Petteri Pyyny
25 May 2003 12:26
In very unsurprising move, Microsoft is already preparing its huge counter-attack against Apple's extremely popular online music service, iTunes.
Microsoft is tweaking its DRM system, included in its Windows Media platform, to support time-limited music tracks (and most likely, video files) also on portable devices. Current WM platform supports this feature on standard PCs, making services such as Pressplay possible, where users download tracks and can listen them as long as their subscription to the originating service is alive. The problem so far has been the fact that users want to transfer these tracks to their portable audio devices, car players, etc. With iTunes' rather flexible licensing/DRM system, this is possible, but not with Windows Media -based services.
To fix this problem, Microsoft is developing a system for portable audio devices, stand-alone players and car players to handle time-limited DRM systems, check the subscription status from the Net, etc. With its marketing muscle, it is most likely that there will be several equipment manufacturers who will implement this technology in their upcoming products. But the main problem is: are consumers willing to "rent" music rather than owning it..
Source: News.com