RSSCreative to Play Media2Go
By Nate Mook | Published March 13, 2003, 8:14 AM
Creative Technology on Thursday joined a small list of companies that have announced plans to back Microsoft's forthcoming portable audio and video platform, tentatively dubbed Media2Go.
Although industry giants ViewSonic and Samsung have already signed on to build Media2Go devices, Creative is the first such partner with experience marketing a hard drive-based audio player, the NOMAD Jukebox.
Media2Go debuted at CES in January and runs on Windows CE 4.2, code-named McKendric. The platform offers portable playback of audio and video, including digital photos, with a built-in hard drive and small LCD screen.
Microsoft will include native support for Windows Media Player 9 Series, MP3 and MPEG-4 video. Media2Go device manufacturers will may optionally include support for additional formats as well.
Media2Go will likely compete directly with Apple's iPod, which has enjoyed immense success and given Apple a strong foothold in the portable media marketplace. Microsoft has not yet announced pricing or release specifics, but is aiming to launch Media2Go in time for the 2003 holiday season.
Unless the iPod can also play video, it won't be competing. iPod is only competing in the portable music market place.
The only competitor I know of for Media2Go is the Archos Multimedia Jukebox, which plays MPEG4 video.
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