“Officially, [Microsoft] says the new [Xbox 360] console can stream music from just about any MP3 player. But during a preview of the next-generation console in San Francisco last month, Microsoft execs talked up the interoperability between iPods and the Xbox 360,” Daniel Terdiman reports for CNET News. “‘When you plug your iPod in,’ Xbox digital-entertainment executive producer Jeff Henshaw told CNET News.com, ‘the Xbox 360 automatically detects that it’s there. You can browse by artist or album or genre or by custom playlist.'”
Terdiman reports, “However, because of the iPod’s digital-rights-management software, the Xbox 360 cannot stream songs purchased from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, Henshaw said. There’s a reason for that: Microsoft built its iPod connection without the support of the folks at Apple… Henshaw said the Xbox 360 would be able to stream any standard MP3 file or AAC file from an iPod, but not protected songs purchased through the iTunes Music Store. Those songs, he said, will appear grayed out in menus on the Xbox.”
Terdiman reports, “Richard Doherty, president of analyst firm Envisioneering, went so far as to predict that Apple will fight back once the new Xbox launches. ‘We expect Apple will have some retaliation ready within days or hours of the Xbox 360 shipping,’ Doherty said, referring to potential new iPod firmware or a new version of iTunes that could disable interoperability.”
Full article here.
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Boy, if Sony was smart, they’d figure out a way team with Apple to make PlayStation 3 completely compatible and interoperable with iTunes Music Store and iPod.
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Mac users should not buy Microsoft software (or hardware) – May 16, 2003
Who cares if it can connect to the iPod, I think that’s a good thing. But I’m sure there are all these complications and blah blah blah’s that go along with it.
MacDailyNews Take: Boy, if Sony was smart, they’d figure out a way team with Apple to make PlayStation 3 completely compatible and interoperable with iTunes Music Store and iPod.
That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day
There’s no reason for Apple to do this. Microsoft is cementing the iPod as the standard here, and it’s really not doing anything other than what an iPod car stereo adapter or home stereo adapter is doing.
I agree with MDN. Go to it, Sony!!
How can Microsoft think they can casually integrate the iPod into their product after their whole “playsforsure” scheme that alienated the iPod from services like Napster?
(First post is lame)
The irony is, the XBOX is the Mac of VG consoles. It’s better built, runs better and is more intuitive than the PS2. And it has a fraction of the market share and people complain that there are fewer titles available. Funny.
Oh, and rumor has it the XBOX 360 developers were shipped Mac G5s.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000113040931/
I agree with the other poster that all this does is help the iPod become the standard. Apple should let this go.
What? Apple embracing propriatary standards and cutting down any hope of compatibility? No one saw that one comming…
/end sarcasm
the war is over, microsoft won. get over it. move on.
Frankly I think Apple ought to go ahead and help make XBox, Playstation, and even Nintendo if they want, work perfectly with the iPod. Why not? It doesn’t hurt iPod and it doesn’t hurt iTMS. More compatibility of this type can only be a good thing.
bscepter, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day.
NINTENDO is the Apple of the video-game market. Underappreciated, yet always focused on the quality of customer experience, and far superior (IMO) to M$ or Sony. M$ aren’t anywhere near being ‘the Apple’, they’re just slightly better than Sony, but that’s because Sony are the Microsoft of the VG world. The Xbox doesn’t have a real equivalent in the computing world -_-
Phew.
Magic Word: poor, as in “Xbox to Apple is a poor comparison”.
Im pretty sure what we’ll be seeing is cracks and hacks… not to mention that i fully expect sony’s ps3 to be fully compatible…
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this “analyst” has no clue what he is talking about. we are planning no such thing. as other commentators above have opined, it is affirmation that the iPod is the defacto standard for mp3 players.
this is a win for apple.
Terdiman??
There was a guy named Arthur Tediman. He got a lot of flack about his name so he went to court and got it changed—-To Daniel Terdiman.
SB Terdiman
That’s ok they make XStuff compatible, they only have to pay the 10% fee to Apple.
I say make it MORE compatible than it is now. Make it fully compatible. And let it connect to all the other consoles too. That would really show ’em!
it’s just an external hard drive.. what case does apple have.
USB connection hrmm??
Screw the xbox anyway.
The PS3 will have more and better games, better hardware, better interface, may run OS X and it won’t be Microsuck.
It is not a rumor. xbox developer platform was Apple G5. Common knowledge. And the demos were run on Apple harware. Confirmed by Microsuck.
I can connect my iPod to my 16-year old Panasonic reciever using a cheap adaptor from Radio shack.
Apple will retaliate…
The problem here is that it sounds like Microsoft did not even make an attempt to work with Apple. What does this mean? When people plug their iPods into it with and see their tunes from iTunes music store grayed out, I’ll bet they’ll also see a little note that says, “Click Here for Info on Plays For Sure!” Microsoft’s whole point could be to say, “I told you you should have bought a plays for sure device. See, this is what happens when you do not do what we say!”
If Microsoft would have worked with Apple so that the iTunes DRM protected songs would play as well, then I think this would be cool.
“Those songs, he said, will appear grayed out in menus on the Xbox.”
So in other words, the iPod doesn’t really work with the Xbox; it’s an unprofessional hack by MS. If that’s the case Apple doesn’t have anything to worry about.
Retaliation would be PS3 fully supporting iPod (to at least play music and video), and marketed as such. How sweet it’d be.
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What a load of crap. Why should Apple care if the Xbox can read from iPod, at the end of the day its just a USB drive that has MP3s stored on it. I’m expecting to be dissappointed with the Xbox360’s abilities to use iPod however. I predict:
1. It won’t play AAC files
2. It won’t mount a Mac formatted iPod, only a Windows formatted one.
Actually point 1 shouldn’t be too hard for MS to get around, AAC is a standard format. Point 2, I can’t see them doing anything about however.
For all you idiots cheering, remember that the bottom line is that the CONSUMER is the one getting screwed. Not Microsoft.
when my shuffle’s battery dies i plug it into my xp machine at work and it plays my mpc but non aac, so this is really a non-issue.
what would be interesting is if someone write an xbox hack that allows the user to install itunes, or if a savy title producer programs itunes into their codec on their disk.
Carlos Net — Nintendo still makes VG consoles?
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