2003 Media2Go prototype |
Microsoft is no newcomer to the portable multimedia player marketplace. At the January 2003 Consumer Electronics Show, Bill Gates demonstrated a prototype of a Windows CE-based audio/video device, codenamed "Media2Go" (pictured at right). Media2Go was productized and renamed to "
Portable Media Center" (PMC) later that year, and devices began to
arrive on retail store shelves in the fall of 2004. So far, market acceptance of PMCs has been
less than spectacular, although devices are available from Creative, iRiver, Toshiba, and others.
Creative, iRiver, and Toshiba PMCs
(Click each image for device details)This new project reportedly is different, though, in that Microsoft is expected to manufacture, market, and support its own device -- complete with a music and video download infrastructure. It also seems likely that the cost pressures of a device aimed at widespread consumer acceptance will prevent it from having the resources needed to run Microsoft's existing Windows Mobile Portable Media Center software platform, so the company has probably developed a new OS -- perhaps a stripped-down version of Windows CE -- to run the device.
Robbie Bach, who currently is
president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division -- the group that is responsible for Xbox -- is "overseeing" the new project,
Reuters reports.
Reuters adds that Microsoft has already "held licensing discussions with the music industry, and is already demonstrating the entertainment device.
Writing in
San Jose Mercury News in March, Dean Takashahi
reported that Microsoft's new entertainment device would probably be powered by a Transmeta processor, based on word that Transmeta had assigned 30 engineers to work on a "secret project" with Microsoft. That project was focusing on reducing power consumption to increase battery life in handheld devices, according to Takahashi. Microsoft has partnered with IBM for the
processor that powers the Xbox.
Takahashi further suggested that part of the reason for Microsoft's
reorganization of its Home and Entertainment Division last September was to bring several Xbox veterans, including Greg Gibson, J Allard, and Bryan Lee, together under the direction of Robbie Bach -- now the group's president -- to pursue the project.
The complete Reuters news item is available
here.
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