When purchasing a personal computer, buyers used to grapple with the decision: a Macintosh from Apple Computer or a Microsoft-based PC?
Microsoft effectively won that operating system debate years ago and claims more than 90% of the PC operating system market.
But in the push to legally sell digital music, Apple and Microsoft, and their incompatible file formats, are at it again. Consumers are in the position of having to choose as hardware makers line up behind either Microsoft or Apple's software format.
Hewlett-Packard's recent surprise decision to snub longtime PC partner Microsoft and offer Apple music software on its PCs shows how unpredictable this battle may be.
"Microsoft lost the first round of the digital music war," says Phil Leigh, an analyst with research firm Inside Digital Media. Apple's iTunes software "was good enough to persuade (H-P) . . . to switch. That's huge."
For now, Dell, which battles H-P for PC market share dominance, promotes music in Microsoft's Windows Media Audio (WMA) format on its computers -- as do most Windows-based PCs.
Likewise, most portable music devices sold today -- with the exception of Apple's best-selling and acclaimed iPod -- use Microsoft's format.
That means consumers who use portable music players and buy songs from Apple must use the iPod; consumers who purchase from non-Apple online music stores must use portable devices based on Microsoft's format.
Adding to the digital disorder: Sony is set this summer to launch yet another music service, Connect, with songs that can be transferred only to Sony devices, such as mini-disc players.
"There's a lot of confusion about different formats," says Mike McGuire, analyst with research firm GartnerG2. "But the dig...
... middle of paper ...
...with Pepsi of 100 million songs from iTunes.
Will other PC manufacturers follow in H-P's footsteps? Leigh thinks so; Apple wouldn't comment. Only time will tell. Consumers "will decide which format works, and whether that should be Apple's or Microsoft's," McGuire says.
TEXT OF INFO BOX BEGINS HERE
Dividing up digital music
Apple and Microsoft have different formats for digital music. What plays where:
Music service
Plays on
Apple's iTunes Music
Apple iPod, Macs and Windows PCs with iTunes or RealPlayer version 10 software. Will soon play on H-P Windows PCs and branded iPods.
Musicmatch, Bestbuy.com, Walmart.com, Napster, BuyMusic.com, MusicRebellion.com:
PCs with Microsoft's Windows Media Player, Musicmatch, RealPlayer or Winamp software. Digital media players from Dell, Rio Audio, Creative Labs, Gateway, Samsung, iRiver; all Pocket PCs.
By 1993 Microsoft's windows computer programming function became the most widely used operating system in the world. When Microsoft was still an idea, Bill Gates led Apple to believe he would help them succeed in creating the best computer programming systems in the nation, however, Gates left it unknown to Apple he planned to release his own software. Gates took notes and allowed Apple to release the software he helped them to create. Then shortly after, Microsoft introduced windows. Apple claimed Gates had stolen their ideas, as windows looked surprisingly similar to Apple's version. Gates claimed he used his own ideas because it was his own that made Apple's renowned software. As Microsoft was leading in the world, Apple threatened Microsofts position in the world of technological advances by introducing a new software program that could potentially take Microsoft's top spot in the market away from them. Gates quickly said that he had created a new software that was set to release also, although he had no idea of new software at the time and made the excuse to possibly buy himself a bit of time. About eight months later, Microsoft released the new software program, as bill gates had proclaimed, retaining the top spot in the market. Microsoft's expansion today has reached every technological realm possible. Occluded in the newest developments are
It used to be that the choice between a Mac and a PC was pretty clear.
MP3 and require specialized players which decompress the files and then play the audio files like a
It’s difficult to remember a time without iTunes. To many people, especially to the younger generation, iTunes has always been a part of people’s lives. When it launched on April 28, 2003, iTunes was set to forever change the world of music and technology (Griggs & Leopold). When it first started, songs were available for instant download for only ninety-nine cents and albums for less than ten dollars. ITunes changed the way music was distributed and marketed. With the release of iTunes, music consumers could now download music digitally with the click of a button. Consumers no longer had to leave the comfort of their home to buy or listen to a song or an album. Before iTunes and digital music, consumers had to buy a complete album or record even if they only liked one of the songs on it. ITunes revolutionized music by marketing the single. ITunes surely made an impact on the music world, not only by making songs and albums more accessible and affordable to consumers, but by changing listeners as a whole, both socially and culturally.
...usic with portable players. They could make it is necessary to get something like a password to listen to music with that players, if music distributors were willing to cooperate with audio device industry. Of course some people would solve the password, but normal people wouldn’t if it was not so easy.
It is a well-known fact that Microsoft is the most marketed operating system. This can be explained by the decision by Microsoft to design and sell its operating system to other computer manufacturers. This meant making it compatible with other hardware. Apple did not choose to do this, making its operating systems only compatible with its own computer hardware (Derene, 2009). In a website article called “HongKait.Com: Online Tips for Designers and Bloggers” Nina Krimly states statistics that identify Microsoft as controlling 91% of the market while Apple Mac around 5%. The exclusivity of Apple did not make it popular among those who used the computer to work on projects both at home and at work in the past ...
MusicBee is a powerful music management tool with extensive features available for Windows. In addition to your usual music player functions (listening, editing of song and album details, playlist creation), MusicBee also offers advanced Tagging and Audio adjustment functions, letting you fully customize your listening experience. Connect online to find more information about your favorite bands and customize the look and feel of the interface. MusicBee also supports synchronizing of your mobile devices. Lastly, I’ve ...
Today, Apple keeps coming out on top with their exceptional and award winning items and administrations. Apple is additionally credited with driving the advanced media upheaval with their iPod compact music and feature players and iTunes online media store, making the first supportable music-downloading plan of action ever. (Jakab,
And then there's Microsoft themselves. After Bill Gates handed over CEO to Steve Ballmer, all hell broke loose as humans raged about him. During the first twenty years of Microsoft, they were considered an evil monopolistic empire, destroying all competitors that came their way. Back then, if you wanted word processing software, you used Office. Want a computer o...
There are six key new market disruptions concerning the digital distribution of music: the creation of a new and broad customer base, the possibility of an annuity versus a per-unit revenue model, the gatekeeper advantage for a record company having proprietary access to a new digital distribution infrastructure, understanding of a technology that could be applied to other digital content, need for balance between physical and digital distribution strategies, the strategy the incumbent should adopt with respect to the evolving war over digital distribution standards. Was there a disruption or an evolution?
Recent data shows that 78% of computer users use Microsoft Windows as their primary operating system. Microsoft has also just released a new operating system known as Vista that competes primarily with Apple’s Mac OSX.
Microsoft has always been known as a software company, and not well known for its hardware. In fact, the only hardware that Microsoft sells to the retail market is branded peripherals. In its heyday, Microsoft was a market leader, bring an operating system to the masses, and leading in internet search. In recent years, however, most of the moves that Microsoft has made have not been in a market leader position, but have been in response to competitors threatening Microsoft’s positions.
From 1980 to 1996, Apple’s competitive range in the PC industry was rocky. Although Apples products were unique and well built, they were overpriced compared to competing products from IBM and others. As competitor prices dropped, Apple prices stayed the same and the company saw a decline in sales as customers opted to purchase from its competitors. John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, took many steps to improve the company’s competitive advantage. One of those steps was to compete with price by producing a low-cost computers that appealed to a mass-market. The second step was to form an alliance with rivals IBM and Novel in order to create new operating systems and applications...
Then there is the Apple shuffle this is designed slightly differently as it more like a USB stick so that consumers are able to just place it in the computer.
...P, 2005, p 23) Around 2005 cell phones and PDAs were referred to as Swiss army knives of gadgets due to the fact they had many functions in one device. All the big phone companies at the time were premiering phones with more mp3 storage than mp3 player, essentially foreshadowing the future. (Dempsey, P, 2005, pg. 23)An average smart phone in the year 2014 can hold around 8-16 gigabytes of data, and if storage is allotted correctly, the phone can hold thousands of mp3s. Any mp3 player trying to have a foothold in the consumer market cannot compete with a device that is an essential part of an average person’s daily life, and a music player. “Smartphones with increasingly high-quality audio and video capabilities have become popular and therefore hamper demand for products in the Audio and Video Equipment Manufacturing industry.” (Krabeepetcharat, T. 2013. p. 8)