Dell mp3 player review

CESMy Week in Review

This was a very busy week for the technology industry, led by the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

I say led because the news actually started earlier in the week at MacWorld, where Steve Jobs introduced a number of changes for both consumers and business customers. On the business side there was a new server as well as new software for connecting its machines in a grid architecture. The bigger news was on the consumer side with the introduction of a new version of Apple's iLife software, now with GarageBand, a music making application; and Apple's very cute new line of smaller iPods.

Bill Gates was the opening keynoter at CES and his talk focused on: a new version of MSN Premium the first shipping SPOT watches, which I view as no more than a starting place Portable Media Center, a class of handheld products designed to take video as well as music with you. new technology to extend Media Center content to TVs through the house.

The immediate conclusion was to compare Gates and Jobs on the differences in their approaches in presentation and on issues like DRM.

My own take is just that Apple likes to announce things that are concrete and available soon; while Microsoft likes to try to set the stage for future platforms. So Apple at this point is more interested in music, since its met with such success with the iPod and iTunes; while Microsoft is trying to set the standards for the distribution of video.

Intel's Paul Otellini countered with its big push into consumer electronics, including a big pitch for what it called the "Entertainment PC," PCs designed to consume, instead of create, content. While most of the devices the Intel folks showed off used Windows software, Intel made a point of showing 10-foot interfaces from other companies as well.

But the big news came a little later, when HP's Carly Fiorina announced a major deal with Apple, where HP will install iTunes on all its machines and resell the iPod music player.

HP also showed its plans for a Digital Entertainment system media hub that would be controlled by an iPaq  it's a very different approach than Microsoft's Media Center extender, which HP also announced. And the company reiterated its support for digital rights management to fight piracy.

But it was the deal between HP and Apple that caught everyone's attention, and that seemed to take everyone by surprise, especially Microsoft. It's unclear how, or if, HP will integrate iTunes and things like Media Center (which it sells more of than anyone else), but I doubt we will see iTunes playing Microsoft's WMA format, given Job's reaction to it.

These announcements are especially important because this was the most visible signal that many of the Microsoft's "partners" are worried that the Redmond company is aiming for too dominant a role in media formats and distribution.

In his keynote Michael Dell didn't give many details about Dell's plans for digital media receivers; instead, he focused on entering new markets and lowering prices.

The CES show floor was filled with devices that support Microsoft's WMA format as well as other formats (everything supports MP3), but there are signs that the music format wars are not ending.

Real announced a new version of its Real Player that works with all kinds of music and video formats, including both Microsoft's and now Apple's. Real is already suing Microsoft on antitrust grounds over Windows Media Player; no reaction yet from Cupertino on Real's announcement. Meanwhile Real and IBM did a deal for combining their plans for digital media distribution.

And Sony announced plans for its music service and new MiniDisc players, which will support its own ATRAC music format.

If nothing else, all these different formats, alliances, and deals set the stage for a very interesting year for digital media.

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