No WMA for HP iPod

finelinebob writes "In spite of Paul Thurrott's wishful thinking, Wired is reporting that HP will not support the WMA format in its version of the iPod. From the article, according to HP spokesperson Muffi Ghadial, "'We're not going to be supporting WMA for now ... We picked the service that was the most popular (Apple's iTunes Music Store). We could have chosen another format, but that would have created more confusion for our customers.' He added, 'Most customers don't care about the format they're downloading.'" Thurrott's singing a different tune lately, anyway...."

Too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

iWas looking forward to it.

the reason

[commodoresloat]

They didn't want to limit their customers' choices.

But...

[paul248]

Jeez, whatever happened to WMA being superior?

Paul Thurrott

[rf600r]

Paul Thurrott is and always has been most interested in Paul Thurrott and how the world relates to Paul Thurrott. He used to have a great website, until it got buried behind how much Paul Thurrott loves Paul Thurrott and how much you love Paul Thurrott, too.

Re:but what about...

[molafson]

ogg? that's all I care (in addition to mp3)

Seriously, I wish iPod would add Ogg Vorbis support, so that every discussion of digital music on Slashdot would not degenerate into a "What about Ogg?" circle jerk.

There are players that support Ogg Vorbis, if that is all you care about (see above). Please buy one and stop bothering us.

I think he meant to say...

[krray]

From the article:
"Most customers don't care about the format they're downloading."

I think he meant to say:
"Most customers don't care about the wma format, they're not worth downloading."

Silly HP.

Re:the reason

[hummer357]

wow...

anybody actually read the first article?

talk about being superfanboy! ;-)

some quotes:
- "Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio format " (ehm... yeah)
- "Portable Media Center Devices Will Blow You Away" (wha? no it won't!)
- "Predictable Open-Source Advocates Decry Microsoft Anti-Linux Ads" (this on't a bit like those old beatles records... play it backwards, and you get the *real* hidden message!)

and this one is the best of the lot:
- "Jobs's Disappointing Macworld Keynote Address Makes Even Gates Look Good"
(okay, so maybe Jobs is boring, he always is, but making Gates LOOK GOOD? Paul? ya smokin' crack?)

well,

h357

Mr. Thurrot: Practice what you preach

[vicparedes]

And according to Mr. Thurrot: And, for what it's worth, I own two iPods and have downloaded more than 200 songs from the iTunes Music Store...

So your way of championing consumer choice is to recommend WMA and invest your time/money in Apple's product and service?

Re:Paul Thurrott

[Anonymous Coward]

To anyone who possesses reading comprehension skills at a level equal to or greater than a field mouse, it is abundantly clear that Paul Thurott's writing style is a textbook example of biased presentation. Every statement is either a kiss on the cheek in support of the Wintel platform as a whole, or a backhanded slap to the face against anything that does not support the status quo for that platform.

What a douchebag.

In related news, Carly Fiorina said...

[DerProfi]

"There is no CODEC that is America's God-given right."

Re:Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this?

[tommck]

They're a monopoly on making cool-looking overpriced hardware ;)

(Posts like this are like setting fire to your own Karma...)

Re:No Reason for WMA in iPod

[Kenja]

No, in real life it would go more like this.

Question: What MP3 player works with the Apple Music store? (I know it's called the iTunes store, but who actually says that?)

Answer: With the what music store?

Question: The online music store run by Apple Computers.

Anser: What computers? I have a Dell with 256 giga pixels of CDs.

Question: No, no. Thats a Windows based computer made by Dell. Apple computers run an OS based on BSD UNIX. The same company runs an online store where you can buy songs.

Anser : ? ......... So you mean like Warehouse-music.com? I use that through AOL. Whats it got to do with fruit?

Question : Never mind....

Most people have no idea what a computer can realy do much less be able to do much with it. They walk into CompUSA or CircutCity with their pants around their ankles and their wallet open. Answer: Ummmm....

Re:Is Apple or Microsoft forcing HP to do this?

[nate1138]

No, they aren't. What about Sony? I can't afford any of their cool shit either ;-)

Re:But...

[phalse phace]

Maybe WMA is so superior that HP (and Apple) realized that they weren't worthy enough to support the format on the iPods, so they scrapped their plans.

Re:WMA support in iPod firmware?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thurrott had a feature called a brain natively enabled but disabled before making any comments on his website.

Re:Paul Thurrott

[dasmegabyte]

Isn't Paul Thurrott the name of that blue eyed kid from Dune?

Which is it?

[lamz]

From the article:
The company will be working with Apple to add support for Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format to the iPod by mid-year.

I don't get it. Are they adding support for WMA, or for a superior format?

Thurrott is *NOT* a fool

[Anonymous Coward]

He is an idiot and a tool. Big difference.

Re:But...

[larry bagina]

if that's the case, why isn't this internet thing popular yet?