Microsoft calls iPod users &#39;thieves&#39;
527600
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer doesn&#39;t think Apple will lead the way to tomorrow&#39;s digital home - and describes iPod users as music thieves.
216653
Buffer overflow risk neutered In all the hoopla surrounding Apple's announcement of its revamped line of iPods on Wednesday, many users might have missed the company's update to iTunes, which includes a fix for a serious security flaw.â¦
453495
Microsoft&#39;s recently released Media Player 10 is being hailed by some reviewers as the first real challenge to Apple&#39;s dominance in the online music space.
441332
Trojan horses are piggybacking on an antipiracy feature in Media Player, a security firm claims. But Microsoft denies it's a flaw.
13433
Microsoft insists its music store differs from iTunes, but the two services sure have a lot in common. The company will sell songs for $1 like Apple, and plans to match the volume of songs Apple makes available to users.
372566
After years of trying to make it easier for peripheral devices to work smoothly with computers, Microsoft is building in some difficulty. The upcoming Longhorn OS should allow companies to keep gizmos like iPod from stealing data.
305607
Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O said on   Thursday its new Zune music player will be sold at a price   matching Apple Computer Inc.'s AAPL.O market-leading iPod   and, as a result, lose money this holiday season.
758933
If you have an iPod, and plan to install Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, Apple has one word of advice for you: don't. Issues with iTunes 7.0.2 and the next-generation operating system are creating havoc for some users.
208866
Microsoft calls in police over employee "abuse" of discount program.
696749
SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp.'s effort to compete against Apple's iPod juggernaut will focus on the idea that people want to be able to easily share music with friends and others.
129891
Microsoft Corp. has vowed to put considerable money and effort behind its bid to dethrone Apple Computer Inc.'s market-leading iPod, but it won't be using price as a weapon.
626598
Microsoft announces release date and price, which means Zune will compete directly with Apple's 30GB iPod. Photos: Microsoft presses play on Zune
413468
Microsoft Corp. is preparing to roll out a portable digital music player later this year, an apparent bid to capture a slice of the market now dominated by the iPod, music industry executives said Thursday.
607784
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Apple Inc. is urging some iPod and iTunes users to hold off on upgrading computers to Windows Vista, warning that the iTunes music software may not work well with the new operating system from rival Microsoft Corp.
95315
NEW YORK - Microsoft&#39;s new offensive in the digital music industry will seek to significantly alter the competitive landscape in a new market that until now has largely been dominated by Apple Computer and its powerful combination of the iPod portable
474755
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft downplayed Tuesday the impact of a new hack of its DRM technology, underlining the difficulties in erecting a long-lasting digital barrier against piracy. Doom9.org, a hacking forum, contained a post last Friday from "Divine Tao," presumably the hacker responsible, with download links for the updated version of FairUse4WM. The program, which was released last August, strips the DRM technology that limits how Windows Media files can be used and prevents illegal file sharing. "Microsoft is aware of the DRM issue, and the breach response team is verifying the circumvention," said a company statement. Windows Media DRM is used, for example, on songs sold through online song retailer Napster. Songs purchased from there can't copied to more than three computers, but there are no restrictions on how many times an individual song can be burned to a CD. Hacking activists argue they created FairUse4WM since they deserve broader freedom to move legitimately purchased content from device to device. Removal of the DRM, however, also allows the files to be copied without restriction or uploaded to file-sharing networks, which the recording industry believes has caused a massive sales decline. Microsoft has updated its DRM technologyÂ at least twice before to halt the effectiveness of FairUse4WM and said its DRM system is designed to support dynamic updates. The updates do not require a new release of Windows Media Player or the Windows Media Format Software Development Kit, used by developers to employ the DRM system, Microsoft said. Microsoft did not give a timetable as to when it may update Windows Media DRM to block the latest version of FairUse4WM. Nonetheless, the company acknowledged the DRM system's inherent vulnerability to hackers. "Microsoft has long stated that no DRM system is impervious to circumvention, a position Microsoft's content partners are aware of as well," the company said. Microsoft filed a lawsuitÂ in a district court in Seattle last September against 10 unnamed defendants for copyright infringement related to the release of FairUse4WM. The suit, however, was later dropped after the defendants could not be located. Record labels are increasingly considering removing DRM from their songs after years of lawsuits and legal wrangling have done little to reduce illegal file sharing. In April, EMI Group said it would sell songs on Apple's iTunes Music Store without DRM. The DRM-free songs cost about 20 percent more but are also encoded at 256Kbps, a higher quality than other songs with DRM.
346144
Microsoft Corp.  may have  a chance to take market share from the iPod as a Reuters survey  showed 35 percent of those interested in its Zune device would  be replacing an existing digital music player.