“Microsoft is readying a digital music player to take on the iPod, according to a Reuters report. It also has plans for an online music service that will overtake Apple’s iTunes Music Store,” Tim Gaden reports for APC Magazine.
“Details are sketchy, but the report quotes ‘sources familiar with the plans’ who say that the music player has already been demonstrated to the music industry in licencing talks,” Gaden reports. “The project is headed by Robbie Back, who spearheaded the successful development of the Xbox video game business.”
“Microsoft’s music service offers ‘an improvement over iTunes,’ says one person who has seen a demonstration. It will offer a pay-per-download model like iTMS rather than the ‘all you can eat’ subscription model used by many current iTMS rivals,” Gaden reports. “It is not known when the player and music store will be launched. Perhaps Microsoft fears that any timing announcement would conflict with another Vista launch delay.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The ubiquitous “Microsoft preps iPod+iTunes killer” article is like fruitcake as described by Johnny Carson. There’s only one in the entire world and people keep regifting it; annually at Christmastime for the fruitcake and seemingly weekly for the “iPod+iTunes killer” article. Isn’t it painfully obvious by now that, just like that damned fruitcake, nobody wants Microsoft’s grotesque versions of iPod+iTunes?
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Related articles:
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: iRiver gives up on digital media player market – May 23, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Sony’s Walkman Bean is cooked – February 13, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Dell dumps ‘DJ’ hard-drive MP3 player line – February 04, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: iRiver pulling out of Europe? – February 01, 2006
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Thomson gives up on MP3 player, CE markets – December 12, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: BenQ withdraws from MP3 player markets – November 28, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Olympus halts production of portable digital music players – November 09, 2005
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Rio is dead – August 26, 2005
Apple’s iPod has blood on its Click Wheel: Virgin Electronics is dead – March 08, 2005
Well, here’s where we see Microsoft’s “multiple vendor” strategy in flames.
Microsoft signed a deal with MTV for Urge. They were also going to team up with iRiver to have cool devices for Urge. Unfortunately, iRiver went tits-up before the deal could happen. Oh well…
Hey, I’ll be interested to see if Microsoft tries to pull this off and what will happen when they try. My guess: A Giant “Ho-Hum” from consumers.
SKECHERS = SKX = EXCELLENT STOCK TO BUY
SKECHERS = SKX = EXCELLENT STOCK TO BUY
So let me get this straight.
For MS to catch up to Apple now, they need to:
• produce a hardware design 1/32 the size of an XB 360 room heater
• design a new dock connector, get it debugged and made an open standard
• design a secure web site for 1+M songs to look ‘cool’
• commission 1000+ accessories
• build multiple players from flash to HD
• convince the music people to allow single price singles, low price albums, single price music videos, low price audio-books, and low price TV shows
• easy to use podcasts accessible from most web sites
• build the players cheaply
• provide a smooth interface from store to player
• link to portable HiFi speakers, TVs, bog-roll-holders, infra-red, etc.
• write it to run on a Mac and phone
• allow the purchased music to work when transferred from one player to another
• provide an even greater service than this in the next 12 months for us to even consider moving, when Vista (software only) has taken 5+ years to now even get here?
Wake me in 5 years when they’ve released their first beta.
MW ‘rate’ as in I don’t rate their chances very high
Please keep making “iPod killers”. Everytime you do it makes the next iteration of the iPod exponentially better. Its working out great, it really is.
Does anyone have a count as to how many “iPod killers” there have been? We should keep a tally like some have done with the Apple death knell. I don’t think the iPod is untouchable but I get tired of hearing “iPod killer” everytime a new mp3 player is released. Although if someone is going to kill the iPod I don’t think Microsoft would be the one to do it. If they were smart they would partner with Samsung as they have the best looking players out there next to the iPod.
Regardless of what M$ brings to the table, good or poor, Apple has got to be ready to counter – by leading – as M$ will deliver a ton of bank behind their attack, boatloads of awareness campaigns…
To eliminate any M$ attack (which will be huge, did I mention that yet?…) Apple must deliver:
– iTunes with higher quality music – but same price points. 256k. Or, deliver two-tiered music, such as a lossless version for $1.49, something to this effect…
– A monthly rental program. It is low-hanging fruit, but delivers more choice, which will effectively counter what M$ brings to the table in this area as a M$ “advantage”
– A Yahoo-like per-month radio-like service. “My Music” type of space, along with abilities to purchase the new tune one is hearing for the first time, right out of the shoot.
~Steven
I am tired of the same lame headline!
Shit or get off the pot.
Re: iPod+iTunes killer….
my response is the same as when folk were yammering all the doom and gloom regarding the outbreak of Macintel viruses and such just a couple of months ago-
call/wake me when it happens.
not saying it couldnt…. just tired of all the speculation.
Sheesh, they didn’t even give URGE time to fail before starting on the next failure!
>Shit or get off the pot.
Concise and crass…or it that concrasse’?
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I agree though, let’s see this wonderment, I mean we’re all just a titter up in here. I’ll only be impressed if it supports OS X. If it misses this ‘minimal requirement’, what the hell good is it?
nobody?
cmon there will be a few
baltimore county officials perhaps
Holy Mackerel, Steven : that’s the best analysis I’ve read for a long time, short and efficient.
Himself : your comment is so funny, actually a lot of these comments are really funny and you are really clever people. The “crowd” above is so right
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I’ll tell you my story :
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> and actually I prefer to tell them that I’m cleaning fish instead. I say no to that glorious job.
I’ve had my MAC hook on 1988 for my MBA, being French I had enough to deal with the English lectures here in the US, and I didn’t want to bother losing time and papers with PCs…
Then I moved to different countries and eventually ended up again in France.
I’ve had the chance to join Micro$oft with a big money boost… but I really couldn’t picture myself telling to someone “I’m working for Micro$oft”. The company is a really good one to work for but its image is so so bad… I didn’t want to spend a typical “city dinner” explaining to people how “goood” this company is and trying to download the last spyware/virus cure off the net for them
I said to myself, we MAC lovers we’re a sect.
Micro$oft is very very dangerous, they’re eternal. Too many PCs and people use them. Mac is the de facto standard for clever and smart people but the mass Kmart people will always buy PC, thus bringing money to cro$oft. Cro$hit has time, they’re have enough money to buy any market and position even better their brand
oh I forgot this :
quoted from CNET.com today
“In October, Microsoft and RealNetworks reached a settlement to an antitrust claim. Under the deal, Microsoft agreed to pay RealNetworks $460 million in cash, $301 million to support its music and game efforts and to promote Rhapsody on its MSN Web business.”
Could we have more actual news of real events and less Windows-centric wishful thinking and less Microsoft propoganda?
MDN comments are xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, and racist. How charming.
We should ban this site because if windows users read it, they can use it as example of how bad mac users are.
Oh yes, we’re bad, bad, bad boys and girls because yet another drive-by Microsoft Zombie doesn’t like a few comments. Hello, can you say “I impress the rest of the third-graders in my class with my overgeneralizing skills?” I knew you could.