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Nonprofit Developers Release Open-Source Democracy Media Player

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 23, 2006 - 2:53am.
Worcester, Mass. - The non-profit Participatory Culture Foundation on Thursday announced the release of an open-source media player and Internet TV system. The Democracy Player is being developed for Windows, Mac and Linux, and also includes software that can be used to publish video, a program guide of hundreds of channels of available video, and a community-rated automatic feed of free new Internet videos. The Massachusetts-based Participatory Culture Foundation said that the Democracy Player is being developed with donations from Silicon Valley venture capitalist Andy Rappaport, and Mitch Kapor, Lotus founder and chairman of the Mozilla Foundation.
tags: release | Media Player | Nonprofit Developer | Open-Source | Democracy |

Thomson to Offer Sirius Radios, Debuts Portable Media Player

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 4, 2006 - 7:26am.
Las Vegas - French consumer electronics firm Thomson announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Sirius Satellite Radio, to offer Sirius programming on RCA and GE home audio devices. The products include a $299 RCA Bookshelf Audio System, a $299 RCA Home Theater System and a $119 GE Spacemaker under-cabinet kitchen audio system. Separately, Thomson on Wednesday introduced the Lyra X3000 Personal Multimedia Recorder, a $399 device with a 3.6-inch screen that can store and play video including recorded TV programs from the DirecTV 2Go portable satellite TV service.
tags: Media Player | Thomson | Portable | Sirius Radios |

Humax USA Portable Media Player to Offer DirecTV 2Go

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 3, 2006 - 7:57am.
Las Vegas - Humax USA, the U.S. arm of the Chinese consumer electronics maker, announced on Tuesday that it has developed a hard drive-based handheld portable media player, which will initially be utilized for satellite TV operator DirecTV's DirecTV 2Go service. The device features a 4-inch LCD display, and can connect directly to digital video recorders for transfer of recorded TV shows. Humax USA did not provide pricing details for the Portable Media Player, which it plans to release later this year at retail, in addition to deployment through DirecTV.
tags: DirecTV | USA | Media Player | Portable | Humax |

Microsoft Releases MSN TV 2 Internet & Media Player

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 6, 2004 - 2:56am.
Redmond, Wash. -- Microsoft has introduced a new version of MSN TV, its broadband service and device that allows users to surf the Internet, send email, and access digital photos, Web video and audio files from their televisions. The MSN TV 2 Internet & Media Player, manufactured by Thomson under its RCA brand, will ship to retailers in mid-October with a $199 price tag, plus a $9.95 monthly subscription service fee. The service includes access to 200 commercial-free radio stations, hundreds of daily video clips from MSN Video, a primary MSN email account with 2GB of storage, and 10 secondary email accounts. Content on another home PC may also be accessed on a TV through MSN TV 2 over a wired or wireless home network.
tags: Microsoft | Media Player | Releases | MSN TV 2 Internet |

Microsoft Denies RealNetworks' Allegations of Media Player Monopoly

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 23, 2004 - 8:09am.
San Francisco -- In a court filing submitted on Friday, Microsoft denied allegations raised by rival RealNetworks in a $1 billion antitrust suit that the company has used its monopoly over PC operating systems to discriminate against RealNetworks' media player in favor of its own Windows Media Player. The "more than 300 million unique users of RealPlayer that RealNetworks claims to have undermine any allegation of distribution foreclosure," Microsoft wrote in its filing, arguing that there is healthy competition in the digital media player market. Microsoft also points out in the filing that it has included the ability for users of its operating systems since the release of Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP to manually remove all visible means of access to Windows Media Player, and make another media player the default choice for all media types. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 1.
tags: Microsoft | RealNetworks | Media Player | Denies | Monopoly |

Microsoft Seeks to Settle with EU Over Media Player

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 17, 2004 - 8:53am.
Brussels -- According to news media reports, U.S. software giant Microsoft has capitulated over an investigation into allegedly anti-competitive practices in Europe and asked to settle with the European Commission (EC). Microsoft has reportedly offered to include rivals' products on the CD-ROMs that come with PCs. Most of Microsoft's competitors, however, claim the pick-up rate on such CDs is extremely low, and the EC would appear to agree with them insofar as it has rejected Microsoft's offer as insufficient. The Commission has already reached a preliminary decision that Microsoft muscled out competitors by unfairly bundling its media player with the Windows operating system.
tags: Microsoft | Media Player | EU |

RealNetworks Launches Download Store, Updates Media Player Software

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 7, 2004 - 4:09am.
Las Vegas -- RealNetworks, a provider of streaming media delivery technology, announced on Wednesday the launch of a digital music download store, which will sell tracks for $0.99 from a library expected to offer 400,000 tracks by the end of the month. The company also launched RealPlayer 10, the latest version of its audio and video media player software. For a limited time, those who download the new software can purchase their first song download from the store for $0.10. The download store will offer songs in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format, like Apple's iTunes store, but currently only allows transfer to portable devices including the Creative Zen Xtra as well as seven models of PalmOne devices. RealPlayer 10, however, offers support for most media formats as well as 50 devices, including Apple's iPod and models from Creative Labs, Nokia, Sonicblue/Rio, Sony and Panasonic. Seattle-based RealNetworks also said that it has signed a seven-year agreement to serve as the digital music service partner for Rolling Stone, and has taken over operations of RollingStone.com.
tags: Downloads | RealNetworks | Software | Media Player |