MS defends Zune temporary DRM

iPodNN ^ | 09/20/2006

[Panerai]

Microsoft has answered claims that its Zune player may violate the international Creative Commons license, which states that copy protection cannot be applied to files where it does not already exist. If true, this would make Microsoft liable for any changes that might be made to relevant songs during wireless transfers between Zune players, since the handheld gadget imposes DRM on some of the music sent from one Zune to another, according to Electronista. "We don't actually 'wrap all songs up in DRM:' Zune to Zune Sharing doesn't change the DRM on a song, and it doesn't impose DRM restrictions on any files that are unprotected," wrote Cesar Menendez, a Microsoft employee who left the Xbox marketing team to help with the Zune player. "If you have a song - say that you got 'free and clear' - Zune to Zune Sharing won't apply any DRM to that song."

[Terpfen]

Remind me again, why is Microsoft even making this thing?

Are they truly that frightened of not being involved in the portable media player market?

[Echo Talon]

more FUD from the Apple shareholders..

[E-Mat]

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/008200609220340.htm

This is why:

Mark Mulligan, an analyst with Jupiter Media, says Redmond's decisions are based on long-term fear that Jobs will turn the iPod and its ecology of add-ons into a much wider platform. "Microsoft doesn't want Apple to develop a strong position in the media player business, and that includes PC," he says. "At a strategic level, they're probably not that concerned at making revenue from music... but the problem is that Apple is beginning to squeeze into Microsoft's digital home strategy."

[Terpfen]

Then they should worry about the PS3 and iTV, not the iPod.

[E-Mat]

They're already addressing those. The iPod/iTunes ecology is the threat that Zune is addressing.

[Terpfen]

My point was that iPod isn't a threat to Microsoft's attempted takeover of the living room. A portable media player is by definition not a living room threat, much like how the Game Boy Advance wasn't a threat to the PS2.

If I were a Microsoft shareholder hearing about the Zune, created and marketed by the same people who created the money-bleeding Xbox division, I'd give up all hope and move on.

[E-Mat]

MS leaves no threat unturned.
Maybe you don't see what is happening as well as MS. The wildly popular iPod is connected to the broadly successful iTunes store, which used to sell just music, then TV shows, now movies. Then Apple announces "iTV" so that the iPod, the computer, iTunes, everything bought at the iTunes store, and every iPod owner's home entertainment system can be one big happy family. This is what was meant by the "iPod ecology".

If every happy iPod owner were to decide they wanted to be a part of this ecology just because of the iPod factor, then that would at the very least put a big dent in MS's plans for a digital home entertainment monopoly, and therefore dull the edge of every other MS product somehow connected to home entertainment.

I didn't know X-Box was bleeding money, but from the MS empire philosophy, they have no choice. They can't leave any potentially computer-related product alone that might make money for them or their competition. I assume this is what their shareholders expect.

[Terpfen]

This is what was meant by the "iPod ecology".

I'm well aware of what the iPod ecosystem is, and I'm well aware of things like marketing positioning and strategy. I'm not an idiot here. My point of contention is that even though consumers are buying into the iPod ecosystem, it's largely a market of accessories: the money is in cases, FM tuners, speaker systems, etc. These are markets Microsoft does not and should not care about.

What Microsoft should care about is whether or not iTunes runs on Windows. And hey, it does! That means people are using a Microsoft product to ensure the operation of their iPod. That's as far as Microsoft's involvement should go.

I didn't know X-Box was bleeding money

Microsoft has lost billions on the Xbox simply to gain a foothold. The 360 is faring no better for the company's bottom line. They've created a decent product, but can't move enough software to cancel out the loss on hardware.