ZDNet News has a very interesting article on a new hardware media device being rolled out by Microsoft and partners like Hewlett-Packard (New PCs restrict copying). There is a lot of good skeptical analysis of this new product. The price is far too high, for one ($1500-$2000). Convergence will not occur when computers become media devices, but when consumer electronics become smarter, specialized computers. Finally, the darn thing implements really crummy digital rights management. You can record a TV show, but not share it with anything. Heaven help you if you have to reformat the drive.
The new computers will run Windows XP Media Center Edition. It is easy to see why Microsoft is pushing software that will please the MPAA and RIAA, since it really costs Microsoft very little. But why is HP going along with this? They're not going to be selling many of them, despite their optimistic press release (HP Defines the Digital Lifestyle with New HP Media Center PC). The LA Times (annoying reg. req.) has a good analysis piece on how Microsoft and Hollywood are entering an unholy alliance (Hollywood, Tech Piracy Efforts May Curtail Choices). If HP really wants to make some headway in selling media devices, LawMeme has a suggestion for them (How to Sell Digital Media Recorders - A Suggestion) as well as a short piece on why new forms of digitally protected media fail in the market (DataPlay Discs - What's the Point?).
Microsoft has helpfully provided a list of the "Top 10 Benefits of Windows XP Media Center Edition." LawMeme provides a fuller explanation of the benefits:
The Top Ten
1. Work Hard, Play Hard
Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't specify for whom you will be working. The idea, of course, is that ultimately you will be working for Microsoft, locked into a software subscription model that will have you sending a significant portion of your paycheck to Redmond every month so you can continue to "play." Pssst ... Hollywood ... this applies to you too.
2. Create your own digital media library
The key words here are "your own." The word "library" is a complete misnomer. Microsoft is happy that you have access to "your own" content, but not content that your own mother may want to share with you. Sorry. Microsoft's (and Hollywood's) digital rights management regime views everyone as isolated islands of content consumption with impermeable borders. You can lend a book, a CD or a video to a friend, but not items from "your own digital media library." Gives a whole new meaning to the word "library."
3. Easily access your entertainment experiences from one place
Microsoft is not kidding. If you use this heavily restricted version of Windows XP, you will be able to access your entertaiment from only one place. If, for example, you record a TV show on this system, you won't be able to burn it to DVD to watch on your laptop on a plane. Rip a CD onto the harddrive, and the music stays there. What most people consider a bug, Microsoft considers a feature.
4. Enjoy the convenience of a single remote control to access your entertainment
This is convenient, until you realize that this means Microsoft controls the ways you can access your entertainment. Prefer to access your entertainment in a way that Microsoft (or Hollywood) doesn't like? Too bad. Access has come to take on some very strange meanings. According to the DMCA, you are not permitted to circumvent access control devices. Hollywood defines "access" as "using." If you watch a DVD, you are "accessing" the content on the DVD. Thus, if you watch a DVD in a way that Hollywood has not explicitly permitted, you are in violation of the DMCA.
5. Watch and control live TV - never miss a moment
Did anyone realize that Microsoft's software lets you "skip ahead 29 seconds at a time"? Someone call ReplayTV ... there is a big company with deep pockets in Redmond that should be joined in your lawsuit. ReplayTV was sued for skipping 30 seconds at a time, why doesn't Hollywood sue Microsoft?
6. Easily find just the TV programs you want*
*Some experiences require an Internet connection for full functionality
But don't you dare use the Internet connection to get information from other services or to share information with your friends. Here is how Big Contenttm is working to redefine the Internet into just another one-way delivery system.
7. Watch your favorite shows whenever you want
Sure, but not wherever you want. I can use my VCR to record in the livingroom and playback the show on a VCR in my bedroom (and where else would you watch the Spice Channel?). Heck, I can even take my recordings of South Park and watch them at a friend's house ... something impossible with this device (unless I want to haul it around).
8. Experience your music collection using the ultimate jukebox
I don't know about you, but my ultimate jukebox lets me burn mix CDs for roadtrips, download to my MP3 device to take to the gym, and transfer songs to my laptop for business travel. I guess if "ultimate jukebox" means only one device, than this is correct.
9. Transform your living space into a theatre
And like a theatre, be prepared to pay every time you want to watch or listen to something. The logic of digital rights management is inexorable. Ultimately, you will have to pay for every use you make of content. This is what is happening now. The copyright industry uses legislation and lawyers to create new rights that they can then sell back to the public.
10. Get the most in computing performance and data protection
Nah ... this one is too easy.
Slashdot readers mock Microsoft's business acumen and consider the real reasons behind this bad idea (Microsoft/HP to Market Crippled Entertainment PCs). Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing briefly comments (Microsoft's new "entertainment" PC isn't). WIRED buys Microsoft's hype (Microsoft: It's a TV, Not a PC). For even more hype, see SuperSite for Windows (Windows XP Media Center Edition ("Freestyle") Preview).