Microsoft's portable...

[Paco]

Microsoft SAYS that digital distribution is the future, but it sure won't happen with 20 gig hard drives...

First, Microsoft does already have portables: Windows CE machines. :) They're just in a different market... but it does make sense that they'd look at the iPod and want in on that market too... the question is if we end up with a tries-to-do-it-all device like the PSP or one more focused on its task like the iPod (or nothing). At this point, who knows. But Microsoft hasn't really shown a strong interest in the handheld games market so far, from what I can tell, so I just doubt that they'd focus on that with any device they do make...

Well, as far as I know, there is no service to download movies on the 360. A Vista/Media Center PC coupled with a few hundred gigabytes or a couple of terabytes is a different story (which you could then stream through your 360:)).

Well, someone who claims that they are in the know confirm that Microsoft really doesn't have any plans for a portable games device. Instead they will be rolling out with a dedicated MP3 player and a MP3/Video model as well. He also claimed that the HDD will be removeable.

here's the response...

From the sound of it, Microsoft wants to merge connectivity in all of its product lines.
There are plans right now for a dedicated MP3 Player, and a Video/MP3 player, but here is the cool part. The way it stores it media. Both players will ship with a small amount of flash memory (around 64mb’s) that will include the actual unit’s operating system and sub programs (more on that in a min) for instant unit boot up. All the media will be stored on a removable hard-drive, which will have the ability to swap out of one player and into another. It also gives the user the ability to upgrade the amount of storage without having to buy a whole new player. They plan on shipping all players with a built in 802.11n card, which will allow people to buy music and video (depending on if you have the player that supports video) through Microsoft’s own services (much like ITunes)… It also allows you to stream your media wirelessly from the player to the Xbox360 and PC. Also, I thought that I should add (though the decision to include the feature is as of yet undecided) that the video capable player should also include an GPS chip for navigation…

From the looks of it, the MP3 player (without video support) model will be a little bit thinner (width wise) than the current Ipod Nano, and the hard drive is about as thick as the Nano unit itself. The video player has an large screen that covers the while face of the unit (again the same size of the nano’s) and is as thick as two Nano players (without the hard drive attached to the bottom)… From what I hear, there are no real plans on making an portable console for at least a few years (or ever), but they designed a rough design so they could show how (in the future) a portable console could use the same hard drive (used with the two players talked about above) for its extra media features. Much like Sony uses an memory stick for its storage.

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