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[RAVMAN]

Interesting article. Does this have any impact on MJ?

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/24/1030052995857.html

[JimH]

There are two issues here -- the player and the DRM.

The player should add some functionality that we already have and will definitely be competition.  It will probably also increase the interest in this market and that should help us.

The DRM is a wild gamble on their part.  I can't see how they can make it stick.  It reminds me of the time when IBM tried to switch from an open architecture for the PC to a closed architecture.  The world took one look at it, and went right on buying open architecture PC's.  It helped Compaq and Dell immensely, and IBM's market share plummeted.

[JasonJoel]

I agree that IF the DRM were used in the manner described in the article in all cases, then it would be MS's folly.

As people will see soon (still on track for 9/4 initial release) is that the DRM doesn't HAVE to work that way. Some content providers will certianly choose to use it this way though. Especially for video on 'subscriber only' websites, 'video on demand' sites, or online video rental sites that are in the works. This will allow them to distribute their content in a 'timebombed' fashion - on purpose.

I would recommend waiting for the other side of the story on this one... As they certainly did not paint the whole picture, nor give all the facts, in that article.

Although what they said may be perfectly true, it certainly is only part of the story.

Jason Bottjen