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."

Comments

How does this make any sense???

[parvenu74]

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!

Re:How does this make any sense???

[danzona]

I would be the last person to apologize or make excuses for MS, but it is logical for the Xbox to include music. I would make three points:

1. The Xbox is not portable, so it is not really a competitor to the iPod.

2. The Xbox comes with a hard drive, so it could easily be used to store music (MP3s only?).

3. Many Xbox users hook their Xbox into their stereos to take advantage of games that have robust audio.

It seems like using the Xbox to store music, whether it is purchased or rented, would take advantage of existing Xbox functionality and would be a nice feature for people who want to listen to music at home.

Can I play this music on my iPod?

[vertinox]

What? No, you say? Well... I don't really have much use of an Xbox playing music other than a novelty.

Just music?

[turtled]

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.

Re:Why?

[Trelane]

While you could use a gaming console to download music, why would you want to?

The simple answer is that Microsoft's not simply producing a gaming console. This is their portal into your living room (and gateway to further growth out of the stagnant PC industry, via their formats this time). Music is just the start--on-demand Windows Video and digital video recorder functionality, combined with their IPTV offerings will likely prove to be both carrot and stick starting more with the 360 and increasing with every new version/revision.

Additionally, with a 20 GB HD, an Xbox 360 would be a slightly more expensive, larger, and significantly less portable iPod or MP3 player.

Given their excellent business history, what is more likely is that you'll not only be able to share (DRMed) music and video between XBox and (Windows) PC, you'll also likely be able to sync with any of the myriad of devices that support Microsoft's audio format, and likley also PocketPC devices or other video players. How this'll work with DRM is another question, but it makes sense.

Starting with the 360 and then expect more and more Windows/Windows Media/other Microsoft integration with each revisison.