OK, this is an interesting article. It details a couple of the proposed new ideas for Media Player 11. There is however no mention of RSS, and therefore podcasts. I do however know that the new beta version of Microsoft Outlook, at the moment, has the capability to subscribe to RSS so I guess it should go without saying also that RSS should be present. We should bare in mind also that this version of Media Player for Windows XP is cut down in features, compared to the Vista version. I must admit using Media Player to subscribe to podcasts would make my life a lot easier. Because I have a Windows Mobile PDA that I use as an MP3 player and Juice to download the podcasts, combining the functionality of the two would be a godsend. I guess it could only mean good things for podcasters and podcasts, and is also hopefully a sign of where technology is heading, if Microsoft are willing to invest..!

There is apparently going to be a collaboration between Microsoft and MTV (Urge) to create an online music store, comparable to iTunes. As iTunes is the market leader with a lot historical prevalence, I guess Microsoft/MTV have to do something pretty special to grab a piece of the online music sales market - however the fact that even with the new version, Apple’s FairPlay protection format can not be converted to the DRM format, means that the iPod is still not fully supported.

There has also been a whisper that Media Player 11 is due to be released before the end of June, although knowing Microsoft, I guess it’s probably more prudent to aim for the end of August before a properly working version is available (>ouch!<)

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