Microsoft is angered with HP's iPod brand announcement
Source: Macworld Daily News
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/8887

With the recent announcement of HP to release its own brand of iPod products , Microsoft has got really angered as a result. A good portion of digital audio players on the market provide support for Microsoft's Windows Media format. HP being the leading PC manufacturer have decided to make a deal with Apple and went against Microsoft's format altogether. According to Microsoft, this is bad news as it would limit customers to Apple's audio codec and its iTunes music store thus losing customers away from music stores that use Microsoft's WMA format.



According to some sources, HP may even be doing a bad move as customers could start moving to WMA compatible devices at a later stage due to Windows being the market leader in operating systems. The main reason HP went for Apple over Microsoft was due to Apple's music store doing so well and it was easier to join Apple than trying to compete by starting up yet another music store. It may be likely that HP will later try to work will Apple on taking on WMA support for its player.

HP's move to release an own-branded digital-music player based on Apple's iPod – and to ship iTunes pre-installed on all HP PCs – has angered Microsoft.

General manager of Microsoft's Windows digital media division David Fester has suggested that iTunes' emerging dominance would be bad for consumers, because it would limit them to the iPod.

He told journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: "Windows is about choice - you can mix and match software and music player stuff. We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services."

Fester also said that HP would confuse its customers because the company supports several other Microsoft media products that are not compatible with the iPod, including its Windows Media Centre software.

According to the New York Times, Dell also suggests HP is making a mistake. A Dell spokesman said: "We expect competition and it's good for customers. Over time, however, customers will want industry standard choices.''

HP believes that it is better positioned than any other company to bridge the gap between Apple and Windows. Fiorina told the Times: "The next big thing isn't the next gizmo or killer app or hot box. Customers want all this to work together and they want a seamless approach. We're very much going to make sure that the Microsoft and Apple worlds work together. That's part of the power we bring to this thing."

Read the full article here.



As the iPod is currently leading the market on digital audio players along with iTunes online store leading the market on online music purchases , it looks like Microsoft are losing badly when it comes to the music. Then again, Microsoft should be very happy that they are doing very well on other sales such as being the leading operating system, office package, web browser, streaming video codec, disk FAT system (which it tried introducing royalty charges on ) and so on. It is about time that others are able to compete with better results than Microsoft.


Finally, it is not clear how well HP's branded iPod will do if it is committing to enforce DRM restrictions on all of its products . Apple's iPod supports the MP3 codec along with nearly every other digital audio player device on the market. Should HP drop this codec due to it being incompatible with DRM technologies, this could be enough to make customers choose Apple's main iPod (or another player) over HP's version just to get MP3 support.

the pigs are fighting for room at the trough already. Tsk, just last year it couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't be done.

So I wonder what MonopolySoft is going to do to undercut HP's profits.

Probably one day MS would be making its own MP3 player (or WMA player).

Let MSFT be angered. Who in the hell wants digital downloads in WMA format anyway?

HP won't benefit Apple. HP makes one of the junkiest computers on the market. Even non-sophisticated PC users I've talked to say their HPs are crap. Of course Dell & Gateway aren't much better....

Microshit is just angry that they are not the chosen one. you're better off building your own computer. I built mine and I think it does what I want to do with no spyware or monitoring software. Any time you buy a Proprietary Pc like an HP or Dell, you are buying thier terms and what you can and cannot do.

Microsoft cannot be allowed to dominate media formats. That would be seriously harmful to open technologys.

I think Microsoft has often been unfairly bashed, but this Microsoft General Manager David Fester is off-base when he says that HP's move to align with Apple is a mistake because it would lock more customers into using iPod, and thus this would be bad for customers.

I have heard nothing but good things about the iPod from customers. And it should not be forgotten that Apple does not have a monopoly on the AAC format (AAC was developed by MPEG, I think), whereas the WMA format is Microsoft's own baby - nobody forced Microsoft to develop WMA - they could have gone along with AAC just like Apple did.

Or better yet, everybody could just stick with MP3 and be done with it - if the RIAA affiliates would let them.

I'm a former customer of Compaq, which later became HP. What this means to me is not people being locked in to "iPodism", but a wave of really crappy iPod imitators on the market. Last year, a friend built a new computer for me from used & new parts I had bought and I am now free of the proprietary Compaq/HP.

"General manager of Microsoft's Windows digital media division David Fester has suggested that iTunes' emerging dominance would be bad for consumers, because it would limit them to the iPod."

Is this guy kidding?

"Windows is about choice - you can mix and match software and music player stuff. We believe you should have the same choice when it comes to music services."


Windows is about choice? This guy has talent he should have his own sitcom. The irony, the jokes!

Raoulduke,

Maybe Mr. Fester is getting advice from 'Bagdad Bob'

MP3 isn't as good as most newer codecs. Lossy audio compression has advanced a bit since it was designed. Quality contests now usually go to Ogg Vorbis, WMA or AAC, in that order. The only advantage of MP3 is its support level - every PC, mac and portable can play it, and its easy to convert to other formats. WMA through is hell to convert.

with dbpoweramp and the wma plugin the wma is an easy conversion , problem being that its a low bitrate file to start with so its a waste of time anyway.

I highly doubt anyone, especially MS, is going to overtake the iPod. Apple has struck the sweet spot for the majority of people with limited DRM. Everyone else is pushing for tighter DRM which is 180 deg from the direction they should be going. iTunes is the dominant force and it only makes sense to emulate that as best you can. They're simply trying to convince all the "sheeple" that MS knows what's best for them. MS went the wrong way by developing WMA with the industry in mind and not the end user. It isn't the industry buying and using these players. Yet again these idiots are reaping what they've sown.

Obviously the majority of people are perfectly happy with the sound quality of MP3 format, not to mention it's pretty much a universal codec. WMA offers absolutely NO advantage to any other codec, unless you consider the highest level of DRM out there an advantage. MusePack offers great sound and small filesize. I prefer Monkey's Audio lossless codec myself. I use my PC as my entertainment center and don't use portables.

Any DRM is bad...

and as for formats, I guess we are stuck with mp3 as a universal format... (I would prefer ogg or something more open-source, but watchagonnado?)

aac, wma and all the others are fairly useless in my book

and if it is on a CD, it better be in a true non DRM cda format, or I ain't buying!

I am stuck with windows, so I sorta gotta use wav files for recording and editing stuff on my own computer, but mixdown is always to ogg mp3 or cda (I wouldn't even touch ra formats, but some of the music websites sites I and my band use will put up real format files in addition to the mp3, using the mp3 I have sent them.)

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
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I think that it was just a typo, press release should say that it would be bad for Microsoft, rather than the consumer. Apparently the typest has been fired....