Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[madrose1]

Microsoft-MSFT's Bill Gates hints at "better" MP3 player-DailyTech.com

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, while speaking at a Seattle area High School, was asked if Microsoft was planning to develop a music player to take on Apple's (AAPL) iPod. While he did not give a direct, specific answer, he did say, "We are talking with partners about how we, working with those partners, can make even better music players. We've got some in the market today. I'd say in total they have about 20% market share, which is lower than we like, and so we're seeing where we can come together to make a device that's less expensive and connects in better ways, does photos and videos in better ways."

07:43 EDT AAPL, AMZN, GOOG Apple's iTunes may see competition from both Amazon, Google-FT

Amazon (AMZN) and Google (GOOG) are separately in talks with music industry executives about new digital music services that could break Apple’s (AAPL) grip on the fast-growing market for legal downloads. Senior executives of two of the world’s four largest music companies said they were keen to collaborate with both companies to create competition for Apple's iTunes service. Amazon was further advanced than Google in its plans, he said, and could launch a download service as early as the second quarter of this year. Google had "very serious" discussions with the music industry late last year, he said, but these are now moving more slowly. Last week, Google said it had no plans to develop a "music store." :