Cringingly blurry pics reveal Microsoft's "iPod killer"?

An anonymous tipster sent us a bunch of pictures he shot last night from the outside of the Saturn Cafe in Santa Cruz. While we don't normally toss up random pics we get in the tip jar, this guy claims the pics depict the filming of a commercial of a possible "iPod killer" from Microsoft. We can't vouch for the validity of this, or for this guy's camera steadying abilities, but there does appear to be something going on here. The device's screen ratio reminds us of the Gigabeat S, so Portable Media Center seems likely. Keep reading for even more nauseatingly blurry pictures of the device.

[tobiax @ Jun 19th 2006 5:29PM]

This may or may not be real, but it sure doesn't look very interesting or innovative - it just looks like another portable. An ugly one at that. I'm anything but intrigued.

[Axul @ Jul 6th 2006 3:17PM]

so ugly! so PC-ish...

[logikil @ Jul 6th 2006 3:30PM]

What's so ugly about it? I mean aside from the fact that you can barely see it, it has a similar form factor a bigger screen, and just isnt white. The only really difference is the wifi antenna that sits on top. So where's the ugly?

[TJ @ Jul 6th 2006 5:56PM]

Since I have purchased a ton of iTunes, I can force microStupid to pay for them again? I can't wait.

[Leon @ Jul 6th 2006 5:57PM]

Don't mind them, they're just apple fanboys. I for one welcome the opportunity for decent competition to a dominated market.

[Haydur @ Jul 6th 2006 6:00PM]

Initially I thought that it was an antenna too, but it's actually the headphone jacket & wire.

Also, enough of this everything-that's-not-iPod-is-ugly shit already.

[Haydur @ Jul 6th 2006 6:02PM]

"I can force microStupid to pay for them again? I can't wait."

Are all macboys such morons as you are? You would need to buy a player from Microsoft, before you can get those free songs. Idiot.

[Rew @ Jul 6th 2006 7:47PM]

Hell yeah, finally something that will compete with the ipod head to head - I loved my ipod until it crashed while charging - yes I know that it's fixable - but please it's just irrigating - so I sold the damn thing and I am using my pda, because I love updating my songs off my network and not having to go through the tedious itunes process.

I believe technology should be easy to use.

[ninja @ Jul 6th 2006 8:36PM]

I hope this think has bluetooth so that we can use wireless headphones. Wireless headphones should be the standard right now!

[travis @ Apr 15th 2009 3:26PM]

seems like this guy didn't know what he was talking about.

[Andrew @ Jul 6th 2006 8:57PM]

Well Bluetooth's on the way out already and wifi's taking over. Wouldn't be suprised if wifi headphones are used since it already has the technology.

[computer.dude.28 @ Nov 18th 2007 5:18PM]

Bluetooth is much better because it's short range. At first, you may not agree with me, but consider this: If everyone used wifi in place of bluetooth, and you went to a crowded mall, and you decided to pair your phone with your friends.. Do you really want to scroll through every device within a 300 foot radius?

[rems @ Jul 7th 2006 12:35AM]

/// this has been slashdotted ///

I don't think it's ugly, PC-ish (nothing can be PC-ish out of a PC), it's just to my eyes a product to gain market, that's all, and to win the market as Apple has shown us you have to look cool, have "better" products (since people are blind by the fact that your product is cool you don't have to make a THAT MUCH great product), I heard their player will have the same Itune store but in better, allowing people that bought Itune music to download it for free from MS's shop.
Bluetooth not sure about it but I heard it would have it...
Now it's going to be war with two forces that have quite the same power, it's only that one will have to conquer what the other already has, good luck :)

[Al @ Jul 7th 2006 2:53PM]

I own a few mac laptops and I like them alot however I am not a fan of their mp3 players(they are the reson the gapless Rio players became extinct). I own a Cown A2 pmp and Toshiba F30 mp3 player and they blow the ipod a way despite what my buddy says.

[Alex @ Jul 7th 2006 5:11PM]

Yes, it is ugly ok! Period. The photos suck too! The iPod is friggin elegant, super beautiful. In a few weeks I'll have my 30Gig ipod! I am glad to see some competition. BTW Microsoft is paying for all your songs again if you bought them on iTunes - amazing what money can buy and even more amazing is how there are no laws, regulations, what-have-you to have things work that way by default, poor microsoft. With over a billion songs sold on iTunes, MS will still have some $ left over for their next generation 'ipod killer'.

I love the MVNO (look it up in google) idea. Waiting for Apple to do it themselves, Apple will introduce WIFI as well, trust me. It's been a while since Apple has reworked the ipod and when they do watch out.

Finally it's absolutely amazing how MS just loves Apple and continues to shamelessly adopt, er copy, their successes - which by the way is almost everything they do. Heck, they even demoed Vista on a MacBookPro.

I guess MS is just so innovative.

[Al @ Jul 8th 2006 1:17AM]

WIFI on a music player is too clunky and battery consuming. I dont think apple will do it because of how poor the 5g ipod video rating is and think about how poor it's audio rating will be with wifi(even if it is off). For comparison sake the music gremlin is one of the first wifi enabled mp3 players, and that thing is clunky and has a terrible battery life. Beside it will be more likey you will see bluetooh on the iPod which won't go over soo well as there would be some issues like their bluetooth mighty mouse.

[CJ @ Jul 9th 2006 11:02AM]

"Are all macboys such morons as you are? You would need to buy a player from Microsoft, before you can get those free songs. Idiot."

Such anger... Tsk tsk. Someone's a little sensitive. Maybe, perhaps, I don't know, Microsoft SUCKS. Used to build computers; my last was an ASUS P4P800 with 8 gigs ram, two Western Digital Caviar drives, Soundblaster Audigy ZS, Lian Li Aluminum case, A DL-DVD+R Drive, etc. running on an 23" Aluminum Apple HD Cinema Display - which was the only thing that never crashed 100+ times. Windows is just SOFTWARE, Apple is NOT open architecture hardware hence the quality control. I had to buy a Powerbook G4 for grad school at Columbia and FELL IN LOVE, so now I own a Power Mac Dual Core 2.3 G5 and IT HASN'T HAD ONE PROBLEM. Which is why with the new Intel Macs (which can cold boot Windows, although I don't know WHY you would want to) A LOT of people are wisening up and dishing out the extra cash for better machines. Windows Vista hasn't even come out five years later, Mac OS 10.4 has had more than five revisions with OS X Leopard 10.5 coming out at the end of the year. So please, tell me why Mac users are idiots? lol (something also tells me if you compared the average IQ of a Mac user v. a Windows user, we'd dust ya...

[keogh @ Jul 10th 2006 4:43PM]

This is only Microsoft marketing for his new product, only that

[David Hayman @ Jul 11th 2006 3:01AM]

CJ -

May I ask how you managed to get 8 GB of RAM onto an ASUS P4P800, when these motherboards support a maximum of 4 GB?

Or are you just making things up so that people think you are "cool"?

[booda @ Jul 11th 2006 6:29AM]

It is "PC-ish" because only a lowest common denominator mass market designer would need to stick two extra buttons on either side of an input wheel that's perfectly capable of performing the same functions. As in "the software UI is so clunky that using the click wheel to do anything major sucks so we'll just throw a couple dedicated buttons on there to solve a problem we should be able to solve in software...nobody will notice because we'll just spend a ton of money on commercials to convince them the extra buttons are cool".

[Rees Clissold @ Jul 11th 2006 8:00AM]

The only morons here are the ones who get jumped up and excited when someone mentions Microosft or Apple. I think it's great that Microsoft are bringing out a rival to the iPod, good on them. But if Microsoft sucked so much, 90% of computer users wouldn't use their operating system.

Grow up people. There is no "OS war" and there will be no eventual winner. There's more to life than petty bickering.

[Brad J @ Jul 11th 2006 11:53AM]

Is it just me or does it seem that the person who took those pictures has a crappy monitor? lol jp

[Brian @ Jul 11th 2006 12:30PM]

Look at the photos. See how they are all blurry in the same fashion and how it just so happened that the device is in the foreground all the time? It's quite obvious that Mr. Softy himself took the photos and is using the blogosphere for marketing. All you bloggers who think of blogs as this independant unadulterated media, think again! You've just been served by Microsoft.

[me @ Jul 11th 2006 2:42PM]

Windows vs. Mac...hmmmm Why is it that every Mac user feels they need to defend Apple as if they have a majority share or something? And they defend their little Mac computers as if they built it with their own two hands.... strange. As far as I understand it Microsoft never really copied Apple, watch "Pirates of the Silicon Valley" they both copied Xerox. But MS was innovative and built OS2 for IBM. In OS2 they saw the makings of a modern OS (fully protected mode, 32 bit etc.) and from that built Windows NT. In the mid '90s Steve Jobs admitted that NT was a superior OS. But Apple continued to limp along with an inferior OS 7,8,9. How did Apple get a modern OS? They used Open Source.... someone else's code. They couldn't do it themselves. Apple makes elegant machines, there's no question about that but they aren't nearly as bleeding-edge as Microsoft.

[dahui @ Jul 11th 2006 4:31PM]

Apple isn't as bleeding edge as Microsoft? Hahahahah.. Oh man, you gave me a really good laugh on that one. That just doesn't even sound right. Who made the personal computer, the mouse, wi-fi, a part of our lifestyle? (I'm not saying they invented those things, just produced them in an easy to use - cost effective way - and were the FIRST to do it on a large scale) ... and today's big thing.. the ipod? Just look at this article... an iPod copycat... by oh yeah that bleeding edge company Microsoft! And MS Plus! do you smell an iLife copycat? the iTunes music store?... MS and everyone else wants what Apple's got... cutting edge creativity.

[Jon @ Jul 11th 2006 4:47PM]

More diagrams here:

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=745

[faethor @ Jul 11th 2006 8:11PM]

"lol (something also tells me if you compared the average IQ of a Mac user v. a Windows user, we'd dust ya"

Well i think you would be wrong. As someone who worked for apples support line, and who now works in PC helpdesk, its a very different market.

Most apple people I supported were yuppies who thought they knew alot, but barely knew anything really about their computer. If you mean that alot of Apple employees are college grads, you would be right most likely. However, more PC users have certs, and PC knowledge, where apple users might be able to tell you the capital of cambodia - Phnom Penh BTW.

[sushik @ Jul 12th 2006 4:43AM]

grrr... mac vs pc / apple vs ms... lame lame lame

As an avid gamer and pc hobbyist, I've never owned an Apple product for two simple reasons:

1. PC Games - the culture, the hardware, the anticipation, E3, etc, can't beat it, can't experience it on a Mac. Period.

2. Modular PC hardware - love to research parts, build the systems, swap out crap, see how far it can overclock (yep, since my 486dx2-66!). Once again can't experience it on a Mac. Period.

If you aren't into these things, then enjoy your Mac that "just works," but for me... I find it boring. And the worst thing about Macs (honestly) is not the hardware or the OS (which are supposedly very solid), it's the annoying, self-righteous fan boys.

[Consumer @ Jul 12th 2006 10:16AM]

Apple or Microsoft. Who cares? If Apple gets competition on the iPod, them maybe the price will go down, and that's good for everyone. We should want the big guns competing with each other. It's good for us, and bad for them.

Long live competition!!!!

[op @ Jul 12th 2006 10:42AM]

if you didn't get it yet
that this is microsoft doing all this stunts, then you are all kids.. so funny..

[Riley @ Jul 12th 2006 8:32PM]

You Apple fanboys make me sick. But I spose since I'm typing from a PC, that makes me biased. Perhaps I am, but not biased against Apple. I think it is great the new business models they have taken recently to gain a competitive edge with Microsoft. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but there is no better company.

They both work for different lifestyles. Mac users want a sexy, simple interface (a growing trend in computer marketing) multimedia abilities (IE iLife- iTunes, iMovie, etc). Windows users take advantage of the networking features for businesses and gamers. This is probably where a large part of PC user fanbases come in. After all, gaming is the third highest reason for computers.

There is no war between the companies. Microsoft has lent Apple their software time and time again. No wait. Because I'm a PC user, I'm sposed to say Apple stole Microsoft products like Office etc? Grow the fuck up. And Apple, while being trapped in a proprietary market to thrive, has been gracious enough to share some of their software on PCs. iTunes and iPod was originally a Mac only thing.

What ultimately sets them apart are fucks like all of you, who resent anything the companies teach each other. Now currently, I am pissed at both Apple and Microsoft. A) My iPod crashed with full battery life, and B) Yet another exploit in Windows has led to my computer being infected with a backdoor root kit. (Yes, laugh it up you fags. OMFG! mIcRoSuCK is PWNT! APPLE NO VIRUSES!)

But you know what? Part of this is due to my own error, because maybe I should have been more careful in arranging my updates and defragging my hard drive, if you Apple users know what that term means. There are numerous terms you don't know, just as most Windows users don't know what 'OS' or Safari is.

You are both equally retarded as you shame both of you respected companies by arguing. Put aside your emnity and rebuild this playground. We live in a capitalistic country, where no one company is allowed a monopoly in a certain industry. Microsoft and Apple control their respective industries, and in order to survive in the others, must use what worked and improve upon it.

Most of you are looking for invention AND innovation. Alas, this is not so. Microsoft innovated IBM's technology. Apple innovated Rio and other primitive MP3 players. They invented nothing new, so you hypocritical retards immediately say they copied such and such.

Many you have been watching too many movies and tv serials about corporate plots to know how the true business world works. There are giants and there are the little guys. Gee, if you want to fight over copycat business strategies, take it to Wal-Mart, Costco, and Target. Each 'borrowed' something from the other, but maybe you're afraid to go THERE because of the PCs or Ipods you bought there were made in China. They borrowed these concepts because they were already on top and couldn't assimilate each other. Now, let's plug this analogy into Microsoft and Apple.

Grow up, you fucking toddlers. You're equally stupid. You're equally matched.

[Kevin Buchanan @ Jul 15th 2006 12:03AM]

1) Arguing about computing platforms on the Internet makes you look stupid.

2) That thing is gross. What is that, '70s brown on the second one? As if the '70s weren't awful enough the first time.

[TMART @ Jul 15th 2006 1:09AM]

YOUR POINTS ARE ALL MOOT.

PICS=FAKE!

blurry pics are the easiest pics to fake. stupid. nobody has learned anything.

[Lethal Dose @ Jul 16th 2006 10:08PM]

It should be a breath of fresh air on the already so boring line of ipods. I personaly use a nomad Zen (witch kicks ipods ass anytime i may ad) but i would like to see this microsofts new thingy coming out. Although making something better then an ipod isnt much of a chanlange to beggin with, i would like to see a actual real mp3/video player that actualy works in terms of functionality and convinience. (no point in seying video and a 2 inch screen).

[Ivan @ Jul 23rd 2006 7:16PM]

There are numerous terms you don't know, just as most Windows users don't know what 'OS' or Safari is.

While, I agree with that statement of PC users not knowing what Safari is - OS, on the other hand is a universal term meaning "Operating System" whether you're a Mac or, PC user.

[Fritz @ Jul 24th 2006 10:30AM]

Riley, you are an absolute dick. Take your kid antics somewhere else.

As for averages and IQ lets not forget the bottom of the bell curve. Frankly the IQ point is weak. I don't know what the point of trying to figure out which group of users has a higher IQ. Specially based on case study and subjectivity.

I don't love Apple and I do dislike Microsoft. Simply because of the their business practices. The reason 90% of computers run is not necessarily because their products don't suck. Correlation does not equal causation. Apple and MS run on a different marketing strategies. Bill Gates and and his brain child MS have always been open about their goal to monopolize. He ran his business accordingly. That is also a scary approach to be trapped in as a consumer. Generally I run open source, because of this monopolistic human nature. My servers run Linux and Solaris, Apache software and PHP parsers not ASP. If you give someone the upper hand 2:1 they will take it. When you sign up with Microsoft it seems they they start to bleed you and make you suffer, locking you out of options to keep you fully invested and not because it is the better choice.
The irony is this was Apple's approach with iPod and iTunes and it worked. I believe that iPod and iTunes are the best products available when used together. They also use standard codecs; MP4 created by the International Organization for Standardization. MS will no doubt use WMA or a cousin. Maybe Steve Jobs insists on 99 cents a song, not because it will make him more money but because he believes it is a better for the customer to own their music; they don't feel like they can get screwed as easily. If he doesn't feel that way then I do. I don't think MS would make that distinction. Of course this is just my opinion, yet I have the feeling someone is going to try to tell me I am wrong.

[superhobo @ Apr 15th 2009 9:11AM]

Hmm...hmm?

[appleoutsider @ Sep 10th 2006 10:39PM]

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Portable player A or B. That's not the main issue I feel. The tale will be "Who can BETTER SERVICE these devices?!" At least Apple has a place, all-be-it frustrating to have to go to, an Apple Retail Store with a device problem and have it serviced or replaced (except if some bonehead does not know how to care for a device-i.e. droppage, liquid damage, or exposure to excessive temperatures), THEIR BUSINESS MODEL WORKS-PERIOD.

If Microsoft is to make thousands to millions of converts from the "i" to the "z", somebody at MS BETTER be thinking of how to service their product. We shall see. Competition is what's great for us consumers, because it makes better and more advanced toys for us! Don't smear the companies. Let the challenges continue. If it weren’t for innovation, you people (myself as well) would be carting around a handbag sized cell phone or still listening to music via a Sony Walkman Cassette Player.

I'm for what works best and has Better Than Average technical service and support behind it. Tell me that you don't get frustrated when your only recourse is to talk to someone on the phone and/or mailing it in, then consider yourself a liar.

On and end note: judging from the blurred photo captures and art renderings, I can already feel the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on my thumb from selecting the "pause and play" button. Ergonomics needs a little redesign.

[Kwivo @ Sep 15th 2006 3:42PM]

Thank You for setting these losers straight Sushik.

Why do some folks have to hate PCs or MACs? People prefer one over the other for many valid reasons. I always get a kick out of MAC folks who think they are better than everyone else; not sure where that comes from (not enough love as a child or something)?

I personally switched from MAC to PC as soon as I had experience with both while working at a computer cafe during the Doom gaming explosion. I had used MAC all through college and contrary to commercials, it crashed fairly regularly at which time I would have to reboot the entire system instead of using Ctrl/Alt/Delete (like on a PC). My brother has a new MAC and that thing crashes regularly while we are multi-track recording music.

I have run a very successful computer marketing business over the last 10 years and it never could have been done with a MAC and its limited software availability.

So MAC users, love your MACs for whatever reason and PC users love your PCs for whatever reason. But Jesus, we don't have to belittle each other for our choices. That IS a bit childish.

Can't we all just get along?

Peace out