Comments on: MSN Music: It's really about Windows

Microsoft is expected to launch its iTunes rival this week, but its eye is on more than song sales.

McNopoly

Typical Microsoft sniper-like mentality:
Denial / Dismiss / Duplicate / Distroy.
Any new innovation is deemed a "threat" to their illegal monopoly of Windows. What a bunch of paranoid pathetic snakes-in-the-grass they are.

Once again, without Steve Jobs comming up with next "insanely great thing" & doing all the hard work to make that idea a reality, Citizen Gates wouldn't have anything to rip off.

"If you cannot innovate, imitate..." Citizan Gates.
-Eyes wide open in Seattle"

[David Arbogast]

What a Troll

Do you have anything constructive to offer?

[Prndll]

I need clarification......

What is the big deal? So MicroSoft is going to set up a site for selling music, ok. Coca Cola has done this. What is so special about Microsoft doing it? What is so wrong with it? I see this as just another thing out there to sell online music.

[dirk128]

No Real Competition for iTunes/iPod here

Napster CEO Chris Gorog :

"We're no more concerned about the entry of MSN than we were
about the entry of Wal-Mart or the entry of Sony,"

Is he serious? The only thing MSN music will do is 'steal' the
existing customers from stores like Napster and the other DRM'd
WMA peddlers. While the attempt is to give consumers broad
choice, this is just going to overwhelm many average Windows
users with too many choices for legal downloads, players and
software.

There will be more conflicts/problems/support issues with this
Windows world setup - too many players vying for a piece of the
pie. Imagine expecting a consumer to call as many as 3 different
support numbers to resolve issues with software and hardware -
this may be an accepted fact of life when using a
Windows computer today, which many don't really complain
about - but it won't fly in consumer electronics.

This is why the PC vendors are having a tough time breaking
into this market. People who buy consumer video and audio
products just want something that works out of the box and
don't want to be inconvenienced with seeking several vendors
(with varying levels and quality of customer service) for support.

You see the catch is the iPod, it happens to be the most popular
MP3 player by far and it DOES NOT play Windows Media Audio
files. So as long as iPod's sell well, Apple will remain king and it
won't worry about the battle between the many WMA peddlers -
Apple will be content to let them cannibalize each other.

Apple is currently offering a superior, well integrated player,
software and on-line store, with one-stop customer support.
You see, people buy the player first, then worry about the on-
line store to buy from (which they don't really care about anyway
since they all offer the same stuff), not the other way around -
the Windows world just doesn't seem to get this.

P. Ditty has a diamond encrusted iPod, not a diamond encrusted,
generic WMA player. Nuf said.

[David Arbogast]

The money is in the future, not your existing MP3 collection

"P. Ditty has a diamond encrusted iPod, not a diamond encrusted, generic WMA player. Nuf said. "

OOHHHH... Man... I'm gonna do whatever PDoodle does! Well... that explains everything. Or not.

The battle is not over online stores or handheld players. Anybody can make a decent player if they want to. The battle is over DRM standards. If Apple cannot sell its DRM solution to content creators, it does not matter at all how good its player is. If Microsoft can sell its DRM technology to the content creators, then the iPod will begin to lose value and favor as more and more studios release music in a Microsoft format.

Apple has done a good job with the player and with the software. But if they do not work to sell their DRM solution, they'll find their grip slipping.

Future music and video formats will be determined by comparing the DRM technology they are wrapped with. If Microsoft's DRM technology is favored by the media industry, any player that does not handle the Windows format will slowly become useless.

[Prndll]

Very confusing........

MSN is Microsoft. Windows is the Microsoft flagship. I am confused by the title of this story. Of course it's about Windows. I look at this and think only one thing------B.S.

This had nothing to do with Itunes, IPOD, or anything with Apple.....

Come on!!!!!