Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, iPod Family, Apple
Argo, Microsoft's iPod killer
Engadget, our sister blog who is always in the know when it comes to gadgets, have snagged a picture of a possible design for Microsoft's Argo. What the heck is the Argo? Why, it is Microsoft's attempt at an iPod killer.According to the scuttlebutt the Argo will be part of the XBox brand and feature, along with all the routine media playback options, a wireless net connection and a social aspect along the lines of the XBox online experience. The real kicker? Microsoft is rumored to so want to convert people from the iPod and iTunes that they will replace, for free, all the music that you bought at the iTunes Music store with Janus DRM'ed Windows Media files.
Microsoft has confirmed none of this, of course, but it seems very likely to me. I won't be trading my iPod in anytime soon, but there are countless XBox 360 users out there that might.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Silver said 2:42PM on 7-11-2006
So if I buy one, make Microsoft foot the bill to resupply all my tunes in WMA format, then return it...they lose money?
Hmmm, interesting possibilities...
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Tush said 2:42PM on 7-11-2006
Isn't that the name of the horse in "Shadow of the Colossus"?
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Tina said 2:52PM on 7-11-2006
Xbox 360 users aren't "countless" however. And, while M$ will take some marketshare away from Apple what will really happen is they will show just how good the iPod and iTunes really are. Just like they are doing with Windows vs. OSX now.
Welcome to the party M$, 4 years too late.
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Rob Blatt said 2:57PM on 7-11-2006
There is one thing missing from that player - Jonathan Ives. While function might be one of Microsoft's strong points with the examples being the XBox and 360, form certainly is not.
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Interested said 3:04PM on 7-11-2006
Course, if that's the size of an 8.5 x 11 or is as thick as a shoe... ick. One things for sure... Cupertino's going to wratchet up the heat PDQ.
I like that "we'll make you whole" approach on the iTMS purchases. That could actually work!
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Callum said 3:29PM on 7-11-2006
looks pretty nice, but i use an iPod because i like iTunes... if I had to use Media Player (which, i'm guessing you will) i won't touch / look / hear more of this.
as for the swapping iTunes DRM files for M$ DRM files... i really hope microsoft have miscalculated how populer iTMS is; i mean this could hurt, not in a huge way but say - like in a WebTV sorta way.
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Marc said 3:32PM on 7-11-2006
Of course, the back has 84 buttons on it.
1984, get it!
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Doug said 3:42PM on 7-11-2006
For many years now, various companies have announce plans to make iPod killers. I believe this is approximately Microsoft's 5th or so claim in that amount of time. I ask the vendors to please refrain from claiming to have an iPod killer until a) a device capable of killing the iPod is shipped, and b) the iPod *is* killed, or at least seriously maimed. Also, c) try to make it look half cool.
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The Jeremy said 3:45PM on 7-11-2006
The Argo, eh? Where's its Wave Motion Gun then?
Something tells me that this will only outsell the iPod on Iskandar.
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Ed said 4:03PM on 7-11-2006
I'm no brand fan, so if Microsoft does make a better product then i will switch, but if Apple comes out with a new extreme ipod video then of course i will buy that one. I use the Macbook because i like OSX Tiger and the overall laptop, but if Windows comes out with a great operating system then i will switch, but i know OSX Tiger is the best, and Leopard is going to be awesome.
What I'm trying to say is if some company does a better product then i go that way, i'm not a fan of any brand name, I'm a fan of the best products.
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Timothy said 4:07PM on 7-11-2006
so..uh... where do you pour the gasoline in? where's the hand crank?
it's fugly.
an fPod, if you will.
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Tim O'Bryan said 4:19PM on 7-11-2006
Nothing will kill the iPod. That is, of course, it's a different new buzz product that doesn't do the exact same thing the iPod does "plus more." People are loyal to brands... when bloggers get tied up in new gadgetry, they forget that easily. No one can "kill" the iPod without getting all the people who have already owned iPods for 5 years to switch.
First off, Mac users. I doubt, being a blatant Microsoft/Windows/Xbox branded product, it'll sync with all the music people have put on their MACINTOSH over the last 5 years.
Also what about all the people who stick with iPod because of it's no-nonsense ease of use interface (flawless) and trademark wheel navigation?
No one will ever kill the iPod unless Apple decides to pull the plug on production.
Creative loses, Microsoft loses, SanDisk loses, iRiver loses. No one can beat it... no one ever will. All of you iPod fanboys (including myself) --don't worry... it'll all blow over.
P.S.
Speaking of blowing over... I hope to GOODNESS that this whole "super digicam/phone/mp3 player" revolution will slow down. I have an iPod because it does a good job at playing music. I have a Canon SD600 because it takes amazing pictures. I don't want to subject myself to having a MEDIOCRE phone with a MEDIOCRE music player/camera tacking another $150 to the price. Geez. Okay, sorry, my rant is over.
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Jon said 4:26PM on 7-11-2006
That is the ugliest MP3 player I've ever seen. However, MS are excellent at marketing, so it could well become popular. I know a lot of Windows users who prefer WMP to iTunes. Maybe it's because WMP looks flashier.
But if those pictures of the 6th gen iPod are real, it hasn't got a chance.
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Jon said 4:28PM on 7-11-2006
Btw, I forgot to say that the idea of giving iTunes users free music looks like an act of desperation.
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Nik Fletcher said 5:09PM on 7-11-2006
Jon,
You say that MS is good at marketing, but when you look at the only marketing success they've sort of had , the Origami, they won't be able to hold it in that long. They'll just get overly excited, tell us it's all the things they want it to be, and we'll just be let down again. In fact, Microsoft's only marketing success (IMO!) is one that actually takes the p*ss out of their own marketing! These rumours will eventually be confirmed.
If anything scanning your hard-disc from Microsoft thus far is anything to go by, you can imagine what their iTunes 'scanner' will pick up, report and not mention (although I must add that Apple ought to be doing something about that dashboard reporter thing too).
At any rate, something tells me Apple will meet, beat and mock anything Microsoft throws at them.
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macxprt said 5:16PM on 7-11-2006
I think it should be called the Microsoft Arggh. As in "Arggh, this thing is killing me!" or "Arggh, matey, load up me player with some pirate booty!"
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troymccluresf said 7:04PM on 7-11-2006
If Apple's getting [poo] from the record companies for their measly 99 cent price point, why would they allow MS to give music out for free? I realize that it's the same product at the core, but why would they pass up any excuse to milk a few more bucks out of a given deal? And how much iTMS content is exclusive to iTMS?
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Phi said 12:14AM on 7-12-2006
I've got to think that it's unlikely that this will be the iPod killer. However, don't assume that the iPod is invulnerable. Or at least I hope Apple doesn't. That's the kind of hubris that really gets companies in trouble. After all, a few years back, everyone assumed that the web search battle was over. Only a fool would try and enter that market. And then came Google...
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Nick said 1:22AM on 7-12-2006
troymccluresf, i believe the arrangement would be that microsoft would absorb the costs for new songs to be purchased. So if i have 50 songs from iTunes, Microsoft pays for 100 new songs in WMA format to be sent to me. I don't pay anything, but microsoft does. It's a similar strategy to the one they're taking with the Xbox360 (they actually lose money on each of the units they sell i believe). They hope to ship enough units that it will create a strong market and then make their money up by users purchasing songs through their service.
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Nick said 1:26AM on 7-12-2006
Sorry, typo. If i have 50 old iTunes songs, microsoft pays for 50 new songs (not 100, obviously) to be delivered to me free of charge.
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