MSN Music 2004
I was the PM for the MSN Music download service which launched on Wednesday September 1st, 2004. A press event followed on October 12th at a press event in Los Angeles. The event included the launch of a new version of Windows Media Center Edition, a ton of new devices, the premier of XBOX Media Extender and lots of other stuff, including a keynote by Bill Gates and an appearance by Queen Latifah.
Washington Post - MSN Music Falls Just Short of iTunes' High Marks
"Shopping the store is a pleasure, whether in Microsoft's Windows XP-only Windows Media Player 10 or through a Web interface."
Red Herring - Microsoft's Cover of the iPod Hit
"Apple has to know that when Microsoft gets serious about having people adopt the Microsoft standard, their lead is in jeopardy," said John Palfrey, Executive Director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Technology at Harvard Law School.
PC World - Microsoft Lets the Digital Media Plays
"Because the service is Web-based, there is no need to download anything in order to access content or buy tracks. Alternatively, you can use Windows Media Player [10] in order to access the service."
ARS Technica - Microsoft opens its MSN Music Web store
"Microsoft has upped the ante by not only increasing the bitrate of their offering to 160kbps on average (as opposed to 128kbps for iTMS) but they're also using Variable Bitrate, which allows the music encoder to adjust its compressions in order to produce relatively higher fidelity."
ClickZ News - MSN Pits Music Store Against Apple’s iTunes
"We're not going to build a service here at MSN unless we've thought about what we have that we can build off" said Christine Andrews, Product Manager for MSN.
Business Week - Gates: "We're Early on the Video Thing"
| Q: | "Steve Jobs has said consumers aren't going to watch video on tiny screens. Is he wrong?" |
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A: |
"Yes. Ask kids in the back of a car on a two-hour trip, 'Hey would you like to have your videos there?' My kids would. I guess Steve's kids just listen to Bach and Mozart. But mine, they want to watch Finding Nemo. I don't know who made that, but it's really a neat movie." - Bill Gates |
