Jeremy’s Little Corner Of The Web…

Courtesy of Slashdot: Microsoft is apparently going to start selling a $50 music player that will match the 'look and feel' of the iPod.

I'm sure they can probably bring out something that looks similar, but what about the interface? I find the iPod's interface extremely easy to use. I'd hate to have something like the PocketPC interface just to play music - talk about overkill.

I don't think they'd be able to fit any sort of hard drive in the player for that price, unless Microsoft was going to make a massive loss on each unit sold. That could be scary. If they make a loss on each unit, but they all sell like hotcakes, it could make WMA the most popular format for music (and the iPod would be marginalised). Then, they may have 'lost the battle, but won the war'.

One Slashdot user sums this up:

"How can they possibly sustain a business selling a player for $50? Oh, I remember, kill the competition with your low-priced alternative, because your Windows and Office products are such cashcows, and then when everybody else is laid waste, jack up the price and add useless features for years and years to come. Oh, and by the way, you need Windows to download the music for your player. Funny that.
Not trying to flamebait or anything, but haven't we seen this type of strategy before?

Dejavu is such a wonderful thing."

I, for one, hope this doesn't happen. Although competition is good, if Microsoft comes in and undercuts everyone else (including Dell, by $150), then the competition will be wiped out. Very scary, indeed.

UPDATE: I saw a post by Paul Thurrott, which corrects many of the reports by a lot of Mac sites and Slashdot. I failed to read into the article a bit more (though I did read it!), and so jumped to the same conclusion. A $50 player comparable to the iPod would still be a big threat, however. (Although I don't know of any companies with pockets as big as Microsoft that would be able to do that.)