A new video download service from Microsoft increases the amount of video available for viewing on Windows Mobile devices. Announced at the Jan. 2005 Consumer Electronics Show and launched at the end of March, MSN Video Downloads allows users to download video files to their Windows XP PC, then transfer them to a Portable Media Center or to any Pocket PC or Smartphone that supports Windows Media Player Mobile 10. So far, only a handful of such devices exist, suggesting limited consumer demand, but Microsoft hopes that increasing the amount of video content available for these devices will spur the market.

The service offers video from sources such as Fox Sports (sports highlights), MSNBC (news), and Want Media (music videos, full-length independent and underground films), and comes in a free basic tier, and a premium tier (US$19.95 per year) that offers more content. Users can subscribe to specific areas of interest, and new material will automatically be downloaded to the PC in the background as it becomes available. The service does not let users control when or whether downloads occur, so a "Garbage Collection" feature automatically deletes videos downloaded from the service after a specified time period to avoid overloading the user's hard drive. All content from the service is protected by the Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM): users can transfer each video file to as many as five devices an unlimited number of times, but cannot move the files to another PC or burn them to removable media.

MSN will continue to operate MSN Video, a free streaming video service launched in early 2004. The two services share many of the same content partners, but MSN Video is intended for use on a PC only, while content from MSN Video Downloads can be viewed on either PCs or portable devices (although the video quality will be poor on most PC screens). In addition, MSN Video Downloads will have no advertisements and will have more full-length TV shows.

MSN Video Downloads is at www.msnvideodownloads.com.

MSN Video is at video.msn.com.