Software giant Microsoft Corp has released a new version of its Windows Media software, hoping to leave its competitors behind in the race to provide the dominant platform for internet-based entertainment.Windows Media 9 Series, previously known by its code-named Corona, offers a number of features the company claims are firsts, including full, 5.1 channel surround sound for streaming audio and high-definition video with file sizes as small as half of those of DVDs.‘We think this is a platform that is going to usher in the next wave of digital media’, Dave Fester, the General Manager of the company’s digital media division said.Microsoft has made digital media a priority in recent years, from the debut of its Xbox video game Console to a special version of its operating system called Windows XP Media Center Edition, which will appear on a new line of computers later this year that will be equipped with remote controls.The company’s Hollywood approach is two-pronged: to convince consumers that streaming video on the PC can look as good as television, and to convince the entertainment industry their content will be secure and ready for prime time.In a nod to the importance of the media world to the company’s plans, the software was unveiled at Hollywood & Highland, a mall complex in the heart of the city that includes the Kodak Theatre, the new home of the Academy Awards.The new player software, available as a download from Microsoft’s web site, includes a section called Services that will offer users access to a number of subscription media sites, including music service pressplay and movies-on-demand service Intertainer. Fester said Microsoft will collect no fees from the subscription services, nor will it charge its partners to make their services available through the player. That formula is in sharp contrast to the company’s upcoming online gaming service, Xbox Live, where Microsoft plans to control the network and collect all the subscription fees on behalf of independent publishers. ‘We want to make sure we try a couple different ways’ to handle subscriptions, Fester said.Microsoft also said musician Peter Gabriel will release a new album entitled ‘Up’ later this month that is fully encoded, in surround sound, in the professional version of the Windows Media Audio standard. On the hardware side, SONICblue Inc and Creative Technology Ltd both will release new portable digital music players later this year compatible with the new standard.Microsoft said those players will hold several times the number of songs that can be carried on devices that support only the MP3 format.
