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Written by McClatchy-Tribune
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Wednesday, 19 July 2006 |
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Page 1 of 2 
Microsoft’s brand new Windows Media Player 11 Beta has become perhaps the last best hope for Microsoft to get a foothold in the Apple-dominated digital music/video industry.
And Microsoft plans a pre-Christmas release of its unnamed iPod-type mobile music/video player, which will be Wi-Fi enabled.
Immediate reaction focuses on the fact that Apple so dominates the music player business with its iPods that Microsoft has a mighty hard row to hoe to catch up.
But both Apple and Microsoft know they need to expand technology into digital entertainment.
So, Microsoft’s mobile player probably will look like an iPod but with a larger screen. It will access a huge Microsoft-sanctioned version of Apple’s online music store for 99-cent downloads using the Windows Media Player 11, Microsoft’s version of Apple’s iTunes music software.
Now, as Microsoft prepares to release the long-awaited Vista operating system to replace Windows XP, Vista’s Media Player 11 Beta release discloses the strategy to actually build home computers around audiovisual entertainment that can be accessed from the sofa using a nifty remote clicker.
Microsoft’s Vista/Media Player 11 software is built around what strategists call Windows Live. The idea is to use the Media player to insert the Microsoft Instant Message software and Microsoft’s MSN Web sites into everything from word processing to blogging to online shopping and audio/video/text communications.
How much more 21st century can you get? There will be no escaping the Media Player when the next Microsoft operating system arrives.
If it sounds silly to say that the fate of the world’s biggest software company ever could hinge on something as inconsequential as a coffee shop music player, about all I can say is we’d better all stay iTuned.
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|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
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I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
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| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
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