Urge

Analysis: Why Microsoft Zune’s Wireless Capabilities Are Significant

Authored by Jay Baage on August 11, 2006 - 8:54am.

Did you read that Microsoft’s soon to be revealed music player “Zune” may not have the kind of wireless on-the-go WiFi capacity that has given it a lot of buzz? According to the publication Twice, retailers briefed by Microsoft say that you will have to connect the device to a PC to purchase songs.

Microsoft’s iPod Challenger Looks Promising

Authored by Jay Baage on July 11, 2006 - 8:02am.

The blog ”Engadget” has published a picture from an insider, who claims that the device pictured to the right is a part of "Project Argo", one of Microsoft new high-profile digital-media products named after a warship in Greek mythology.

MTV Launches Urge Digital Music Service

Authored by dmw on May 17, 2006 - 4:01pm.

New York - MTV on Wednesday launched a public beta test and two-week free trial of its Microsoft-powered Urge digital music service. Featuring 2 million tracks licensed from MusicNet, Urge offers 99 cent a la carte downloads, a $9.95 streaming subscription plan, and a $14.95 subscription that allows unlimited downloads to compatible devices. Other features of the service include 130 streaming radio stations; "super playlists", which contain hundreds of songs in a given genre; "feeds", where users can sign up for updated playlists in certain genres and sync them to portable players; and "auto mixes", or automatically generated playlists built around specific artists or music styles selected by users.

Iriver Introduces Portable Player Compatible with MTV Urge Service

Authored by dmw on May 17, 2006 - 3:40pm.

Vancouver, Wash. - Consumer electronics maker iriver on Wednesday introduced its iriver clix portable media player, a 2GB flash memory-based player that features video playback, photo viewing and music storage. The $199 device supports the portable subscription feature available through the Urge digital music service launched by MTV and Microsoft.

MTV, Microsoft to Launch "Urge" Joint Digital Music Service in 2006

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 13, 2005 - 2:50am.

New York - Viacom's MTV Networks announced on Tuesday that it partnered with Microsoft on a new digital music service called Urge. Set to launch next year in the U.S., the service will be integrated into a forthcoming version of the Windows Media Player, which assures that the 2 million songs from all major labels and thousands of independents available on Urge will not be playable on Apple's iPod. Urge also promises a range of exclusive MTV programming and original content. "Beyond providing a simple transactional service, URGE will provide a musical playground where fans can explore, customize, discover and download new music," said Jason Hirschhorn, MTV Networks' chief digital officer. MTV, which will promote Urge to the 165 million U.S. viewers of its MTV, VH1 and CMT channels, said it will provide further details about the Urge service at next month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.