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Technology Stocks : Microsoft Corp. - Moderated (MSFT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (10431)	12/10/2005 5:00:42 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19790

i don't think iTunes is anywhere as close as MSFT is to a viable living room strategy. the latest iteration of the iMac introduces an inferior version of Windows Media Center Edition. the problem is, Apple wants to make you buy a Mac, and the Mac is of course an overpriced piece of crap as recognized by 97% of computer owners worldwide. if Apple would simply offer a thin client A/V interface (connected to the home's AVR) that allowed iTunes on a PC to function as a media server to the thin client, they would have a great product. but Apple is not doing that. they are saying, buy an iMac. most people will say, fark that. by contrast, MCE05 is already a media server, and the Xbox 360 is a thin client (MC Extender) which gives you access to everything in your My Documents folder in your living room (through your networked Xbox 360). this is a Tivo equivalent plus full on music, photo, etc. server. and no expensive service fee like Tivo. btw, the newest generation of AVRs provides decent iPod interfacing. e.g., the HK 140/240/340, which have a serviceable iPod "bridge" product.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (10431)	12/10/2005 7:13:16 PM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 19790

Apple may be shooting itself in the foot "Apple May Be Holding Back The Music Biz Critics say iTunes-only downloads and inflexible pricing are hurting song sales Once again, Apple's iPod is expected to be the hottest gift of the holiday season. That should be great news for the recording industry, right? After all, many of the 10 million or so new iPod owners surely will rush to Apple Computer Inc.'s () iTunes Music Store to load up on songs. Not necessarily. As has been true since the start, iPod owners mostly fill up their players from their own CD collections or swipe tunes from file-sharing sites. Now legal downloads may be losing their luster. According to Nielsen SoundScan, average weekly download sales as of Nov. 27 fell 0.44% vs. the third quarter. Says independent media analyst Richard Greenfield: "We're not seeing the kind of dramatic growth we should given the surge in sales of iPods and other MP3 players." Which brings us to a grand irony: Apple, which launched the digital music revolution, may now be holding it back. Critics say Apple's proprietary technology and its refusal to offer more ways to buy or to stray from its rigid 99 cents a song model is dampening legal sales of digital tunes. "The villain in the story is the iPod," says Chris Gorog, CEO of Napster Inc. (), which sells both subscriptions and downloads. "You have this device consumers love, but they're being restricted from buying anything other than downloads from Apple. People are bored with that."[snip] subscribers' link businessweek.com@@aa*xzGcQC856tAcA/premium/content/05_51/b3964063.htm