RSSMicrosoft to Launch URGE This Week
By Ed Oswald | Published May 15, 2006, 2:40 PM
Microsoft's next chapter in its battle against the iPod and ITunes begins this week, as the company releases Windows Media Player 11 to the public. Additionally, Microsoft will promote heavily a test version of the URGE music service, a project it co-developed with MTV.
Seeing that a seamless ecosystem is what has propelled the iPod to its iconic status, Microsoft has also taken a page from the Apple playbook and co-developed a portable player called the "Clix." The new device is a project between Windows-based player market leader iRiver and the Redmond company.
The deluge of media-related announcements is seen by some as an indirect admission that the company's previous strategy of allowing freedom among its partners to do as they wish in the digital media space was a failure.
Companies like Creative have struggled to succeed in a crowded market where more than a half dozen major players plus dozens of smaller outfits compete for less than a fifth of the market. The result has been a disaster not only for most of these companies financially, but for Microsoft in the minds of the consumer.
Microsoft's much-hyped PlaysForSure program ran into issues as Microsoft had to ensure that the multitude of devices would all synchronize correctly with Windows Media Player, many of which didn't.
Additionally, Microsoft had no control over the various music services that have popped up as a result of its open licensing program, This meant that if compatibility issues arose with players, there was little, if anything, the company could do.
In turn, Microsoft s now promoting an entire digital music ecosystem, rather than just focusing on the technology and leaving the rest up to its partners.
Windows Media Player 11, to be a part of Windows Vista and being released in beta form this week, includes several enhancements to better compete with market-leading iTunes. Improvements have been made to PlaysForSure to ensure seamless transfer of music, much like the iPod when connected to iTunes.
The centerpiece of WMP11 will be the URGE music service, which is deeply integrated into the player. While a user would still be able to choose from the half-dozen or so Microsoft-based music services through the WMP, the co-developed offering would receive top billing.
The service will come with nearly two million tracks, and have a two-tier service plan. Those who wish to listen to tracks on their PCs only can register for a $9.95 USD monthly plan, while those wishing to download to compatible players would need to sign up for the $14.95 USD monthly tier.
As well as the subscription offerings, URGE would also allow for per-track downloads at 99 cents a song. Unlike the tracks downloaded through the subscription plan, users would still be able to listen to these tracks after cancellation of those plans.
URGE is expected to go into public beta Wednesday.
Initial reactions to both WMP11 and URGE may give Apple some pause. Testers have said that the way the new version of the media player allows users to browse through a collection of music by album cover rather than list of files is much better than previous WMP versions and even iTunes.
The final piece of the puzzle is the Clix player. According to Sean Alexander, group product manager at Microsoft, the two companies have been working on the unit since late last year.
The device looks much like the iRiver U10 first introduced last year, but there are several key enhancements. "Our team worked closely with iRiver, providing feedback, usability resources, and assistance on interaction design starting with a complete 'teardown' of the existing iRiver U10 product," Alexander said.
Microsoft's role in the development of the player is clear in the user interface and its deep integration with WMP11. Album art, ratings, play count, and playlists all now sync directly with the device, and synchronization speed has been improved.
iRiver is the best selling Windows-based brand, although it runs a distant second to the iPod in terms of global market share. However, it appears that Microsoft may be acknowledging iRiver's success in choosing it as a partner to take on Apple's iPod.
I LIKE iTunes! It enables me to organise my music the way I want to, and seamlessly updates my iPod. I suppose that if I needed a music player I'd look at the Clix player versus the iPod (and others), but at the moment I'm happy with the iPod. MS have come to the party too late for me.
I don't have much in the way of video (and use WinAmp for that anyway). I'll probably get WMP11 eventually, but doubt that I'll rush!
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amaroK is the Best.
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The only reason I like WMP11 is that when I go to close it.. I dont accidently close the program behind it. You know what I mean.
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Under PC I used WinAmp. It worked great and was highly modular, something MS hasn't learned. Under Mac I use iTunes and still looking for something better.
MS is going through the fourth stage of irrelevancy, first the arrogance and mistreating of its clients (and I was a big one :) ), then denial of losing touch, then friendly gesture to lure burnt techies back in and finally desperate attempts to catch up with systems already in place. No matter how much money they throw in this time, it's a little too late.
Time will tell but MS is spreading itself too thin with trying to Windownize everything when OSs are becoming more and more irrelevant.
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I guess the catch phrase would be,
"Beware the Urge to Urge"
I played with the beta of 11 some time ago, and quickly uninstalled it.
I installed this vers. of 11 and I suppose I'm sticking with it, Shape of MS things to come and such.
You can uninstall Urge from Windows control panel if you want, but if you can put up with URGE in your face, it's not the worst interface.
I anxiously await the new products offered by MicroSoft, and who knows, I might even buy them.
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Microsoft just doesn't get it - they will not "rule" the world. Why don't they concentrate on making an O/S that simply works they way we expect it should.
Sure, competition is good for the industry, but does Microsoft really have to try and seize an Apple niche, try to squash Google and Yahoo, crush Firefox and Opera, and destroy Linux? Corel WordPerfect was a better WordProcessor and they killed a great product with their might.
Why don't they just make a GREAT O/S and Applications that are compatible with everything. They should strive to make computers friendlier all round.
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Ah, that's where you are wrong.. they DO rule the world..
Not from a dictate stand point, but they are probably one of the most recognized products in the world..
They aren't trying to sieze everything everyone does, but they do make a good product. World domination correlates with product awareness and use, you can't take over the world, unless the rest of the world uses your product...
Do they force it on you? NO.. so obviously you are in the minority because you don't believe they have a superior product.. you are entitled to your opinion, but you will lose this point of view.
MS isn't trying to crush the competition as much as the competition is trying to crush MS. Let's make that clear.
I don't see MS bringing lawsuits at every turn.. I only see Google, Firefox, Oracle, IBM, and a few others trying to get a piece of the MS pie..
Corel Word perfect was a better product? Are you on dope man? Did your mama smoke a little reefer when you were in the womb? You are on some bad stuff, you need detox.
Word Perfect Sucked out loud! You must be joking. AmiPro that was a decent word processor if you want something else, but certainly NOT word perfect.. I can't even believe you mentioned that piece of s***.
The Great OS is supported by its developers. MS invites people to develope for their OS. So how is it MS fault because people don't follow guidelines for products?
Its easy to blame the OS for its apparent problems, just like its easy to blame a city for its crime element. You want to control crime, do something about the people.. New Orleans was a thriving city, how is it their fault they attracted the bad element? Its not.
MS makes a great OS. How is it their fault that Firefox crashes, that drivers don't work correctly, and nVidia doesn't work the way its supposed to? You can't.. those are manufacturer problems, and quit blaming MS for everything that happens to their OS. People contribute to it, they also are part of the problem.
Maybe your computer crashes, because you keep putting crap on it. Install MS OS, install ONLY drivers from the Windows Updates site. DON'T install ANYTHING else on that computer (that isn't a MS product) and get back to me... Now we will see who is who.
Nobody does this, they install winamp, nvidia drivers, sound blaster audigy, games, nero, you install word perfect (that's enough to make any OS cry), hard disk utilities, si sandra, drivers for your HP printer, and you expect MS to account for EVERY device AFTER its installed?
Wake up man. Get off the sauce, and laying too close to Nintendo at night and watching the family guy episodes.. You are whacked.
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Why don't they concentrate on making an O/S that simply works they way we expect it should.
If you stick to the HCL and keep a close eye on the quality of programs you run, guess what?
They do!
Throw in hardware that does not conform, toss in a few apps and drivers that run amok, and guess what? You're gonna crash and burn.
What you fail to realize, is that Apple 'succeeds' with the OS simply becuase it is not subjected to the 950,000 different Hells we put MS Windows through.
Try running XP on certified hardware, with *only* MS or MS certified software. You'll notice an *enormous* difference.
If you aren't willing to try that, your comments here really don't amount to squat.
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Goddammit.
Farcry won't run at it's highest quality settings on my 2Ghz with integrated nVidia graphics.
It's *obviously* a Widnows XP problem. ;)
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my, how the foolish are misled :-p
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Ah what diff does it make.. you suck at farcry anyway!
-duck-
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If WMP11 comes with all the codecs I need and/or the ability to update and download new ones as necessary, it has great potential. I'll be particularly impressed if they can improve the UI, which is fairly lame in WMP10. Features and settings aren't very easy to access.
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I'll use them both as I have PC's and a Mac too.
They both have nice features and both keep improving all of the time.
Microsoft and Apple, you guys just keep right on going the way you are,....
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iTunes isn't really the fastest product, and it does not work steamingly on Windows. WMP is pretty good most of the time, but lacks the album transfer like iTunes. Well, let's wait for WMP11.
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Winamp and xmplay for me..
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I still use Winamp, it gets it done for me.
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Excuse me, Ive got the URGE to take a duce on all that is Windows Media (especially WMV format)
iTunes owns!
(and I am a Windoze user, for all you fanboys)
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Well iTunes works fine for most folks, trouble is, its very intrusive on the Windows computer. It has all these background services running constantly, unless you kill them..
And there better utilities to synchronize the iPod, like Yammi Pod (which is free). iTunes organizes files the way IT wants to, and those other utilities are faster and organize according to efficiency.
If you don't buy iTunes music, iTunes doesn't do you much good, considering the alternatives.
But hey if you like iTunes, good. I am not trying to sway its use. I am pointing out other alternatives.
I don't care much for ANY program to synchronize music, drag/drop works for me. I don't need a fancy program to do it.. I am capable of doing my own maintenance.
I organize my music in folders (which takes some work). I do it by type/artist. And I keep up with it. iTunes does make it easy to simply find your music (no matter where its at on your machine) and organize everything into artist or song and sort it. But if your file structure is ALREADY setup this way, then dragging and dropping makes better sense.
My MP3 player can read MP3 tags. So I can sort my collection by artist, genre, album, or other categories on the fly. I can get an iPod interface for my head unit, and read songs like a CD changer would directly from the iPod. That's where iTunes turns everything foul.. at least for me.
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if you want good music organizer,id3 tag editor lyric and cover art finder check Zortam Mp3 Media Studio at:
http://www.zortam.com
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Itunes is the realplayer of 2006.
Windows Media player is the best player I've found yet.
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You haven't looked very hard, have you? There are many players that offer better functionality and a more useable interface than WMP. Try Winamp or VLC.
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VLC is good, but Winamp has been crap for a long time now (since version 3 in my opinion). It has some nice features though.
WMP is nice in that it's not very heavy. It's a bonus that it's on about every pocket pc out there (thank the monopoly for that heh).
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It seems pretty obvious to me that yet again Microsoft cannot come up with any original ideas on its own, and Bill has to steal from his old partner Steve.
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When other companies create a competing product its ok. When its MS, then they call it stealing. So I guess Pepsi stole from Coke just like GM from Ford?
In reality this is how we as consumers get better products and more choices. Companies are always putting a different spin on an existing product.
If MS stole from Apple then Generic pharmaceutical companies stole from the likes of Park Davis. But some how you dont see it that way cause your saving $.
If stealing means I have access to more and better products and some times cheaper, then I say run like a thief in the night.
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Funny thing is, people complain about non-originality, but those "other" companies didn't do their own work either, including Apple.
The MAC comes from Xerox, and they in essence stole an idea Xerox made, and Apple BOUGHT the rights to it, MP3 players aren't new either, they have been around, even before the iPod, Apple managed to market it better, and made it APPEAR their product was the first, which it wasn't.
Creative had similar products before the iPod was popular, but they sucked.
And you are right, they don't see their company favorites doing wrong, because people already have a bad opinion of MS, so they need very little to get them going. Kinda like the Bush administration, everyone screams about how Bush this and Bush that, but you can't run a country (or a company) one sided, you need BOTH sides to compromise or agree..
Anyway, this isn't a political debate, this is agreeing with what you stated, that they are blinded by products that MS creates, because they will ONLY see them as ripoffs, but the really funny thing is, people STILL use MS products, so are they being hypocrits?
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rijp,
I agree on all points made. I always ask people that I meet why they have their opinions of MS. The most common answer I get is... "Well my buddy knows allot about computers and he says MS is bad because..."
The sad part is most of these people dont know any more than the person asking them.
As a tech support supervisor for a large computer manf. we always told our techs to "buy the customers confidence with knowledge". That translates to if you dont know the answer make something up that sounds logical. Thats what people do.
Oddly people hate whats popular. Look at sports figures. M. Jordan is the best the NBA many would argue. At the same time when he was active, many people complained they were tired of seeing the Bulls win all the time because of Jordan. People loved to hate him.
Sadly this will never change. MS will always get the raw end of the PR deal.
Sorry for the long post ;)
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Are you hiring? I wnat to come work for you!
Education is the key, that's why my people don't have complaints, I show them, demonstrate features, refer them to the support page, and THEN if they can't get stuff to work, they can put a call into the help desk, but we make sure they try to help themselves first..
There are very few of us in here that regard MS with any esteem, and MS, like you and I, know they are a target. We see it everyday, and yet they persist..
I think its because they make good stuff, not perfect, but good. I maintain, that people complain about MS, but yet they don't have a problem continuing to use their software..
I think people just love to b****!
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I think people just love to b****!
I know I do...
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NO!! NOT YOU...!!! :P
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Looking forward to seeing WMP11. I'm not much of an itunes fan.
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This is a good move on Microsft's part. But will WMP11 work on the Mac? I don't think so. And due to my recent decision to switch to Apple in terms of the "next-gen operating systems", I am going to stay with iTunes.
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Feh...
I'll wait for my iRiver iAudio X5, thankyouverymuch.
Mmmmm....Flaaaac.
Nothing to see here, but DRM infested, lossy crap.
But hey...it's only 99 cents. (lmao)
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I have IAudio X5L, LOVE IT!
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Does the X5l have that lame-ass line-out adapter that the X5 has, or is the line-out built into the player?
It's one of the few things I dislike about the X5.
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Watch this the Microsoft verison of Ipod, will contain virues, lol, or can get them lol....
Microsoft should stick with OS and fix them first before going to other ventures. All that money and people could be going to create a better OS.
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Microsoft and Viacom (the owner of MTV) are both giants compared to Steve's little company Apple. Also I do not believe MS is looking to make a player that will work on a Mac... concidering MS' own base is a vast majority. Microsoft is also is a multi market company, and has been more than just the OS market.
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MIRC + CREATIVE + WINDOWS EXPLORER = 280GB mp3 library..
Cost = $0.00
HAH !
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Well...you obviously don't know much about WMP in general or WMP11. The DRM comes OFF by default in a WMP installation. You can rip to lossless WMA or in the new WMP11 player you can also rip to wave if you prefer. If you choose to purchased DRM'd music, that is your decision, but DRM is a feature of WMP, not a requirement.
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That statement is so tired! Please find something original to say.
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*cough*
URGE would also allow for per-track downloads at 99 cents a song
My quote was in reference to the above. If you think URGE will allow download of lossless, non DRM infested music, you are highly mistaken.
Now...
if they allow Lossless DRM infested music...and the DRM isn't *too* restrictive... I *may* look into it. Depends on whether they allow burning as audioCD or not.
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How to rattle PC_Tool's cage
1) take away his coffee
2) Tell him its NOT starbuck's coffee anyway..
3) Mention an article involving Intel Vs AMD, and tell him Intel has better features.
4) Make the mistake of calling X-Fi "Audigy"
5) Google. Google. Google (except when Yahoo will do it better - :) )
6) Get him started on DRM and Lossless music
7) Post reasons on how to get PC_Tool started
8) Mention how Yahoo will Buy Google...
9) Don't take meds before getting PC_Tool started..
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1) take away his coffee
That's what Mountain Dew is for.
2) Tell him its NOT starbuck's coffee anyway..
I drink Caribou, anyway. They use *real* white chocolate.
3) Mention an article involving Intel Vs AMD, and tell him Intel has better features.
You mean Lie? You bet!
4) Make the mistake of calling X-Fi "Audigy"
Yeah...cuz *everyone* makes *that* mistake. ;)
5) Google. Google. Google (except when Yahoo will do it better - :) )
Haven't seen it yet. Don't expect to. *ducks*
6) Get him started on DRM and Lossless music
Works for you as well, though, eh?
7) Post reasons on how to get PC_Tool started
Coffee works well, I hear.
8) Mention how Yahoo will Buy Google...
...in Bizzaro World. Meanwhile, back at the base...
9) Don't take meds before getting PC_Tool started..
A very bad habit of yours recently...
Gee, this is fun, what's next?
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My mistake. I thought you were just slamming WMP in general and I find it to be just fine.
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I know I'll have to get Vista sooner or later, but MS won't release it. It sounds like the best PC MS has made in a long time (I still run a 98 and a custom Linus for non-console games). Sooner or later they will release it. I just hope you can integrate with Live. I would love to hear the songs on the 360 in my living room...
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