Now that Bill Gates' situation is sorted out, tech journalists can get back to obsessing over whether Microsoft is developing its own version of the iPod.


The latest rumors of the mythical mPod appeared recently in a Reuters report, with unnamed sources saying Microsoft is showing the device to music companies. I'd argue that Microsoft has already developed an iPod challenger, and it's been on sale for a couple of weeks at Best Buy and Amazon.com for about $200.


If you squint, you'll even see the Windows logo on the box.

The device is called the Clix. It's a matchbox-sized digital-music player that looks like the top half of a standard iPod. And just like an iPod, it has a bright color screen that displays album covers when music is playing. It also displays photos, records speech, receives FM radio and plays videos and simple video games.


On the inside, Clix has 2 gigabytes of storage and up to 25 hours of battery life ? about 80 percent more than the iPod nano.


Technically, Clix is made by iRiver, a South Korean electronics company with U.S. headquarters in Vancouver, Wash.

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by Gundeep Hora in Cool Tech Zone


You know, it’s entertaining to read about the next iPod Killer simply because you learn to appreciate the truly innovative products time and again. It’s not that all companies and products are useless. No, not one bit. It’s just that their idea of innovation around the ever popular iPod is silly.


Few days ago, Microsoft releasing its own variation of the iPod Killer grabbed headlines....again. How long have we been hearing about this? This time around, the news was passionate and more assuring than previous times. Then again, Microsoft’s unclear launch plans were disheartening, but totally expected. As much as Microsoft wishes, there’s no way it can crush the iconic iPod.

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Microsoft Corp. is teaming up with MTV Networks to introduce a music service this week that will challenge the popular iTunes music service.


Microsoft plans to release on Wednesday a test version of Windows Media Player 11 and MTV's Urge music store. Like iTunes, the Windows Media Player lets users rip music from their CD collection and store it in a library. Without leaving the media player, users can also find and download new songs from the Urge music store.


The release is the latest and perhaps the most formidable attempt so far to chip away at the dominance of Apple Computer Inc.'s ubiquitous and iconic iPod digital music player.
For the first time, Microsoft has led a coordinated effort so that the Windows Media Player, the Urge music store and the latest MP3 players by iRiver, Samsung and Creative Zen were largely designed together.


In effect, Microsoft and team are trying to mimic iPod and iTunes so that all the pieces fit together better and make it easier to use.

"Apple's model of a complete ecosystem -- the content and devices all working together harmoniously -- is the key to their success," said Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies. "What Microsoft is trying to do is create something similar."

Up to now, no one has been able to knock Apple off its throne. Despite competition from a slew of MP3 devices and new cell phones that play digital music, the iPod's share of the market has steadily grown, from 26 percent of the MP3 player market in 2003 to 56 percent in 2004 to 73 percent in 2005, according to the NPD Group. For the first three months of the year, it held nearly 80 percent of the MP3 player market.

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