How many times is Microsoft going to try this and fail?

Microsoft has this "killer" piece of hardware it wants to unleash on everyone as soon as its finished; a combination Blackberry/Cell Phone with excellent camera capabilities, MP3 player, etc and they probably want to use the same approach Apple did. But I have yet to see Microsoft put out any thing that was s*** enough to make me want to rush right out and buy it.

I love how the pundits always talk about "choice" and how the iPod isn't about choice. uh, yeah, and a Microsoft only music service that doesn't work with my Mac (or my iPod) is somehow going to fly? I am so sorry Mr. Ballmer, but your version of the music player will never be cool and hip. It will be designed half way and then "features" will be bolted on, just like the Windows OS. Stick to updating the Office Suite once a year and losing money on XBoxes that crash like Windows 95 please. As if you greedy b******* don't already have 60 billion dollars in cash right now.. Why don't you do something productive and open a soup kitchen.

The horrible coincidence of it all is that the other mp3 gadgets have the same uphill battle to beat the iPod that my beloved Mac has had all these years against Windows.

But unlike the Rio or Zen or whatever other mp3 players there are the Apple computer marketshare HAS risen a few % and I hope this iPod-mania will continue to sells Macs too.

MTV can single-handedly make an artist go platinum just by pumping their videos. h***, look at John Mayer. Maybe a good artist, but without MTV PUSHING him ala "Trading Places" (the Eddie Murphy/Dan Akroyd one), he would of gone "Wood" at best.

Whatever MTV says is cool and hip, is cool and hip to MILLIONS of kids nationwide and perhaps 500 to 750 million kids worldwide.

They don't have anything compelling... Perhaps "kids" find it "cool and hip" but the adults have the spending money.

to push apple and make iTunes even better.

what does either of them know about music?

mrgaskell says: "Whatever MTV says is cool and hip, is cool and hip to MILLIONS of kids nationwide and perhaps 500 to 750 million kids worldwide."

You know, I had to check the date, specifically the year -- the above *was* true back in the 80s, to early 90s, but lately MTV has marketed itself into irrelevance, and (as several posters have pointed out) is no longer either associated with 'cool' or with 'music'.

'Trading Places' (Eddie Murphy/Dan Aykroyd) was from 1983 - just about right for the listed example, but horrible out of time for the intended argument.

Bill & Melinda Gates donated millions of dollars through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm) to help bring education and fight infectious disease all over the world.

MTV has been sliding down hill. If MTV thinks they will sway their viewers, when their #1 artists ONLY talk about how great iPod is and how they love iTunes, they're going to not only fail, but likely cease to exist as we know it. Their best bet is to partner with iTunes and not work against it. However, they're going to try and make some new pop-star all the rage with this new device and store. Like we needed ANOTHER one-hit wonder.

In my opinion MTV stopped being relevant when they stopped airing music videos and then focused exclusively on bad reality show programming or shows that had no music focus at all.

MTV = long since irrelevant.

That being said, this could be the first serious challenger - however, I don't see it supplanting iPod or the user base there.

Another reason, a scene outside a club with a line of people waiting:

Guy: Hi. Girl: Hi. What's that? Is that an iPod? Guy: Um, it's a Dell DJ but it's like an iPod. Girl: Bye. It's not an iPod, don't wanna know. Guy: Hey, where ya goin? Me: Laugh.

Am I being stupid here, or has everyone missed the glaring illegality of this? M$ has an established monopoly in the OS market, was found guilty of abusing this monopoly to compete unfairly against other companies in markets where it wasn't as established, and now they intend to "integrate the new service into the next iteration of its Windows Media Player software--which comes bundled with Microsoft Windows--leveraging its dominance in the operating system market to push the music service into homes and businesses around the world"?

Um, isn't someone supposed to be watching over and stopping this sort of abuse?

Another want a be that won't be because they leave the biggest music market out. iPod owners. This is another joke by Microsoft who has attempted and failed multiple times and still doesn't get it. Leaving out the iPod you are cutting your own throat by 80% which all goes back to Apple's iTunes Music Store. Thanks again Microsoft and MTV for creating a useless service that no one will use and I URGE all of you iPod owners to stick with the best online music store experience which is iTunes.

companies should give up on wasting their money on competing. Come out with something else cool but NOT music download related...

"Um, isn't someone supposed to be watching over and stopping this sort of abuse?"

Yeah the Bush administration, the Repub congress and maybe even the soon to be Repub Supreme Court ... ha, ha, ha, ha....

You just have to wonder how much MTV is really going to make...maybe they are in financial trouble now.

BTW, I wouldn't mind if it pushes Apple to figure out a kind of digital smart radio addition to iTunes!

is it just me or does the URGE G look a lot like the Quicktime Q?

MTV first started with awesome videos. . . ahh, the 80's . . . I remember when it all started!

. . . too bad Apple didn't team up w/ MTV first for video content . . . there are tons of MTV early days' videos I'd enjoy owning . . .

but, only on my iPod, of course!

said holes include: 1) microsoft is making a huge mistake with a tier system. additional charges for 'moving' music is asanine. this is a gravedigger. 2) mtv is no longer chic, especially in music terms. this has been true for a long time. while the music mtv plays in the background of their reality tv programming is pretty good (sometimes), the sad fact is, mtv can't even really push even these bands without taking away the r-tv limelight or lime from fifty, chingy, gwen stefani, whomever. andy milankis show? comon. the days of beevis and butthead and MTV JAMS are long gone. long, long gone. 3) mtv's label and feel will not carry through the microsoft interface, i can garuntee it. too many levels of abstraction boys. why does apple work so well? because apple is chic...its just APPLE => chic. unless they can make URGE 'breathe' like MTV (i dont think microsoft can do this, honestly), they will fail. honestly, is microsoft really known for making elegant, artistic interfaces? 4)one of the selling points of apple's itunes is that it is *somewhat underground*. everyone loves the underdog. microsoft simply will never have this advantage. mtv also is no longer the underdog. mtv no longer means, rebellion. mtv + microsoft = evil empire. 5) everyone already has an ipod. sucks to be on the other side, huh microsoft? 6) 'killer device'? 'killer device?'... rofllmao. just come into the convention center and point at the audience and smile and do a few fistpumps. youll convince the investors. youll never convince anyone else. also, uh, you know that a mp3+cellphone+camera phone is going to use a h*** of a lot of power, right? just thinking about the , you know, practicality of this. oh, and whats the cost again?

anyway, im done. there are millions of reasons why this is never going to work that well. this one goes into el filo circulo.

The more competition and choice in the world, the better. If you don't like URGE, by all means, don't use it.

I hope URGE competes will with iTunes. Not everything apple does is great. Just take a look at the silhouette ads. Putting silhouettes on gaudy eye hurting orange, is absolute retro 70's puke.

On the other hand, I have an iPod video, and I enjoy it... but an iPod where you could download additional games...that would be nice, wireless downloads, cool. A battery that could play a whole movie? Even better...so let progress march on.

The G looks an awful lot like the Quicktime logo...these things are rarely coincidental...

"Bill & Melinda Gates donated millions of dollars through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm) to help bring education and fight infectious disease all over the world."

Communist Cuba also sends out a bunch of volunteers to help in other countries, and I once read about a priest who collected tons of money for children... by selling cocaine to others.

My point is, doing good deeds with power or money gotten through unethical means does not excuse the behavior. Billy boy wants to give to the poor-- that's great, but it doesn't excuse his companies' unethical and immoral actions.