPlz]

No need to do damage control unless video on portable devices actually becomes a money maker. Portable DVD players and TVs have existed for a while and they're not that popular. I'm not sure there's much potential for this either.

Re:MS beats Apple to the video punch?

[MKalus]

Just because they're first doesn't mean that they will succed (though granted, they have quite a bit of money to throw at this adventure).

Look at Apple and the Newton. I loved my newton, I kept it until it literally fell apart (the concrete floor might have had something to do with that) and still they got trumped by Palm and Palm by PocketPC.

So, just because they're out there already with something like this doesn't mean they are going to succed.

On the other hand, the download film market seems to be picking up, with Sony announcing today that they will be starting their own movie download service and all, and who knows, Apple may just have a player ready to go, but holding back for other reasons (lack of content? Battery life?)

Re:MS beats Apple to the video punch?

[geekee]

Apple wasn't 1st by a long shot into the mp3 player market either. That didn't stop them from dominating it.

Re:MS beats Apple to the video punch?

[payndz]

Microsoft brings out their VD service

This time, when someone says "Microsoft's products gave me a virus", they really mean it!

Re:MS beats Apple to the video punch?

[UnknowingFool]

Microsoft brings out their VD service, and for once beats Apple to the party.

Being first doesn't mean you will be the dominant player. Apple wasn't the first MP3 player. Rio was and it has a small market share now. Sega beat Nintendo, Sony, and MS to market with their console and they are nowhere. MS current tactics seems to rely on being first but they don't pay attention to history.

Potentially worthwhile

[jackDuhRipper]

From the summary and the concept, this could be a worthwhile service.

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.

Only one video I'm interested in...

[cmburns69]

I have lost the link, but the only video I'd be interested in downloading from Microsoft would be the one with Steve Ballmer running around the stage, yelling "I love this company!".

If anybody has a link or torrent, please post it..!

Re:Only one video I'm interested in...

[k7net]

http://www.ntk.net/media/dancemonkeyboy.mpg Enjoy.

Re:Only one video I'm interested in...

[alanQuatermain]

That would be Dance Monkey-Boy Dance.

If you Google for that phrase, you'll find a couple other interesting things, such as a mock iPod commercial based on it.

Re:Why God? Why??

[fakespheare]

Because it is PC. In real the no 1. thing will be .... porn. Lock at the mobile picture content now. It is mostly porn and wallpapers.

requires 4 things I don't have

[javaxman]

1) Windows Media Player device 2) Windows XP 3) Windows Media Player 10 4) The desire to pay $19.95 a year for content I can access via TV ( which I already pay way too much for and is much less restrictive in terms of possible uses ) or the internet ( as others have pointed out, some of this content is available online already ). Sure, I could get any and all of the above, but... compared to using my existing setup and a PSP to accomplish basically the same goal ( plus play killer games ), I don't see the benefit, unless you're into supporting Microsoft. It'll be interesting to see how widespread the adoption of this becomes. Oh, also, a prediction: what do you want to bet you'll be able to get at this via the next XBox ? If the next generation XBox can't connect to this service, someone should be fired. Heck, they should be able to roll this out on the current generation XBox- but probably won't because they want folks to buy Media Players and new XBoxes.

Re:requires 4 things I don't have

[praxis]

"Sure, I could get any and all of the above, but... compared to using my existing setup and a PSP to accomplish basically the same goal ( plus play killer games ), I don't see the benefit, unless you're into supporting Microsoft."

I don't quite understand. I do understand your situation: you lack the hardware, software, and already recieve the same content on another pay service to which you already subscribe. When I read, "I don't see the benefit", I understood that to mean just that--there is not benefit for you and your situation. So, what I don't understand stand is "unless you're into supporting Microsoft". Who? The reader? One? Those referants might not have the same situation. Their situation might be already having the hardware, the software, and not already subscribing to the same content through a different pay serivce. Perhaps they find--as you do--that they "pay way too much" for it and are willing to dump their current subscription for one cheaper but better targetted to their needs.

I any case, I too am curious how this service fares. I am hoping for a future where video entertainment is a la carte. No longer will cable providers be able to bundle niche properties with popular properties to establish high channel count subscription levels which might yield about 5% interesting content. No longer will niche properties have obscured demographics--as they are often measured by channel package--to lure advertisers in and stay profitable.

On the other hand, I fear the possibility that an a la carte system will increase the premium on interesting-to-me but not-popular-with-advertiesers content. Imagine a demographic which has heavy TiVo use, never watches commercials, and has expensive production tastes. Producing the programming might cost above average, yet the advertisement yield would be lower than average. So, perhaps the networks go competely--or at least heavily--with subscription income to fund the programming.

Anyhow, sorry for the lengthy brain spill. Here's hoping that the entertainment industry delivers the products we want at reasonable rates so everyone can be happy in the end.

Re:requires 4 things I don't have

[javaxman]

When I read, "I don't see the benefit", I understood that to mean just that--there is not benefit for you and your situation. So, what I don't understand stand is "unless you're into supporting Microsoft". Who? The reader? One? Those referants might not have the same situation

What I meant is that I don't see the advantage over using the a Windows Media Player device with this service over using a PSP with some other source of content. It's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but I am somewhat implicitly assuming a few things.

(1) if you're investing in either technology, you likely have a video feed in your house already. Who doesn't have cable or satellite TV and is looking at a PSP or Windows Media Player handheld?

(2) assuming you don't already have either device, which at this point is most people; if you have either a PSP or Windows Media Player portable right now, you're an early adopter by definition.

So, doing a side-by-side comparison, assuming your goal is mobile video viewing, I'd almost be tempted in my situation to get a PSP, just because it's a cool gaming device _also_, and I could use it without getting WindowsXP ( and a machine that can run it well ) and a $20 service.

I'm guessing that a good number of people will use Microsoft's service, for the simple fact that it's not very expensive and gives them something to do with their otherwise questionably useful and slightly expensive media player. The question is how many people will go out and buy a media player to do this, as opposed to how many people will subscribe but only ever watch on their computers. If you're just watching on your computer... there are a lot of other places to get video content, many free, or with more um, 'interesting' content.

Perhaps they find--as you do--that they "pay way too much" for it and are willing to dump their current subscription for one cheaper but better targetted to their needs.

Well, I guess that assumes that the service provides the content you want. No South Park and no Survivor are deal-killers for me. So I need to keep my satellite or cable in any event, a service like this is going to be compliment, not a replacement... and right now, I'm not seeing any of the stuff offered as being terribly compelling. I only see people subscribing because, heck, $20 is cheap enough, why not. But I'd be a *lot* more likely to load content from a Tivo to a media player than sign up a service like this just for that exclusive purpose.

I am hoping for a future where video entertainment is a la carte... On the other hand, I fear the possibility that an a la carte system will increase the premium on interesting-to-me but not-popular-with-advertiesers content.

You're not the only one who is afraid of that. Since it's terribly difficult to predict what is going to be a hit, studios and content providers are both pretty scared of a la carte, not just because it's different from what they're used to. To a large extent, I personally think the whole thing is driven by everone's greed, though. We have a large number of commercials because advertisers want them to be cheap and producers want to be able to charge a premium for their product. I've always felt that a good system would have fewer, more expensive, more targeted ( thus more effective ) ads.

The technology genie is out of the bottle, though. A significant number of people just hate seeing advertisements, and it's going to be a struggle to find ways to force them to watch, just as it's a struggle to force people not to share files on an open network, just because their content happens to have this artificial, unenforced notion of 'copyright' attached. TiVo's new pop-up adds, while interesting and part of this battle, don't help the content producers, though, since that revenue doesn't end up in their pockets. This is all somewhat unrelated to the main topic, though. Microsoft's offering here strikes me as just the content they could gather up cheaply, used as an offering to keep people

The first video on the site

[Yeechang Lee]

. . . is, naturally, this.

Media Players

[Seanasy]

Slightly OT rant: but why do commercial media players insist on looking so god-awfully ugly and breaking as many usability rules as possible. Apple has been, rightfully, taken to task about this for QT Player. And MS seems intent on outdoing them in terms of interface destruction. I hate WM9's interface but quickly reverted back to it after trying WM10.

Does anybody like that glitz? Just because it's video do they think they have to copy TV aesthetics? You just shouldn't let the title designers for Channel 6 Local News near window decorations, IMHO.

Thanks, I feel better now.

Re:Media Players

[TeknoHog]

Does anybody like that glitz? Just because it's video do they think they have to copy TV aesthetics?

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.

The real question : does it work with the PSP ?

[loom]

Now that everybody is buying a nice portable video player : the PSP, will this work with it ?

Or are we in for another format war : Sony vs Microsoft ? :)

Seems like pre-packaged shows

[DamienMcKenna]

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

DRM!

[Winckle]

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!

Re:DRM!

[Eggz Factor]

Right... so we're supposed to buy in to this Microsoft Lockin Tactic (tm) while they rail at Apple for it's iTunes/iPod lockin stratagy?

Pot... Kettle.....anyone?

Re:Windows Media Player 10 or higher?

[trudyscousin]

If there was, it'd be a precedent. Microsoft has never done anything that's "gone to eleven," as far as I can tell.

They want everything.

[northcat]

Nothing is enough for them.

Give us a real challenge!

[kiddailey]

I mean seriously.... The first two links have what you're looking for.

Sorry, couldn't resist ;)

Error: File Not Found, Reboot TV

[WillAffleckUW]

Abort, Cancel, Delete All Recorded Shows, Retry?

Coming soon: an ad for Linux

[denis-The-menace]

My grandma used to be a maid.
She would clean everything.
Then one day, she said that she wouldn't do windows anymore.
It became a trend and today few maids clean windows.
Window cleaners to the dreaded work.

I use to do lots of maintenance on the PCs at work and home.
But now I don't spend time cleaning out viruses and spyware.
Why?

Because I don't do Windows anymore, and my life is easier for it!
You should too.

Whoever would have thought...

[suitepotato]

...that the experiment begun back on the Win95 CD with the Weezer video would finally bear fruit. I can hardly wait for their other pilot project they refer to as an "operating system" to similarly reach maturity.

Well no shit

[1010011010]

"the service will require Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5 or higher, and Windows Media Player 10 or higher"

Why would Microsoft do anything else? There are no computers that don't have the latest Microsoft softwre on them.

Re:requirements-P2P client and no ethics.

[metamatic]

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.

A call to MythTV/gstreamer/apache/whoever hackers:

[Trelane]

heh.

While true, it's a very good option for those in geeks' families, and hopefully the Free (not free) bug will spread, especially as all of the steps listed above get easier with time.

Indeed, there's nothing prohibiting someone from taking mythtv code, shining it up, and selling it as a set-top-box + personal distribution server. In fact, I suspect people would pay TiVo for precisely that, provided they don't get sued out of the water. Or someone could set it up as a LiveCD, like they currently do, for free.... The main catch is the hardware,really, and that's getting better as more and more people adopt Linux. Given that lack of hardware/software support is entirely an intertia problem, and the intertia's changing, there's reason yet to hope for some real service.

Indeed, if anyone from TiVo or others are listening, I bet people would be quite willing to pay to have remote TiVo interfaces so that they can monitor their TiVo and play shows back and watch them live, via TiVo's servers (for a nominal monthly fee, of course). This sounds kind of like what Microsoft may be doing, but with TiVo being merely a very minor cog in the Great Microsoft Video Wheel.

Hopefully, we can convince MythTV and others to build separate frontends (not just the full-screen one) so that we can do things like I describe for free (playback, live TV watching, episode download, and remote control of the backends) as I describe. Given MythTV's backend/frontend separation, it seems like a very logical next step. I know I've wanted to watch some TV on my laptop in my office while working on some stuff. It'd be very convenient for, say, gstreamer to incorporate such a mythtv frontend functionality. Maybe someone from Apache could hack together a mod_mythtv....

In the not so distant future...

[Ralph Spoilsport]

Family and friends are gathered around the 52 inch LCD screen they bought at Fry's for $199 last Xmas. It's cheap because the assembly job was outsourced to trained penguins who, as we all know, come from the Antarctic, not the zoo. But I digress.

They are watching the Super bowl. The announcer is former QB Tom Brady, now somewhat late middle aged. He occassionally pops up in 2.5 D transparent windows that seem to float just in front of the screen. This glitzy spectacular is brought to you by:

MICROSOFT "We're here to fuck ya little buddy!"

and AMD "Keeping what's left of the American middle class Fat, Dumb, and Happy."

and the TMZ Zinc Bushing Corporation / USgov "If you push something hard enough - It Will Fall Over!"

They all settle in to what promises to be yet another route of the New Jersey Proles by the seemingly invincible Las Vegas Patriots, which is fine by this bunch - ever since they got their RFID tatoos, they see it as UNAMERICAN to support any other team BUT the Las Vegas Patriots!

When a morbidly obese Britney Spears waddles out to sing the national anthem, their hearts leap with joy. The game proceeds uneventfully. The Patriots are destroying the Proles all through the first half. Fatalities are high - the Proles lost their QB in the first five minutes. Half time was glorious. A rousing and glittering tribute to the American troops who were killed in the invasion of Brazil earlier that year. This group had hardly a dry eye, as they all remembered Uncle Dick's last letter:

Dear Loved Ones,

Killing these idiots for their resources has gotten kind of stale and boring. Wish I was home watching televised sports like a good citizen. Still, if President Jenna Bush decides I have to walk across a mine field for the sake of Microsoft shareholders and Wall Street speculators, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Love you all-

Your Stupid Uncle Dick

In the third period, things get a little lively - the Proles come back and start pounding the Patriots. They are on the edge of their seats. Multiple 2.5 D windows are bursting all over - every angle is covered as the Proles go into the 4th quarter tied. There's a brief time out to hose the blood off the field, but soon, it's right back to the action!

They're tied all through the 4th quarter, and it's down to the last few seconds of the game! The Proles are on the goal line of the Patriots! Spirits are running high - people all over the country are screaming at their screens! They set up for the final play.

"Hut One! Romeo Tango Foxtrot Mike! HIKE!"

The Proletarian QB takes the ball, takes a half step back, crouches and LEAPS INTO THE AIR! A Patriotic defender does the same! They're going to collide at the goal line - but will the ball cross the plane of the goal? all of the floating windows are covering his every move in excruciating detail! In mid air, he turns and

Sorry. This device has performed an illegal opera

BSOD...

The screen turns bright blue. The group assembled grab the LCD Screen and heave it out the window as the entire country roars with anger at their blue screens of death.

The grand children of Bill Gates are eaten in public.

All Microsoft employees (a solid 7% of India) are given safe passage to nations of their choice.

The penguins cry, because no-one knows who won the game...

It was all virtualised.

RS

Re:Windows Media Player 10 or higher?

[Nichotin]

Remember Office 11 (Office 2003)?

MS-slashdot

[wardk]

wow, we're seemingly getting multiple MS press releases here on slashdot daily.

I hope they are paying for all this advertising.

(or are these subtle pseudo-DOS attacks on MS resources via the slashdot-effect? you guys are crafty)

link correction

[TeknoHog]

I'm talking about the LIRC software for remote controllers, of course.

Because They're Piracy-Resistant

[tabdelgawad]

Besides bandwidth/size issues, both sports clips and news headlines are essentially worthless within 24 hours of publication. Who's going to bother to break DRM and upload to P2P?

The same is probably true for music videos for slightly different reasons: sound-only is still the preferred format for most people to get their music. That's why music television stations hardly ever show music videos anymore.

Content is key

[DigitalCrackPipe]

I don't think this will really take off until they involve Larry Flynt with the content design.

Microsoft Antics

[mikearch]

When trying to sign-up for MSN Video Alerts, I was redirected to the link below and recieved a 500 error. Curiously the sever is based on Java rather than .Net. Is this a case where .Net can't scale or a convoluted attempt to slam J2EE.

http://www.messagecast.net/alerts/jump.do?PINID=13 08&signup

HTTP Status 500 - Exception report: The server encountered an internal error () that prevented it from fulfilling this request.
root cause: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError Apache Tomcat/4.1.29

Re:A call to MythTV/gstreamer/apache/whoever hacke

[dean.collins]

it's my understanding that the 2wire product that SBC are rolling out does exactly this. Cheers, Dean

Re:requirements-P2P client and no ethics.

[vorpal22]

I don't feel that there's anything unethical in exposing myself to the abuse of advertisements. Not only are the ads designed to prey obnoxiously on the insecurities and structure of human psychology, but they're often boring, repetitive, and downright insulting to the intelligence. The television companies show me no respect by increasing ad time over the years, synching up ad time with other television companies to eliminate channel surfing, and trying to force ads upon people who find means to circumvent them, so I feel no particular inclination to show them respect in return.

I have ethics, thanks kindly. They may not correspond entirely with yours, but you're hardly the authority on what constitutes ethical practices and what doesn't.

Re:requirements-"Heated" content.

[metamatic]

What makes you think content is like physical property and deserving of legal protection?

Windows XP & Internet Explorer 5 or higher?

[The Evil Evil Muppet]

Errr...Windows XP ships with IE6. Which idiot specified that you need IE5 or higher?

Re:Windows Media Player 10 or higher?

[The Evil Evil Muppet]

Internally, Exchange 2003 is known as "Exchange 11". Also, look at the progression of Windows releases: Windows 3.1 Windows 95 Windows 2000 Windows XP They thought that 11 (and a whole bunch of other numbers) weren't worth bothering with!

Re: mplayer on gentoo

[TeknoHog]

I use Gentoo but I prefer to compile MPlayer from CVS. I know there is an option for GUI, and I know my way around USE flags, thank you very much. Or, as we say in Finland: Syö jalkas!

Re:Buggy

[dangitman]

Was it like beep beep beep, or what?

hyperlinks from artists within the video

[wilber1992]

are they going to use hyperlinks from Coull to embed advertisements within the artists!!!!