PLAYS FOR SURE? DON'T BE SO SURE

In what would seem to be a curious decision, Micrsoft has announced that its Windows Media Player will no longer be updated for the Mac. Yeah, the current version is going to be as good as it gets. (Not very, in other words.)

In future, there's going to be a Microsoft-sanctioned third-party plug-in for Quicktime. In other words, you'd have to fiddle about a bit, hope the third party continues to develop its software, trust that everyone else does...

Microsoft explain:

[PR honk Adam] Anderson said the decision to halt work on Windows Media Player for the Mac was a matter of prioritizing for Microsoft's Windows Media unit.

"It's basically a business decision for Microsoft," Anderson said. "Like any other company, we have business priorities. Our focus really is in delivering the best experience to Windows customers."

But wasn't Microsoft just in the middle of trying to unseat Apple as the number one music download provider? Pushing its DRM windows media files instead of Apple's DRM AAC format? How come MS isn't bothered about delivering the best experience to the customers it hopes to find for its music downloads?

music windows media player apple microsoft