Interesting news/reviews/deals from the portable audio market
Microsoft ceases development of the app, continues to offer the current version for download and offers the Flip4Mac plugin for free. Said plugin allows users to work with .wmv and .wma files in QuickTime.
It’s a win-win for both parts. It didn’t make sense for MS to continue spending resources on a platform dominated by Apple’s [...]
First look: Windows Media Player 11 (on Windows Vista): syncing with PlaysForSure devices has seen several improvements. Also: Urge, MS & MTV’s music store, will be integrated in the app (as we had reported last month). Still, the whole thing looks really ugly.
HP’s iTunes obligations coming to an end: “Hewlett Packard’s deal with Apple, requiring HP to bundle iTunes with its PCs, will lapse in January. HP says it plans to pursue a new digital entertainment strategy in 2006, but isn’t telling what that strategy will look like. Business Week reports that there has already been [...]
Microsoft reorganizing its entertainment division, putting hopes on Xbox team: in order to take a better stab at Apple who’s reigning in the music & video department.
The new president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices division, Robert J. Bach, put key members of his Xbox team in charge of the entertainment businesses. [...] In a Dec. [...]
MTV & Microsoft’s digital music service to launch in 2006: called Urge (remember when we posted it about it back in August), it’ll be integrated into Windows Media Player and will come with a 2 million songs catalog.
Original content and MTV network programs is where it’s at, I think (considering how popular MTV’s shows are [...]
Microsoft’s AntiSpyware to give Sony’s rootkit the proper treatment: “Declaring war on the rootkit in the company’s malware blog, Jason Garms Architect & Group PM of the Anti-Malware Technology Team said that Microsoft regards the Sony DRM as malicious code and planed to treat it as such.” [via]
Also: EFF’s Open Letter to Sony-BMG (doubt it’ll [...]
Some landline connection problems kept me offline for most of last week. I spent the weekend scanning the stories I missed—here are some worth noting:
DVD Jon comes to the US to work with MP3.com founder: why, oh why, would a wiz kid would want to partner with a man who may be bold but fails [...]
Review: Cambridge Audio Azur 340A integrated amplifier (goes for a mere—in audiophile’s terms—$250, yet earns glowing review; “When you buy forty watts, you should know what you’re not getting. The thing is, the forty watts that the 340A does deliver are of excellent, in fact audiophile quality, and more than enough for most real-world listening.”; [...]