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Music Biz Figures Into 360 Strategy
C|Net has up a story discussing the thought processes on the Redmond campus, as they plan a way for the Xbox 360 to have a meaningful participation in the music market. Most likely, this will be through the upcoming Microsoft commercial download service. From the article: "The Xbox is widely viewed as a successful consumer product, and the new version will be more deeply integrated into home networks and digital living room systems. Making it a platform for digital music purchases or subscriptions could help solidify a consumer foundation that remains shaky."
So because Microsoft was late to the digital download market, they figured that releasing a bunch of digital music stores based on WMA and meant to be used by WindowsMediaPlayer they were going to somehow make a dent in iTMS revenue and market share?
And on the heels of that "success" they are now pushing the next gen Xbox as a competitor to the iPod? I bet they're all standing around in Redmond wondering "I just don't understand why this isn't working..."
Here's to hoping they still don't get it for a long time to come!
What? No, you say? Well... I don't really have much use of an Xbox playing music other than a novelty.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
I think there is too much marriages going on... the games are going to be filled with crappy music, they will be littered with ads ingame, flashed in our faces on TV... but, will any games actually be any good? It's all over-hyped.
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
First of all, unless the interface for doing it is really good, most people would rather use their computers. I've never used any of Microsoft's music store programs so I can't say whether or not they're worth using.
Also, because the next-gen consoles are not going to support dial-up, people who don't have access to broadband services won't be able to use the service.
Unless you'll be able to transfer the music files off your HD, the service will be completely worthless. MS has said you'll be able to view files on your PC on the Xbox through some form of connection, but I don't know if it works the other way around.
The original Xbox had a file system that a PC couldn't handle, so you can't just take the HD out and stick it in a PC. The only way to do it was to FTP to your Xbox. I'm not sure if this required modding it or not.
Additionally, with a 20 GB HD, an Xbox 360 would be a slightly more expensive, larger, and significantly less portable iPod or MP3 player. Unless they can offer a subscription service for an Xbox that's really cheap to justify possibly not being able to move the songs elsewhere (can you even burn CDs?) I don't forsee anyone buying it.
The article isn't too clear on exactly how the Xbox 360 will play into the online music business, but I can't see too many practical fits for it. Sure you could download music onto it, but why not just download it on your computer and transfer it to the Xbox, or buy a CD and copy it to the HD? Using a gaming console for music is really stretching it.
...does the 360 still play games?
next thing you know, people will start saying that Nintendo will die because they dont offer music downloads/home jukebox/AC unit controls with the Rev. --- Parallel to DVD playback this gen.
What will be the big 'useless but must-have' feature after the next gen? Oh the shame of making something that ONLY plays games!
Perhaps TFA would explain this more clearly if I bothered to read it, but I doubt it.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
With Apple, they don't even pretend to play with others on DRM...while Microsoft promoted the tech to 'partners' while working on competing services.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
"Meaninful Participation"
Translation:
Getting tech websites to publish our PR.
Not much of a goal, but it is at least a step up from the trainwreck that is their digital music and console products.
With console gamers calling Microsoft's new console the "Dreamcast 360", they need all the PR they can crank out between now and the end of the year.
If I've read correctly, MS is trying to tout the x360's media center capabilities. If they can develop versatile software to make an x360 comparable to the $1000+ media center PCs available now, they could tap into that consumer base pretty easily, as it is still a fledgling market. Integrating music downloading would be a step in the right direction. If they set it up so that PCs on the same network as the 360 can access a certain part of the xbox's hard drive (I could see MS highly restricting this to prevent piracy) to transfer data back and forth, all the better. At the very least you could transfer files via a usb external drive.
... And make some damn games?
lets see...one of the features the xbox 360 supposely has is that it can play music from your ipod...
now, if it can plug in and play, wouldn't it make sense to be able to load on music from the xbox 360 to the ipod.
and i know, you hard core elite computer mofos are going to scroff at this...but what if, for the average joe (MTV watcher, mass market consumer), that it might just be as easy to plug your ipod into your x360 which just might happen to have a sleek, simple music manger to get, store and manage your music...and while your waiting to load your ipod, you can play a game quick...and you don't even have to mess with your computer, turning it on, booting, copy pasting, folders...
relax the brain...and maybe, if it easy and slick and sleek music manger the average consumer just might be buying music from M$...espically is you get x amount of downloads a month with a certian live subscription...
it's not that far fetched...(i'm sure there is a DRM logic break down in here some where, but somebody and M$ might have gotten really clever with a new file format that is not wma and still works on the ipod because it has inherit mp3...never mind, i'm not an elite computer hacker, my skills are more in moutain climbing, ninja and drawing)
are you joking about the limitation of playing secured wma files being a limitation of the ipod? i guess in that school of thought its a limitation of the xbox360 if its not able to play the secured files downloaded off of itunes or from your ipod.
There's a difference. Microsoft is willing to sell licenses for its secure format to other established companies that make playback hardware. Apple is not.
Marketplace losers like Microsoft and their xbox fiasco love to talk up 'strategy' to no end.
Every new failure is spun as some big and mysterious BIG PLAN that only they are smart enough to understand.
Thankfully as the 360 project seems to be self-destructing before it even hits the shelves it will be the end of Microsoft's failed xbox division. Despite all the bad-ass sounding talk about "MS doesn't give a damn about the billions" from the diehard xbox crowd, the Home Entertainment division is in the crosshairs of the MS bean counters and they are itching to pull the trigger and put a quick end to the mess.
Cool, you installed an XBox 360 into Terri Shiavo? Will she run Linux now? (probable answer: Yes but I couldn't get her to leave hibernation mode)
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Will I be able to put a 360 in my pocket for music while I exercise, etc? Or will it require a backpack with a spinal tap, ala the Borg...
Did you guys read about the iPod 720 that will play every game ever invented?
Neither did I. Jack of all trades, MaSter(bater) of even more.
Now that more and more CDs are now crippled copy protected versions, will the Xbox still be able to rip them? If not maybe people might start to wake up and get angry about fair use going down the toilet. Or perhaps I live in a fantasy world.
the point is just as you say; MS is willing to sell its licenses. it wants everyone to play by its rules and follow its vision. what about the vision of others? getting away from /just/ music, look at some of the other more popular media formats. divx, xvid, mp4... when MS decides that it is willing to go that extra mile to incorporate those into xbox360 or even WMP itself, then you wont have these issues. MS is willing to play nice with everyone, but only if they are playing by MS's rules in the first place.
apple has a similar stance. its just that apple is more outwardly honest: now that they have the best product on the block doesnt mean that they HAVE to share with everyone. its a messed up stance on their part, but at least its honest.
The people at M$ have said that the 360 will be compatible with every MP3 player on the market (including the iPod)...so it won't be pointless at all. Also, how many people that download music actually download it with a dial up connection?
------So says the Godfather, Amen...