http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12801

Xbox 360 cannot play iTunes-purchased music - Microsoft

Tom Bramwell 10:56 08/11/2005

Platform holder says Apple rejected its advances on the subject

It's a well-known fact that Xbox 360 will be able to stream music from iPod MP3 players on its "dashboard" front-end and to provide background music for games, but what's less well-known is that the next-generation console will be unable to play songs purchased from Apple's iTunes Music Store.

That's according to Microsoft's Jeff Henshaw, who told CNET News.com that because of the digital-rights-management (DRM) software in iPod, playback of those tracks was not possible. The songs will appear greyed out in menus when Xbox 360 owners attempt to access them.

Henshaw said Microsoft had tried to forge a partnership with Apple on the issue, but that Apple had rejected the idea.

During the same interview, Henshaw also declined to comment on whether Microsoft has had to engage in any reverse-engineering to achieve iPod compatibility. Neil Benson, creator of iPodcopy, polled in the same piece, said that the process of locating and accessing iPod's stored music was "more complicated than Microsoft is letting on".

Indeed, Microsoft has gone to great lengths to demonstrate how easy it all is - in demonstrations with journalists, company representatives have hooked up regular (pre-Video) iPods, iPod nanos, Sony PlayStation Portables, and other devices, and promised that the shipping Xbox 360 would feature support for an enormous variety of peripherals. Updates that open up access to future products are likely, Microsoft has said.


Chris

I read that somewhere too....I think it's kind of dumb on Apple's part. Just think of some of the 360 fanboys who NEED to download some tunes, they will look elsewhere now.

who (here) buys music with DRM encryption embedded anyway?

I don't really see how this will hurt the 360 fanboys much.

Majority of my music is non-DRM that I extracted from my CDs.

I only have a handful of DRM'ed Itunes music.

I can imagine that the majority of music that someone might have on an iPod is going to be from their own CD collection or downloaded - these would not include the DRM protection on it.

or lots of software will spring up to remove the DRM (if there isnt already)

Get your games and accessories before the console launches.

Kameo is already shipping according to Ebgames. Other items released today: Wired controller, S-Video AV Cable, Universal Media Remote, Component HDAV Cable, Xbox Live Headset, Silver Faceplate, and the Rechargable Battery Pack.

Don't flame me for this, but a girl I work with has a brother who is a GM at Best Buy in Kingston, NY who said he's not 100% sure yet, but it seems as if they are getting 30 xbox's. He said they are not doing a pre-order, but they are opening at 8am and will have a line outside. First come first serve, and he said most of the employees will be camping in the parking lot that night. He also is going to let me know how many each Best Buy in the area will be getting once he gets that info, so I can try Walmart at midnight, and if that doesn't go through, I can hit Best Buy as a last resort.

He also said that EB had sold 30 pre-orders, but are only getting 10 units, and will have a lot of pissed of people knocking at their door.

I know this is hear say, especially the part about EB, but I believe what he's saying about Best Buy.

I stopped by Gamestop today and the Microsoft rep had just set up th ekiosk yesterday. I suck at first-person games so I didn't last long in King Kong or COD2, but good lord, the graphics made me want to cry they were so sweet

I've now transitioned from "casually anticipating" to "anxiously counting the days/hours/minutes until launch"

After reading the XBOX.com 360 forum all day I was tired of worrying about the status of my preorder.

I tried calling my Gamestop to ask if the games were out yet instead of just asking about the system, since that didn't work when I called the other day. I asked if any games or accessories had arrived yet. I guess Kameo is out but they won't have the rest of the stuff for a few more days. I then mentioned that maybe I better wait to see if I even get a system at launch before I go buying up games. He asked if I had a preorder and then looked up my info for me. The store I go to is pretty busy and they are only getting 25 premium systems as of now. He told me that I was good for the first shipment since I ordered as soon as they starting preselling. He then said he put his cash down in last June and is number 23 on the list.

This shortage everyone is talking about is either a solid fact or a very brave marketing step by MS.

A few blurbs:

• The first major TV advertisement for the Xbox 360 will occur tomorrow night during Lost on ABC.
  
• Circuit City Online is running a sale on the 360 hard drive and the wireless internet adaptor. 15% off for a price of $84.99 each. Unfortunately, you can't purchase them yet.
  
• Walmart has a pretty cool looking Vertical stand for the 360 made by Intec. It holds up to 10 game cases and 2 memory cards. Pretty cool for those who revolve the games in their collection.

That's a cool looking stand. Never been a big fan of putting the game system vertical, but that's pretty nice for a group of games that are played often.

I got those stands in at work today. They look retarded.

= J

I guess I should've asked if I was on the "will get it launch day" list when I was in the store today. I preordered a controller charging station thingy and she said "you can pick that up with your system on launch day" as she was looking on my preorder page, so i just assumed I was OK, but she could have easily been speaking in general terms, not to my status in the queue specifically.

I was planning on going to Gamestop in the morning to pay off Call of Duty 2 but I had to call them and check anyway. There was no way I could wait another day.

That's an interesting stand....I'll pass since mine has to go horizontal to fit on my component rack.

I guess I might be able to pick up a few of my games next week....and stare at them. That is if GameRush lets me take them home when they arrive.

I'll pass because the thing is fucking stupid looking.

Now I'm almost convinced that no matter how hard I try I will not own a 360 on launch day. I'm taking a gamble on my local Wal-Mart and if that doesn't pan out I'm going to try a best buy that is about 45 minutes away, but I'd never considered the employee factor, and you know damn well that they aren't going to make those people "Camp out in the parking lot" hell they'll probably hold a bunch of these back for the employees that want them even though that's wrong. Back at the PS2 launch I had a friend who was working at wal-mart and he held one for me but he made me give him my credit card so he could run it during the mad rush. I was like "dude that's wrong" and he just said "we're selling a few of them that way so what's the difference".....I have no one on the inside this time around; I'd say I'm screwed

Add me to the list of the "pushed back", went over to my EBGames yesterday to put some more money down and to hopefully dispel everything I have been reading. Sure enough I was told that I will be on their second shipment which is supposed to be 1 week later. It is definitely not because I have not yet paid in full. It is because I did not get my preorder in until they were told that they would be receiving more units and they went ahead and took more preorders. They were slated to get 24 units and now they are only getting 12 on launch day. It looks like I will probably going to Target when they open in the morning and will definitely keep an eye on Ebay and just keep my preorder and just sell that.

As far as their being a shortage, I do not really believe that to be the case, but more of the big corporations like WalMart and Best Buy,etc flexing their muscles and saying we want this many now because of the hype and MS perhaps pulling back from the smaller boutique shops on launch day. This if true would totally go against how they say this is for the hardcore gamers when almost all preorders at the small places are us.

Excellent Detailed Read about the Trueskill ranking system for the new Xbox Live:

http://www.research.microsoft.com/ml...l/default.aspx

For anybody who has the rewards zone special preorder offer, the link for the packages does not work for me. Does it work for you?

It is not supposed to until 10 CT. Right now mine just takes me back to the same page, they are probably just getting ready to go live.

Will they allow you to pick up in store? Or ship only? And do you know if you get "dibs" above people waiting online?

Cool man! I figured it was something like that!

I'm somewhat surprised I didn't get the RZ preorder. I've spent a ton of money at BB, and I got (and used) the RZ PSP preorder.

No big deal to me, since I've got my ebgames preorder locked in.

Unconfirmed, but the list of bundles is supposedly:

Someone on the AVS Forum claimed that he kept clicking on the link and was eventually able to order, but I'd tend to doubt that's true. 33 more minutes...

I'm not enthusiastic about any of these bundles, but I might get the $509.97 pack and exchange the extra controller and Madden for something else.

Fuck what if you don't like sports games?