Microsoft launching digital music biz, Xbox 360 is the hub

by James Ransom-Wiley { Jun 14th 2005 at 5:03PM }

Microsoft has finally decided to jump on the digital music bandwagon, appointing Xbox boss Robbie Bach to head the questionable project. Bach's mission: "to make Microsoft's new Xbox a hub for handling digital music." And while this is all well and good, the system better be capable of uploading/downloading its music to the iPod, which currently controls 80 percent of the digital music player market. But without the ability to cooperate with ACC encrypted music files (from iTunes), this fish may be dead in the water. Why bother managing music on the Xbox 360 when your PC can do it much better? That's the question Microsoft will have to answer.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

dan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

And I don't want my console to be my digital music hub. I want it to be a game console, dammit.

Gah.

TrackZero @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

Maybe because the Xbox will be in the living room, where my stereo is?

Also, wasn't that one of the first comments that Microsoft made about the 360, that it's being designed to work with your iPod/mp3 player? I'm not going to go hunting for the comment, but I'm damn sure I remember them making it at E3.

The editors odd comments aside, the article is of interest. This may be a very smart tactic on Microsoft's part to get into the music market.

Arch-360 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

nooo. microsoft doesnt have to answer anything. we all know that the 360 is going to be more powerfull that any pc out today or for the next 2 years most likely so the 360 is the one who will be handeling them better not the pc.

phat @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

hmmm... I hope I can play my game and also listen to music at the same time or it'll be useless. and i'm not talking about using your MP3s/WMAs as the in-game tracks. I really dont want it to cut out if it's loading another level/tracks/board/cut-scene.

Paul @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

For every 1 iPod user there are probably 5 people who are on the fence about getting an MP3 player. I'm one of those and the reason I'm still on the fence is because I'm waiting for the perfect solution to come out. The iPod is pretty, but lacks essential features. If MS and the 360 can come up with a compelling story here then I (and others) will finally be ready to get off the fence and buy. iPod may own the current market, but it's just silly to think the market is already tapped.

renace @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

I remember when they are saying XBOX360 is all about gaming...

dan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

The question isn't about the 360's ability to play digital music (hell my old, busted gateway from the 90's can play mp3s), it's whether the 360 will be able to manage the music better than your PC. Will the 360 be more capable and convenient for buying, organizing, and transferring music than what can be done on PC? Tough to say. There's already a lot of software and hardware out there already dedicated to this goal.

Monmin @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

The gamespot article does indeed say that MS wants the 360 to be the center of the music experience, but I think that might be a misquote or out of context. The CNET article does not emphasize xbox as much.

No doubt you'll be able to access your music from the 360, but I doubt that MS will try to form their whole musci biz around the 360.

The only real news we know for sure is that Bach has been put in charge to turn MS's music biz around. It seems he will have quite a bit of power in that position as well.

Personally I think we need some fresh new ideas in the digital music biz. I want high quality music to play on whatever speakers I own. Whether it's my headphones, my high end stereo, my car stereo, or my computer speakers. I realize that bandwidth is an issue for the 'high quality' but right now bit torrents are available for lossless rips of CDs. So, why can't I legally purchase a lossless recording? CD quality is fine for me, some people will want better like SACD or DVD-A.

Ryuukuro @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

Who's better to have in charge of music other than Bach?

amiga_tone @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

3. Posted Jun 14, 2005, 5:29 PM ET by Arch-360

nooo. microsoft doesnt have to answer anything. we all know that the 360 is going to be more powerfull that any pc out today or for the next 2 years most likely so the 360 is the one who will be handeling them better not the pc

----------------------------------------------

Errr... the XBox360 is a PC, it's not a console.

Mogg @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

All I care about for my xbox360...

XboxLive and games to play online.. i.e. Madden in HDTV.

Matt Baron @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

I believe you mean AAC files, not ACC.

Michael McGuire @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

This could be cool, especially if it is compatable with the subscription based services.

I signed up for the Yahoo Music Unlimited deal for a year ($60) and I'm loving it. I can download legal music to my heart's content. Unfortunately, I can only listen right now at work on my laptop, or perhaps at home on my PC. I'm considering buying a compatable portable player.

But what would be great is if the 360 could play them in my living room on my stereo. That could be a real killer app for me.

MET @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

And I don't want my console to be my digital music hub. I want it to be a game console, dammit.
??????
--------------------
so why should i care.. I want my console to be a music hub TOO.
Just because you might not need the feature doesn't mean the rest of us should lose out on them :)
I use my laptop to play games, read emails and watch movies - i am pretty sure that was never the reason why computers were 'created' :)

michael - I think it was known that the 360 could
already do that..

Its rumored to be compatible with XP - in which case MS-DRM wil work
(thru WMP probably) - hence your Yahoo subscription should work.

What audio outs does the 360 have?

dan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

Oh MET, I'm not really that adamant about it.

Although, whenever people talk about all this convergence I worry that they'll make the console a jack-of-all-trades that does everything mediocre. That's all.

Bob @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

Pff screw microsoft and their expensiove games! ;) :)

haha free games are all the craze. like http://www.hypegames.com

online games > xbox games yo

PEZinvaders @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

The 360 will network immediately with MediaCenter PCs (and I hear XP MC Edition), so it will be able to transfer all the music. Say you think the PC is better for handling the files, well just zap them over to your 360 to listen on your living room stereo. Where you dl or arrange them isn't the issue, but with Live they might offer deals and exclusive content as incentive to get them off the 360. There was a graphic I saw from E3 with all you could hook up to the 360 and on it was a PSP and an iPod. How could the editor miss that one?

They want this to be attractive for the whole family, not just the target gaming audience. An intuitive interface and multiple applications broaden the market, which is supposedly more desirable. I mean, if you like money. That's why they called it "Xbox 360"-- Mom's across America picked that one. They know we'll buy it, they just have to get kids' parents to buy it too. Or give husbands some leverage when trying to explain that purchase to the missus.

Scroll down for list format Xbox360 specs: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox360/factsheet.htm

CHILL @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

Well you could just transfer the music to an XP computer anyway. We now can use the prepaid cards for downloads that will be available for xbox 360 live to download musik. This is gonna be nice. Its a great center to have my music collection, and it can easily be transfered to several MP3 devices. Lets just hope it supports many MP3 players. It should support the "Plays for Sure" players. Just to be able to download music on the fly on my XBOX 360 will be a nice feature. Now we just need to hope that the 360 will have CD-burning capabilities. IT's so advanced, why not?

Conde @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

to make it compadible for xbox 360 they would have to have an agreement with apple... and apple is working with sony.... hmmm we might see a double agent sequence going on here

kire321 @ Dec 18th 2005 9:59PM

Any Windows computer with itunes can play ACC or AAC or whatever, & if microsoft has an agreement with apple, why shouldn't it be able to? Unless we see a new product, XMP (Xbox media palyer, a take on WMP), they may very well use itunes. I haven't seen this anywhere on the net, if it was revealed in an interveiw or at e3, a link perhaps?

The cheapest computers can be found at walmart or a simialir place, 100-200 bucks each. But those have ainceint hardware & run linux. There is nothing wrong with linux, but most software is for windows. Anyway, for $100 more, you can get a 360. The latest hardware, 3 processors everything a pc can do + uber gaming capabilities. For $300 more, you strart to see pcs that can actually do something. $1300 later you get pcs on par with next-gen consoles.

If your finances aren't that great & you'd like an mp3 player, what's most attractive? A walmart pc is nice an cheap,but there just isn;t any great organizing software. Next is an xbox 360. It doesn't have to be better with music, it just has to not be behind by a whole lot.