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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."
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"
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!
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!
Sounds great - where can I sign up?
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.
--
make install -not war
I gave it a spin but the only thing I could see was some insane bald man screaming, "DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!"
I'm a big tall mofo.
Technical issues aside, if you could install this on your OS of choice legally, would you?
The party's over
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?
:::: the insomniac's digest
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...
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!
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
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?
http://www.digitaldistractions.org/
pay nothing...
Get your Unix fortune now!
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.
"Now gluttony and exploitation serves eight!" - TV's Frank
Yes. It comes bundled in the new Windows XP - Derek Smalls Signature Edition.
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.
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.
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.
"...the service will require Windows XP, Internet Explorer 5 or higher, and Windows Media Player 10..." ...and a United States billing address.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
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
Sig cancelled due to lack of interest
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 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..!
Online Starcraft RPG? At
Dietary fiber is like asynchronous IO-- Non-blocking!
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.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.
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
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....
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Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
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
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
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)