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Infoworld, Industry Standard, techweb are all picking up the story after the bell and adding details
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Interactive Objects, founded by former Microsoft employees in 1995 to develop object software for commercial Internet and intranet applications, unveiled
its digital audio player technology April 13 at a Microsoft news conference in Los Angeles, said Suzanne Miller, marketing manager at Interactive Objects.
The player, which has a color user interface on WinCE-based systems, is being shipped on CD-ROMs accompanying Casio E-100 and E-105 personal
digital assistants, scheduled to be available in May, Miller said. When loaded on the Casio E-100 the player can offer one to four hours of music in the
Windows Media format, as much as four times that of current MP3 players, the company said.
The player initially supported the MP3 compression technology for downloading music from the Web, Miller said, adding that she could not discuss the
company's MP3 development plans.
"There will be no development on MP3 with Microsoft, but that's not to say that we won't do development work with other people" on MP3, Miller said.
Meanwhile, under the ongoing contract, Interactive Objects will work with Microsoft to develop Windows desktop utilities, including Windows Media Rights
Manager, that enable users to manage audio libraries between PCs and portable devices.
Users connect their portable devices to a docking station that connects to their PC and use their utilities to manage and encode their audio files on the PC,
Miller explained. Encryption technologies will allow users to bundle together different audio files for playing on their portable devices without violating
copyright protection, she said. "
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