“The iPod’s dominance in the portable digital music player market has some of Apple Computer’s key competitors singing the blues,” Scott Morrison writes for The Financial Times. “In the latest sign that the iPod is overpowering rivals, Japanese electronics maker D&M Holdings said last Friday it would close the portable digital music player division behind the Rio brand.”
“Rio’s exit was also seen as a blow to Microsoft, RealNetworks, Napster and other Apple rivals that operate internet music services based on Microsoft standards. These music services have looked to groups such as D&M, Creative Technology and Samsung to provide music players that operate on Microsoft standards,” Morrison writes. “Consumers have been confused by various standards and brands – and the perception that not all of them are compatible with each other. On the other hand, Apple’s iPod and the iTunes online music store operate on closed standards based on the company’s own technology. ‘It’s certainly a loss [for the Microsoft camp],’ said Michael McGuire, analyst at Gartner. ‘When one of the early leaders in the space exits the market it definitely has to be a concern.'”
Full article here.
So what was on the “one hand,” Mr. Morrison? We’d love to read your description of Microsoft’s music format which is completely proprietary, sold only by niche music services and Windows-only. Or is your phrase, “Microsoft standards,” the full extent of your description? Apple uses the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format, which is MPEG-4 Audio, the successor to MP3, and Apple’s iTunes and iTunes Music Store are available to both Mac and Windows PC users which account for the vast majority of personal computer users. We’re guessing that your editor cut out lines of your article haphazardly. Either that, or you can’t write; which is certainly possible since we already know that you can’t report. Spitting back propaganda from Microsoft and/or Napster and/or the music labels that “consumers have been confused by various standards and brands” without a shred of proof is not just shoddy journalism, it’s yellow.
Consumers aren’t confused. The numbers prove that consumers know what they want: Apple iPods+iTunes+iTunes Music Store. The only screams of “confusion” anyone might be hearing are those emanating from Apple’s roadkill via media outlets willing to amplify them.
“Unless it acts soon, Apple could see its commanding lead in digital music disappear,” Scott Morrision, The Financial Times, July 7, 2004. That would be, of course, about 20 million iPods and 400 million iTunes Music Store tracks ago.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Music lovers make Apple’s iTunes Music Store AAC format the de facto standard for online music – August 28, 2005
Financial Times writer: Apple must act soon or lose its lead in digital music market – July 07, 2004
Financial Times on Apple Computer’s results: ‘only a matter of time before this apple falls’ – July 14, 2005
iPod, iTunes, and iTunes Music Store competitors lack Apple’s ‘seamless integration and ease’ – August 28, 2005
Apple’s roadkill whine in unison: ‘incompatibility is slowing growth of digital music’ – August 13, 2005
The New Zealand Herald serves up a steaming pile of iPod FUD – August 11, 2005
FUD campaign against Apple’s iPod+iTunes fails to stick – April 08, 2005
Apple’s iPod and iTunes competitors continue whining about FairPlay – February 07, 2005
The de facto standard for legal digital online music files: Apple’s protected MPEG-4 Audio (.m4p) – December 15, 2004