Microsoft's "Argo" / Xbox wireless portable media player

We've had to sit on this one for a while, but it's about time we showed you guys at least one possible form Microsoft's Argo / Xbox-branded wireless portable media player could take. Sent to us from an insider working on the project, we're told the device pictured above is indeed a part of "Project Argo," and from what we can tell it definitely jibes from the blurry pics we caught a while back; though if the piece from earlier today is to be believed, this could just be one of numerous Microsoft portables. It's hard to tell just how much larger the screen on this thing actually is, but it does indeed appear to be a 4:3 aspect ratio display, and could be 3, even 3.5-inches wide. Keep your eyes peeled, you know we do our best to have this stuff as early as possible.

[Darren @ Jul 10th 2006 4:57PM]

Impressive design indeed...please, let the price wars begin!

[Jimmy @ Jul 10th 2006 4:58PM]

If this is it, then I'm impressed. Not bad looking at all. Hopefully MS will ship players with 100GB hard drives 'cause I have mad music to store.

[jordan @ Jul 10th 2006 4:59PM]

i wonder where they got the idea for that little wheel in the middle???

[Bobby @ Jul 10th 2006 4:59PM]

what does it have to do with xbox? i hope you dont play games on that thing!

[Sonu Singh @ Jul 10th 2006 5:01PM]

Digg this - http://digg.com/gadgets/Microsoft_s_Argo_Xbox_Wireless_Portable_Media_Player_Revealed!

[Kevin @ Jul 10th 2006 5:03PM]

So that's the long-rumored Microsoft iPod killer? Ick. I was expecting more, especially if J. Allard is running the design aspect of the project.

[marcin @ Jul 10th 2006 5:03PM]

i'm getting one.

never got an ipod cause i thought it was too cliche(or whatever you call it), but this thing should be cool. and i'm one of the "few" microsoft supporters out there.

[SHAUN707 @ Jul 10th 2006 5:04PM]

yeah really what does XBOX have to do with a media player???

[Mr.Kaiser @ Jul 10th 2006 5:07PM]

If this isn't a development version of the item, which it probably is, but if it isn't then this is going to be ugly. The design is there but it needs the materials

[diulei @ Jul 10th 2006 5:10PM]

WHAT AN IPOD RIP!

With that out of the way, not bad, not bad.

[tp @ Jul 10th 2006 5:11PM]

Look ugly....Yuck

[Paul @ Jul 10th 2006 5:12PM]

That thing is hideous. I'm sure if will have to be rebooted twice during every movie and somehow someone will manage to infect it with viruses and spyware ;)

[st3v3n @ Jul 10th 2006 5:12PM]

stop calling it an ipod-rip. if thats what you think, fine. then go back to your ipods.

and im not an ipod-hater, as i use a nano.

anyways, this looks very cool, and im excited to see the specs

[tf @ Jul 10th 2006 5:12PM]

3 or 3.5 inches wide would make it "fairly" larger than an iPod, but the screen wouldn't be that much larger (ignoring the potential larger aspect ratio).

The interface seems fairly silly since they have to avoid infringing on Apple's design while still copying it.

marcin, how much more cliche is it to buy into a lookalike 4 years after everyone else bought the real thing?

[noliberalbull @ Jul 10th 2006 5:15PM]

if this is it, then they have already failed in their mission to unseat the iPod...

[Jim @ Jul 10th 2006 5:17PM]

Count me in as well... If this thing integrates with my Xbox360 that will be sweet.

jobs = jobs - 1

[Jeff @ Jul 10th 2006 5:18PM]

Can we all say "patent infringement"?

I'm guessing to work around that, the wheel doesn't click. Which means there are two buttons on this thing - play/pause and back.

Now, maybe that's all you need. But what the hell do you do if you want to skip forward??

Anyway, my first reaction to the design of this is that it's one of the better iPod copies I've seen. Though that's probably not a compliment to MS's design team.

My second reaction, though, is that it looks cheap. Spraypainted wheel, ugly black framing that hides the seams inherent to loose production controls. It's a common design trick.

The quality of the photo itself, and the staging, is too good for me to excuse this as a pre-production example. This looks like a PR shot. Not good.

[blackout @ Jul 10th 2006 5:25PM]

looks like a 3rd gen ipod ripoff.

idiots.

they should have tried harder.

[Al @ Jul 10th 2006 5:33PM]

Yeah, i've play with this thing already, and its pretty big at first, the screen is nice and all, you can play movies, and has FM radio but its just too big, its thick and bulky, the wheel is tactile so no touch pad. It freezes ever so often but I hope they fix that before official release. And You can't restart once it freezes, so you have to let the battaries run out first.

[anonymous @ Jul 10th 2006 5:35PM]

seems like everythings an ipod rip off these days...

[dahoolagin @ Jul 10th 2006 5:36PM]

i agree with the first poster, lets see the firmware. if its like microsofts past firmware stuff, it should crash in no time at all.

[Jazzay @ Jul 10th 2006 5:37PM]

stop it with the 'iPod rip!' crap. A wheel is an effecient way to scroll, everything with a wheel doesnt mean the copied the iPod, it means they learned from the iPod.

Here's to hoping that thats not the final design, looks intriguing, but Not elegant.
The lack of next and previous hint that there might be side buttons, which most despise of. But, if thats a good, vibrant screen there Might be a good chance itll compete in the video market.

But probably not. (xbox360 integration would be neat if done right)

[Tim @ Jul 10th 2006 5:39PM]

So you can pause, okay, play, yeah, rewind, uh huh, but how the hell do you go forward?

This thing looks like crap, reminds me of something creative would put out. In the 90's! Zing!

[Jake @ Jul 10th 2006 5:39PM]

I feel the 3rd generation iPod vibe from the buttons, but the design looks more like that of the 360 than that of your average iPod ripoff.

I mean, holy shit, it has a circular button thing, it must be ripping off the iPod. Please.

[Jedediah Johnson @ Jul 10th 2006 5:39PM]

M$ shows no shame. They'll take what OS X they can to put in Vista, now they'll take what iPod they can to make a MP3 payer. I wouldn't enjoy working at M$. Everything has to be "playing catch up" there.

[Todd @ Jul 10th 2006 5:40PM]

Hey, here's a more up to date picture:

http://static.flickr.com/72/186755056_546e1dc532.jpg

[rgk-nyc @ Jul 10th 2006 5:42PM]

cannot wait for the sony ericsson w950i to come out. it will make these types of devices meaningless (ipod, creative, etc). i mean who wouldn't want 4GB of GSM phone loving in their pockets (with bluetooth headphones to boot)?

as far as this post, M$ has some more work to do to match the elegant designs that are out there.

[Taco 2000 @ Jul 10th 2006 5:43PM]

Listen, I've owned abour 4 iPods, and all of them "crash" or freeze fairly often.

Same with my PSP. About the only thing that doesn't crash that I own is my full-size Apple Powerbook. But hell, that's a Powerbook...

Anyway,

MS better make some user detachable/replaceable batteries for this, though. And this can't be the real handheld. Why would they just throw out an iPod clone?

No Xboy/gaming controls? Multimedia controls by touchscreen? If not, how the hell can you really watch movies with 3 input methods?

If it's wireless, how can it communicate with your 360? The 360 doesn't have Bluetooth... USB connectivity? Ummm, what's diff than my iPod then?

This can't be it. And if MS is just gonna throw out like 3 diff elec. devices, that effort will crash. We ALREADY have that. Give us one unified media/gaming/wireless communication device, no bigger than a PSP, with a good-sized HD and touch screen.

One. Not an Ipod clone & then a PSP clone & then a...

[aaron @ Jul 10th 2006 5:43PM]

Looks pretty nice... I've allready got a 60gb iPod (the new ones..but don't use it for video) so I don't really care about this.

And the Xbox branding? I'm sure it has to do with the "Live Anywhere" Microsoft announced. This will probably allow you to download movies from Live and play them on your 360 or on your DAP or whatever.. not to mention whatever music service MS has up their sleave (I reead somewhere that they aren't doing Urge for long once this is out but that could be wrong)

[Tim @ Jul 10th 2006 5:44PM]

"at least one possible form Microsoft's Argo / Xbox-branded wireless portable media player could take"

You can trust microsoft to make sexy sleek everything. For god's sake, I can't stop looking at my Microsoft DigitalMedia Pro Keyboard. It looks /good/.

Microsoft pays firms millions to design these things, so if this variation (that might not even be a final marketed product) doesn't tickle your fancy, then one of the other ones will. The 360 turned out great, my keyboard is amazing, and Vista's interface is great. I'm not too worried about their ability to make an mp3 player.

[Will @ Jul 10th 2006 5:45PM]

The only way this will kill the Ipod is if it has wireless connectivity. Since I can stream video from my Slingbox to my Treo, this doesn't look like anyhting to be worried about.

[Enzo @ Jul 10th 2006 5:48PM]

it looks ok. a little bland. I think if they want to tie it into the 360, they should make that wheel look like the power button on the 360, with the lights around it for whatever. it would like classier than that awful grey at least.

[koz @ Jul 10th 2006 5:48PM]

I'm sure hoping this is a fake.

No company would spend millions on this design to put the wheel so low on the device that you can't move it with your thumb one-handedly.

[Ross @ Jul 10th 2006 5:48PM]

If im not corrected, Microsoft own the patent to the iPods "clickwheel".

I likes iPods, i own a 4G, but come on, as soon as someone puts a circular shape on a device, a load of n00bs scream "iPod".

[Steven Q @ Jul 10th 2006 5:48PM]

Predictable stupidity from the fanboys. MS could have copied the Ipod down to the Apple logo and they would still say its ugly. They are just that kooky. No one should take them seriously, they are part of a deranged cult and feel nothing can possibly be better than their Job-box.

Im into this design. I realize that its just an example mock-up. one of several. But Im sure that MS will go with the style from the 360, and thats just fine with me. Im looking forward to further details, and a REAL price war.

[Andrew Paul Baisden @ Jul 10th 2006 5:49PM]

Hey correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't ipod video have a 1:1 ratio at least that is different.

[Michael May @ Jul 10th 2006 5:53PM]

Looks like 16:9 to me. Certainly widescreen

[Adam @ Jul 10th 2006 5:53PM]

haha if you think the wheel is an IPOD ripoff. history lesson: check out the original Rio's circa 1998.

the wheel is not an IPOD innovation


cant wait for this to be released, price wars would be good for this IPOD maniac industry

[scott @ Jul 10th 2006 5:54PM]

"cannot wait for the sony ericsson w950i to come out. it will make these types of devices meaningless (ipod, creative, etc). i mean who wouldn't want 4GB of GSM phone loving in their pockets (with bluetooth headphones to boot)?"

i guess you've never owned a phone made by se? i have. my se t637 is a pos. they can put a 60gb drive in their next p-eleventy billion phone and i'll still pass on it.

[marcin @ Jul 10th 2006 5:54PM]

tf, there are too many people with Ipods and if i were to buy an mp3 now, i'd go with creative.

but as mentioned, i support MS, and this product is bound to have more features and functionality then just playing music. thats the main reason i never bought into the ipod. i'm not that big into music, but if the product were to have more functionality such as an OS, i would consider it.

additionally, i dont know if its clear yet but Apple products such as the Nano and MacbookPro are not the best in terms of hardware. this whole idea of Apple breaking the market is not gonna happen if their hardware has defects.

[plake @ Jul 10th 2006 5:55PM]

Looks really good. I'm looking forward to the official specs announcement.

[diablojota @ Jul 10th 2006 6:00PM]

It's obviously a photoshop job. Look at the base. There is clearly and iPod jack down there. Also, the edges are 3rd gen iPod. Plus those buttons are from a 3rd gen iPod. The screen and wheel are from some cell phone/ PDA concept a while back too.

This is a fake.

[primetime @ Jul 10th 2006 6:06PM]

Apple defects? What number Xbox 360 are you on?

[Raider @ Jul 10th 2006 6:07PM]

If it controls the same as an iPod, somehow mysteriously works with iTunes someday, doesn't cost as much as a computer (like an iPod 60GB), a properly working MS OS (without all the fuss) and has a user-changable battery, I'm there.

If not, go back to the drawing board.

[RuinedSucks @ Jul 10th 2006 6:08PM]

The device in the blurry picture had an antenna on it...

[David @ Jul 10th 2006 6:10PM]

diablojota: If this had been submitted to engadget by some anonymous "tipster," I might share your skepticism, but unless the authority of the source--engadget claims it came from someone associated with the project--makes that difficult to believe. It's real, though perhaps not a final design.

[Andy @ Jul 10th 2006 6:11PM]

Dear MS:

Please send me a touch-screen operated PMP for my Christmas... Oh yeah, and please let it have sleek curves, an intuitive interface, downloadable Wi-Fi content, X360 interopability, and amazing codec support...

Love,
Your Friend

^Hey, a guy can dream can't he?^

[Enzo @ Jul 10th 2006 6:13PM]

"Apple defects? What number Xbox 360 are you on?"

Number one.
Can't say the same for the iPod.

[tf @ Jul 10th 2006 6:16PM]

Ross, you are "corrected": Microsoft does not own the clickwheel patents, Apple does.

You were not correct, but now you are corrected.

[aboriginal @ Jul 10th 2006 6:17PM]

heh, for those of you that said I was never an iPod fan because you didn't want to be part of the herd, then running out and buying this proves what? You wanna join the other herd instead? If Apple gets to wireless and full-on touch screen watch out - this thing looks three years ago already.