Media Player Update Moves Strategy Forward

Windows Media Player 10 improves support for buying rights-protected music and video and transferring it to portable players, with features such as automatic synchronization and transcoding of content, driverless connections, and better integration with online stores. The changes bring Microsoft and its partners closer to the ease of use offered by Apple’s digital media products while presenting a greater choice of content sources and compatible devices. However, it’s not clear whether the changes are significant enough to wrest market share from Apple, nor whether Microsoft can offer broader choices than RealNetworks, which supports more digital media formats.

The Roles of the Windows Media Player

Microsoft’s digital media strategy is to position the Windows PC as the hub of home entertainment by making it the best device for downloading, storing, and editing digital media content, and by spurring partners to create devices that can connect to a PC to play this content. Microsoft will benefit when consumers buy new PCs or upgrade their OS to take advantage of new digital media capabilities, and when device manufacturers and content owners and distributors license its Windows Media Format and associated technologies.