Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, iTS, Rumors, iTunes
Microsoft confirms the 'iPod killer' rumors are false
Yesterday, Engadget posted some less-than-clear images with rumors of an iPod killer coming soon from the Microsoft camp. Today, PC Magazine has confirmation from a Microsoft rep that these rumors were nothing more than hot air. In fact, they were simply the result of a mis-translated Japanese press release about Microsoft's new Windows Media Player 11 software; they had nothing to do with hardware.
So for those of you who might have developed a chronic nail-biting habit, worried that Microsoft's new '#1 with a bullet', MTV-infused music service and killer new hardware were going to usurp Apple's iPod and iTunes overnight (ironically, the only time MTV has anything to do with music these days), I think it's safe to say you can give your nerves a rest.
[UPDATE: Microsoft was setting other rumors about an iPod killer straight; their announcement wasn't tied to these images that Engadget posted yesterday. Those could be shots of a Gigabeat-S portable media player from Toshiba, for all anyone knows.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tommy said 4:08PM on 6-05-2006
mmm, but I think URGE is going to be a very good competitior for iTunes, because it has a feature that I think is very cool; The kind of 'flat-fee' for music, you can download as much music as you want for a small amount of money each month. I think this is very cool.
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Patrick Kane said 4:26PM on 6-05-2006
Did you really, really, really have to use a Fall Out Boy quote? Yeesh. (I acknowledge the fact that this is not an uncommon phrase, but really!)
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meatmcguffin said 4:39PM on 6-05-2006
@tommy
and just what exactly happens when you stop paying....
The hundreds of hours you spent creating the perfect library have been wasted, you end up listening to the albums that you had before you started the renting process that you've grown out of and realise the accumulated monthly fee could have been used for so much music. You end up with nowt and out of pocket.
Don't fool yourself into thinking this is a better deal than the traditional buy-and-keep method and anything other than playsforsure vendor lock-in. There's no way in hell the riaa, microsoft et all would ever allow the consumer to get away with a good deal.
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kevin said 5:06PM on 6-05-2006
the true ipod killer will come from sony + microsoft
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Craig said 5:11PM on 6-05-2006
4) Yeah Sony make fantastic products, but its gonna take a while before they are the 'ipod killer'. Loads of people own iPods, and have their music in iTunes and have bought DRMed music from the store. Sony and MS will have to come up with a way of making these songs playable, come up with better features, make it cheaper and 'cooler'.
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kevin said 5:18PM on 6-05-2006
i mean a co-project with sony developing the hardware and microsoft developing the software..
a nice sony player that works with urge, for example..
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kevin said 5:19PM on 6-05-2006
exclusively, i mean
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greatslack said 11:12PM on 6-05-2006
maybe it's just me, but the little nub on the upper right corner of the player makes it look like a phone rather than a PMP. If so, I think that could be an ipod killer. The first to come out with a phone with decent song carrying capacity (NOT 100 songs) in a reasonable form factor will make a ton of money. Whether that's Microsoft, Apple, or someone else we'll have to wait and see.
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David said 12:23PM on 6-06-2006
Lost in translation :)
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derek said 6:06PM on 6-07-2006
ok everyone...
let's listen to MICROSOFT!!! THEY NEVER LIE!!!! ...
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