“The first handheld gadgets to play music and movies on Microsoft Corp.’s ‘iPod killer’ software will be available in Europe in the second half of 2004, the world’s largest software company said on Thursday,” Bernhard Warner reports for Reuters. “The gadgets will run on Microsoft’s yet-to-be-unveiled Portable Media Center software in a direct assault on iPod, Apple Computer Inc.’s hot-selling digital music player.”
“Working with a host of manufacturing partners, Microsoft is introducing a device that plays movies and stores digital photos as well as songs in a bid to grab a share of the fast-growing digital media player market,” Warner reports. “‘We think this is going to be one of the hot devices for Christmas 2004,’ said James Bernard, product manager for Portable Media Center.”
“The U.S. software giant has enlisted Creative Technology Ltd. and Korea’s Reigncom Ltd’s iRiver International unit to develop devices for the European market. The Creative players will be sold with 20 gigabytes or 40 gigabytes of storage capacity, the latter would provide 175 hours of video playback or 10,000 songs, Microsoft said. The devices play MP3 files as well as audio and video content recorded in Microsoft’s digital format. The devices run on the Windows CE operating system,” Warner reports.
“The Creative player weighs in at 330 grams (11.5 ounces) — roughly three times as thick as an iPod and roughly twice as long to accommodate its television-quality colour screen. It has a USB port and comes with audio and video outputs cable to play media on a television or stereo hi-fi. Microsoft’s Bernard envisaged a scenario where the owner of a Portable Media Center gadget would be able to store hours of their favourite music and movies on the device. They could then download from a news-oriented Web site a round-up of the day’s news to watch on the train,” Warner reports. “To that end, Microsoft is busy assembling media partners to provide content including movies, music videos and news. It has signed up music label EMI and digital music outfit Napster.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Here comes the “Cavalry of the Mediocre” to try to save the day for Microsoft in the digital media arena. Let the battle begin!
SPOILER: don’t tell anyone (we wouldn’t want to miss this impending dustup for the world), but when all is said and done, this time the Indians win.
It’s an iPod killer for sure. Just bash an iPod enough with that brick!
Microsoft is becoming exponentially prolific with vapourware – my guess is that this thing will never be sold. You won’t see any other tech company preannouncing new gadgets so far off when upgrade cycles are so tight.
I reckon their strategy must be “we haven’t introduced any new products for a while – we’ll just keep on promising things in order to mislead the market, and satisfy our true believers”.
Due for Xmas? Give me a break.
Yeah, I’ll bet Jobs is shitting himself. This thing is like the size of the Newton, which as i recall tanked in no small part due to it’s bulk.
What we see here is MS trying to grow a pair and take on Apple where Apple is the leader, since lately Apple has been one-upping them on their own turf. It’s an attempt to save face, and it’s pretty obvious where this attempt will land them…
Though there are so many Thurrotts out there it’ll still sell enough that MS won’t have to cancel the project as soon after introduction as we’d all love to see.
I seriously hate Microsoft.
That rumored Sony mini Playstation, video, MP3 device does look like an iPod killer, though.
>Objective Perspective
But Sony still intend to use proprietry DISC as oppose to a fat HD – think MD
No killer there!
Calling a Portable Media Centre an “iPod-killer” is like calling a car a “motorbike-killer”. The iPod does one thing very well: music playback on the go. Every other pretender has tried to one-up the iPod by increasing the capacity but that has mostly lead to bulkier products. Microsoft’s approach with the PMC is that they can one-up Apple by offering playback of audio AND video media. I wish them luck. Portable video is not exactly practical to use and there is very little legitimate video content on the Net. Microsoft would have to convince the television networks and Hollywood that downloadable digital video is a good thing. Keep in mind that these are the same content providers whose content is shared freely by mostly Windows users on the internet.
Actually…
I think it’s interesting in a sedentary kind of way.
This is the sort of thing that, arguably, takes the place of a book. Rather than bringing a book while riding the train/plane or waiting in line for something, you just download all the TV shows you missed last night to this device (via your MS Media Center PC) and watch them while you wait. I could watch last night’s episode of, say, Star Trek: Enterprise over lunch.
Not a horrible idea. But, again, will it sell?
Like many have said, the form factor is a bit large, but it might be reasonable as something I throw in my briefcase/knapsack. I’d be curious about battery life. I’d say an absolute minimum is two hours. I’d bet they’ll be able to get four or five, since there isn’t much to it. The screen probably eats the most power, but I’d imagine that it’s much simpler than my iBook, which’ll get two or three hours on a charge.
No, it’s not the sort of thing I’d use while jogging, driving, or biking. I’d use it for downtime–eating lunch, standing in line at the DMV, flying someplace, etc.
I’m not sure about the subscription idea, though. I don’t want to pay for cable TV and then pay CNN again for the same stories downloaded to my Video iPod.
But, yeah, I’d consider buying one for downloading content I’ve already recorded on my DVR. It’s a neat idea.
Just in time when you can start watching live TV on your mobile phone. Several years ago I used to download TV news to my Nokia Communicator thinking this would be soooo cool if it was live.
I don’t see MS iPod killer working for number of reasons (as above) but I’m sure it could kill one iPod if you drop it over it. Hey maybe that’s what they are going to build; an iPod swatter.
I tell you what though, the day that there is some serious competition for the iPod, and Apples lead starts to ebb away (it will come sooner or later), they are gonna regret having priced the iPod mini as high as they did, when they could have sealed the market then and there.
Most of the market for MP3 players is in the under $200 segment. All any competitor to Apple has to do is provide a half decent product in that segment and they are away.
I know you’re probably joking johhn
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> But just in case:
Apple would not sell one Mini more if the price were lower. They are selling as many as they can make. (Of course the price will naturally fall eventually as microdrives get cheaper and production quantity increases.)
And Apple told financial analysts publicly that each Mini costs over $200 to make.
And even BEFORE the Mini lowered the iPod entry price, Apple dominated the market for players (in units, revenue, AND mindshare)–and they dominate the related but smaller download market by a huge margin.
I’m DEFINITLY gonna go out and buy a M$ iBrick.
They sound so cool, now I can jog and watch movies at the same time. How clever (not).
Imagine if it somehow interacted with Xbox – now that would be funny!
Who isn’t releaseing an ‘iPod killer’ these days? The power of iBrand indeed!
—
http://homepage.mac.com/johnhood
Microsoft scares me, I didn’t know people were that stupid.
Repeat, THERE IS NO IPOD KILLER, oh wait yes there is
iPod Killer right here, no joke
… and it is compatible with Longhorn, too!
If Apple came out with something like this…. and Apple fans have been talking about such a device for years, they’d be standing on their chairs cheering. Sometimes I wonder about us.
However, this device will not be made by M$. Like the PC Tablet, they’re just developing the necessary software and specs to third parties to develop the and manufacture the hardware. And don’t forget, a souped up iPod is supposedly on the way. No matter, a brick is a brick as they say.
“I’d be curious about battery life. I’d say an absolute minimum is two hours. I’d bet they’ll be able to get four or five, since there isn’t much to it. The screen probably eats the most power, but I’d imagine that it’s much simpler than my iBook, which’ll get two or three hours on a charge.”
Actually, I’d imagine the hard drive would consume most of the power. Reading music off a drive is easy, video less so. I’m not sure how they’re going to get much battery into a device that weighs 11 oz. When Gates showed one off at CES this year They hustled him off stage pretty quickly after he turned it on, as if they weren’t sure the charge would last more than a couple minutes. I just don’t see batteries being where we need them to be for this to work well.
Music on the move – proven mass market appeal.
Video on the move – never taken off despite many attempts.
This is a gadget for gadget freaks. It’ll fail.
I’d say the same if Apple made it. I don’t want them to make a colour iPod. There’s no point unless the screen is cheaper and consumes less power than a black an white screen.
The iPod is about music, so there’s simply no need for colour.
LOL! Sailfish! What a way to go….
um…wouldn’t a portable DVD player do most of this stuff anyway i.e. play video and also music without the hassle of having to run software? Don’t most people nowadays get the morning news from the internet once they get to work?
about the the color iPod: I believe that will happen probably sooner rather than later. An OLED display would be much thinner than an LCD, and would support full color. Check this link:
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/oled.html
I think it could sell well, but I would think Nintendo might have more to worry about than Apple. If you can get decent game performance out of it, and it plays music, displays photos and digital video as well, Creative etc. could have a Gameboy-killer on their hands.
Some iPod sales would be lost, but I don’t think that many. This device can easily co-exist with the iPod without their core markets clashing.
MS just doesn’t get it. Battery life in this thing won’t last an hour, makeing watching tv and movies useless. Not to mention the fact that you have to have a windows media center computer just to create movies for it. So the cost now goes to somewhere around $3000. On top of all that watching your favorite show on it will be painful at best. your talking about 320×240 res. at best. Shit at that res you wouldn’t see the phasers actaully shooting.
Nope I would rather buy a small notebook,(ibook, powerbook).Bigger yes, more funtionl yes, can i actually watch that movie, and DVD with out spending time ripping it, priceless.
Standalone portable DVD players (5 to 9 inch screen) were one of the top-sellers this past holiday season. Take one of those machines and add a flash memory or mini disc drive for music downloads and you have basically what M$ is proposing. All the other bells and whistles just make the device more complicated. Watch a movie or listen to music. People already have laptops for all the other stuff.
Sailfish, although perhaps a capital offense, she should be more worried about the RIAA for her illegal downloads!
I want my iPod!