Media Center is Finding a Home
By Crayton Harrison, The Dallas Morning News
Oct. 14–The age of the Media Center has dawned.
The home-entertainment version of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows XP operating system is fast becoming the software of choice for computer buyers.
In September, 46 percent of desktop computers sold used the XP Media Center system, up from 6 percent the year before, according to Current Analysis.
The spike in popularity has more to do with prices and marketing than with a sudden surge of interest in sophisticated digital media usage. Despite the software’s user-friendly TV recording software, most Media Center PCs are sold without TV tuners, analysts say.
But Media Center sales do indicate that users are thinking of their PCs more and more as entertainment devices instead of as productivity tools.
And with the software updates Microsoft plans to announce Friday, the Media Center — with help from the new XBox — could start helping users learn how to digitally distribute video throughout their homes.
“All the signs are there,” said Toni Duboise, who researches the desktop PC market at Current Analysis. “The penetration of digital cameras is high. Digital music players definitely have reached peak proportions as far as household penetration. Consumers have enough digital media that they need someplace to actually access and store it, and Media Center allows you to do that.”
On Friday, Microsoft will announce that Media Center PCs will be able to wirelessly transmit photos, music and video to the XBox 360, the new gaming console available Nov. 22.
The XBox 360 software is designed to detect Media Center PCs located elsewhere in the home, and users will be able to use the gaming device’s remote control to browse through their digital media.
The software update will also allow users to download music videos from MTV, Internet radio from AOL and video games from Discover Games and Game xStream.
A Media Center PC will be capable, with this free software update and the right hardware, of sending media to up to five compatible devices — a live television program to one, an Internet radio station to another, a recorded program to another, a photo slideshow to another, etc.
Most consumers won’t be ready to do that yet, Microsoft concedes.
“But with Media Center they have access to that stuff,” said Justin Hutchinson, group product manager for the consumer versions of Windows XP. “And it makes it easier to do the kinds of things they’re already doing.”
Microsoft isn’t the only technology company vying to become consumers’ entertainment hub. On Wednesday, Apple Computer
Inc. introduced software and a remote control that allow users to view photos, play music and watch video on its new iMac desktop models.
Microsoft’s approach differs fundamentally from Apple’s. Microsoft lays down the basic software foundation and works with hardware makers and partners such as MTV to supply video and other media; Apple has worked directly with record labels and Hollywood to offer audio and video to consumers on Apple-made equipment.
It’s unclear which approach will work best, said Roger Kay, president of research firm Endpoint Technologies Associates.
“Consumers, as they assemble the digital home, are going to buy the elements one at a time,” he said. “Over the next decade, they need to be able to build that digital home without having to worry that this device puts other devices out of business.”
When Microsoft debuted the Media Center operating system in 2002, it was aiming for a market of tech-savvy computer users who were ready to make the PC the centerpiece of their living rooms.
But Media Center PCs took off when Microsoft backed away from that strategy. This summer, it gave PC makers more leeway to slash prices by selling machines without remote controls and TV tuners installed.
More incentive
Falling prices for big hard drives and optical drives, such as DVD burners, have also made the systems more attractive to mainstream consumers, said Brett Falk, marketing director for Dell Inc.’s Inspiron notebooks.
The average price of a Media Center desktop in September was $787, down from $1,261 a year ago, Current Analysis said. Computer makers such as Gateway Inc. and Dell now sell Media Center models for less than $600.
Consumers that may not have been ready to completely digitize their home entertainment centers are now in the market for Media Center PCs. The computers could eventually whet their appetites for more complex media technology, executives said.
“The desktops that have Media Center functionality in them are an opportunity for those users to investigate and evaluate the Media Center experience and start to understand and appreciate it,” said Glenn Jystad, Gateway’s senior manager for desktops.
Gateway has been one of the most aggressive adopters of Media Center PCs. The company’s retail desktops all use the operating system, and its low-end eMachines line also has Media Center models.
Round Rock-based Dell introduced its XPS line of high-end computers, all with Media Center, last month. Its midrange desktop, the E510, and its midrange notebook, the 9300, also feature the software.
In conjunction with Microsoft’s Media Center news Friday, Dell plans to announce that it will begin shipping Media Center PCs to Canada and Japan for the first time, with other countries in Europe and Asia to come.
“The adoption of the PC as the hub of the digital home continues to move forward,” Mr. Falk said. “Media Center plays a role as an enabler of the overall experience.”
—–
To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
MSFT, DELL, GTW,