Can Microsoft win the media format war?

Even if Microsoft has no ulterior motives, content creators have other very good reasons to steer clear of Microsoft's DRM and Windows Media formats. "Content is what drives digital media behaviours in the home, not a platform," Jones said. "You will never see content owners changing their architecture to fit a device's architecture in the home. It's always the other way around. The device architectures always fit how the content enters the home. There are MP3 players because the content source was MP3; it's not the other way around." To date, Microsoft's strategy has worked to counter this behaviour, with the company convincing device manufacturers to support Windows Media formats. But that strategy has failed to gain much traction for the format against MP3. Still, the DRM is a big carrot that could convince labels to use Windows Media formats, which could greatly advance adoption. The timing is right, say analysts. "The labels are feeling a lot of pressure, especially from the retail side, like this Echo thing that was launched," Jones said. "That's a sign the industry is thinking seriously about alternative distribution platforms." On Jan. 27, a group of music retailers including Tower Records, Virgin Entertainment, Best Buy and Wherehouse Music formed a consortium to sell digital music--through an investment in Echo Networks, which formerly operated a streaming music community. Even if record labels embrace the toolkit and create millions of discs with Microsoft DRM-protected content, there's no guarantee Windows Media formats would gain any traction with consumers. In fact, many analysts believe content protection simply cannot succeed in the market place. "DRM solutions have not been popular with consumers," Jupiter's Gartenberg said. "It's not likely consumers will flock to this technology or replace either existing consumer-electronics equipment or PC equipment to help labels fight piracy or help Microsoft drive Windows Media adoption forward." In fact, the most serious indictment of DRM technology may come from Microsoft employees. A research paper published last fall, reportedly by four Microsoft employees, concluded that DRM technology would likely fail because of consumer resistance to content protection and acceptance of file trading. The researchers concluded "that a vendor will probably make more money by selling unprotected objects than protected objects." Gartenberg isn't surprised. "Consumers have shown resistance to anything that inhibits their use of the music that they purchase," he said. About 40 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds buying a CD in the last 12 months said downloading influenced their purchase, according to Jupiter; 28 percent had copied music from a friend. "The figures were 11 percent and 10 percent, respectively, for adults," Gartenberg said. "That seems to indicate consumers want flexibility with their music."

For a weekly round-up of the enterprise IT news, sign up for the Enterpise newsletter. Tell us what you think in the Enterprise Mailroom.

« Previous
1
2
3
4
Next »

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

5 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

13 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

14 hours ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

15 hours ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

17 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

18 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

19 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

20 hours ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

20 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

21 hours ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

23 hours ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

1 day ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

1 day ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

1 day ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

1 day ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

1 day ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

1 day ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

1 day ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Can Microsoft win the media format war?

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Houston: we have a problem with Office

Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Desktop Apps

Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Solutions Architect - Oxford - publishing

Project/ImplementationManager - homebased - DataWarehouse/BI

Project/Implementation Manager-homebased-Data Warehouse/BI

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

How to handle data replication

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Workspace IT / Desktop Apps

Can Microsoft win the media format war?

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Desktop Apps

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features