Zune won’t play PlaysForSure
p2pnet.net News:- Bill and the Boyz’ much-touted Zune won’t play songs bought through services such as Napster, MTV’s Urge or Yahoo Music Unlimited, all of which use Microsoft’s very own Windows Media PlaysForSure DRM (digital restrictions management) application.
The situation could be “very, very disruptive” for PlaysForSure services, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has Jupiter Research’s Michael Gartenberg understating, also saying:
“While Microsoft says that PlaysForSure is still a viable strategy going forward, it’s hard to see how viable it is given their reluctance to put it in their own device. It would probably not appear that PlaysForSure has a very bright future.”
Zune is supposed to be ready to join the scores of other mp3 players out there in time for the Christmas season but will only be offering only a 30-gig model with a 7.6cm (3-inch) colour screen and FM radio, and only offer music and associated art, says the BBC.
“Movies and TV shows will come later.”
“They put a big screen designed for movies, but there are no movies for it,” analyst Rob Enderle is quoted as saying. “That is a design mistake.”
Zune will probably be pitched at, “those creating music, movies and other content,” said Enderle in July. It’ll also use download statistics to generate lists of the most popular tracks and compile recommendations of artists, “that others might like.”
Wi-Fi swapping lets Zune owners, “beam tracks, playlists and images to other Zune players nearby,” states the Beeb.
BUT – Microsoft DRM ensures the so-called ’shared’ tracks self-destruct after they’ve been listened to three times, or kept for three days.
Nonetheless, “This ability to share is at the heart of Microsoft’s ambitions for the player and the way it hopes to differentiate itself from what it dubs the ‘closed’ world of Apple’s iTunes,” adds the story.
Also See:
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Software Notebook: Microsoft Zune doesn’t do ‘PlaysForSure’, September 18, 2006
BBC – Muted welcome for Microsoft Zune, September 15, 2006
download statistics – Microsoft’s Zune hops in, July 24, 2006
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September 18th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
This is a critical issue for the success or failure of this device. What’s the mechanism for getting content on and off the machine? If it’s not PlaysForSure, MTP and WMP9 then what is it? You can be pretty sure it won’t be plain old USB Mass Storage.
September 26th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
It makes to sense, PlayForSure is part of their whole DRM. If they don’t use that what are they going to use? I think it will use PlaysForSure, they may rename it or change the encryption for their own service, while still maintain the plain PlaysForSure. Otherwise this could be a good oportunity for Realplayer or the open source DRM to gain market share.