Digital Home Thoughts: Can The Xbox 360 Elite Change The Music Download Industry?

"It's now 2007, six years after the iPod first launched its crusade on our ears and wallets, and many are discovering that since their fourth generation 'pod has bitten the dust and they've since bought a competitor, all those DRM-infested tracks they've bought over the years are incompatible with their shiny new Zens and iRivers. Enter Microsoft, and their Xbox 360 Elite, and I truly believe they could capture the disheartened, yet prime-for-the-taking, music market. Viva la revolution! Someone mock a Che Gates t-shirt up already, you have at least one eager customer in queue!"



Well, I'm not sure the Xbox 360 Elite is going to change the music download industry, but it could help shake things up. The death of DRM is going to open up the marketplace, allowing iTunes users to play their tracks on devices other than the iPod, and allowing iPod users to get their music from places other than iTMS. Microsoft already has the infrastructure in place to compete in this space with the Xbox Live Marketplace, they just need to find a way to bring that experience to the PC, and link it to the Xbox 360 and the Zune. The excitement is just beginning!