Microsoft's iPod competitor...image leaked, will be Xbox branded

[snoopy369]

Interesting question - does XNA likely mean that PC gamers may soon have a much bigger list of console games they can play, as people make XBox 360 games and then ultimately take advantage of the ease to port to the PC?

This is asked having no understanding of XNA beyond this thread

[mrmitchell]

I cant stand those clickwheels

[FrostyBoy]

what I don't understand is why we have these audio players, when mobile phones seem to play audio just fine, all they need is a slightly larger disk space, i'm sure that can't be too difficult.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by nostromo
Its not ugly, its bland, IMO. Rumor has it that in order to lure in customers, Microsoft will give away a version of every track you bought on the iTunes music store.

I mentioned this to my dad, and he figures that it won't cost MS anything - it's in the music industry's interest to not charge royalties. Since people wouldn't be rebuying their music from MS's service just to use the player, there's no opportunity cost, and this could really break iTunes' monopoly, which is also good for them.

[snoopy369]

Cell phones are desired to be *smaller*, not larger... you could add a couple gig of flash memory at most, even that costs space. Why else is the RAZR so popular??

[Nostromo]

Not to mention that not everybody wants a cell phone

And I'm not sure you can have a great cell phone and a great MP3 player in one compact package. You'll have an average cell phone with an average MP3 player. The iPod cell phone was a flop.

[Asher]

At least one of the products of the 'Argo' project is to be called Zune (that's the player in the picture):


Also from Engadget:

We also understand that Zune to Zune wireless song transfer -- a PlaysForSure feature currently highlighted in the MusicGremlin -- is said to be a prominent aspect of the device's development, and in addition to the white shade we saw yesterday, we can expect a complement of colors to be available at or near launch.

[MRT144]

ZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUNE!

[Asher]

VH1 actually did something funny, a good spoof of the new Mac ads: http://www.bestweekever.tv/2006/07/07/bwe-mac-ads/

[Imran Siddiqui]

Best Week Ever . That's a great show .

[Verto]

Now they need a commercial making fun of PC gamers who think they're better than console gamers

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

I mentioned this to my dad, and he figures that it won't cost MS anything - it's in the music industry's interest to not charge royalties. Since people wouldn't be rebuying their music from MS's service just to use the player, there's no opportunity cost, and this could really break iTunes' monopoly, which is also good for them.

And the music industry obviously wants to hand over control of digital media to Microsoft. They are squeamish about Apple's limited control as it is, although Apple restricts its content management to its own products and does not plan on exerting complete software control over digital media (which is exactly what Microsoft wants to do).

Your father is a moron.

iPods only have at most a couple of years left. Multi purpose telephones will see to that.

[Asher]

Since when does giving Apple a competitor = handing over control to Microsoft?

The logic and life a philosophy instructor at an overrated institution.

As for them wanting to "hand over control to Microsoft"...the MPAA already did that, why should the RIAA not?

They are squeamish about Apple's limited control as it is, although Apple restricts its content management to its own products and does not plan on exerting complete software control over digital media (which is exactly what Microsoft wants to do).

What?? "Limited control"??? It's totalitarian!

If you buy the media from Apple's store you can only play them on Apple's products! If that isn't exerting complete control over digital media, I don't know what is.

By contrast, Microsoft licenses the technology to anyone and everyone by policy.

You've got this ass-backwards.

[Asher]

By the way:

Your father is a moron.

Ming, banish him and do your job.

[MRT144]

Asher, youll get no swing if you command people to do their job like a bratty princess