Author: JT Smith
From the Wall Street Journal (via ZD Net): “MP3, a popular format for downloading music from the Web, is encountering
competitive pressure as leading technology companies such as Microsoft Corp.
work to subtly wean consumers away from the technology.
competitive pressure as leading technology companies such as Microsoft Corp.
work to subtly wean consumers away from the technology.
These companies, which have the music industry’s blessing, are encouraging those who
download music to use new proprietary software formats that make the audio sound significantly
better but also make it harder to share copyright-protected songs.
Microsoft, for example, plans to severely limit the quality of music that can be recorded as an
MP3 file using software built into the next version of its personal-computer operating system,
Windows XP. But music recorded in the Redmond, Wash., software company’s own format,
called Windows Media Audio, will sound clearer and require far less storage space on a
computer.”
