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Legal Sources Of Portable Media Player Content
(including sources for video-capable MP3 players designed mainly for music playback)
Type Of ContentVideo FormatCompatible portable devices
ONLINE SOURCES
i iTunes
Apple's a la carte download service; video downloads available since Oct. 20053,500+ music videos and short films; hundreds of TV show episodes from 90+ TV shows. Content from ABC, Comedy Channel, Disney, FOX, FX, ESPN, MTV, NBC, Nickelodeon, SciFi Channel, Showtime, 20th Century Fox Television libraryH.264 protected by Apple proprietary Fair Play DRMHard-disk-based video-capable iPods
Vongo (Video On The Go)
Starz Entertainment Group subscription and pay-per-view (PPV) download service; $9.99/month subscription offers unlimited downloads that expire after preset intervals of 4-9 months for movies, depending on movie, and up to 2 years for non-movie content. Pay-per-view downloads are $3.99 and expire 24 hours after first viewing. All downloaded titles can be shared among three devices, including a PC, laptop or coming PMCs1,500+ titles of new and classic movies, sports and long-form concertsWindows Media Video (WMV) protected by WMV DRMPortable Media Center (PMC) models with Ver. 2 OS. Ver. 2 supports movie-download subscription services that meet requirements of major movie studios, who want Ver. 2 before allowing download sites to offer their content to PMCs on a subscription basis (think Napster-To-Go for video). Planned Toshiba PMCs to use Ver. 2. Non-PMC-platform PMPs expected to offer the movie-subscription feature in '06. Movie-studio subscription requirements include automatic movie expiration after specific time periods, and (invisible to user) cable-TV-like 24-hour pay-per-view windows. If the window closes while you're watching, the movie PMC automatically grabs a license for another 24 hours at no extra charge.
Google
Only unprotected content can be transferred to portables. All CBS, NBA content viewable only on DRM-protected PC at $1.99/download.Includes music videos, CBS, NBA, National Archives, user-generated videoH.264 unprotected, H.264 protected by proprietary DRMVideo-capable iPods; Memory Stick PRO Duo cards for Sony PSP
OTHER SOURCES
TV sets, set-top boxes, DVRs
Via analog video outputsAll video content viewable on TV, set-top, or DVRVaries by PMPs' built-in video encoderPMPs with built-in video encoders and analog video input. Some feature timers for VCR-like time-shifting. Includes Archos, RCA and planned Coby models.
T TiVo Series 2 DVRs
TiVo2Go feature offers digital transfers to networked PCs and laptops that transfer video to connected PMCs.All DVR-recorded video content not Macrovision-flagged can be transferred to a PMP in NTSC resolution. Flagged content includes pay-per-view. TiVo watermark identifies users who upload content to Internet.Encrypted MPEG-2 transferred to networked PC, which transcodes content to WMV via Windows Media Player 10. Optional PC software allows transcoding to 320 by 240 MPEG-4 or H.264. Allows display on connected TV via analog output.PMPs, PMCs capable of playing WMV, MPEG-4, H.234 files, including models from Creative, Samsung, RCA. TiVo plans video-capable iPod compatibility in new PC software by midyear.
DISH Network DVRs
Direct digital transfers to 3 PocketDish-branded PMPs from four USB-equipped DVR-players, plus real-time recording from analog outputs of non-USB DVR-playersDVR-recorded video content and Sirius- provided music channels.DRM-protected MPEG-4. DRM locks content to PMP to prevent digital transfers, but content can be displayed on connected TV via analog outputs.Three PocketDish PMPs built by Archos and marketed by DISH Network. They also feature analog inputs to record content from other DISH DVRs and timers to time-shift DISH content without a full-sized DVR.
POTENTIAL FUTURE SOURCES
DirecTV2Go
Planned DirecTV feature due in Q2 or Q3 with direct digital transfer to compatible PMPs.DVR-recorded content; DRM details unavailableProtected MPEG-2Planned PMPs from Humax; RCA Lyra X3000, X3030 to get firmware upgrade to support DirecTV2Go DRM.
BitTorrent/Warner Bros.
Planned P2P video-download service to launch in summer.Launching with 200+ new and catalog movie and TV titles from Warner Bros., with all content available day and date with DVD releases.WMV protected by WMV DRMTransfers to portables not supported at launch but planned at unannounced date.
CinemaNow
Rental titles available at $2.99- $3.99. Once viewing begins, user has 24 hours to watch on PC. Purchased titles retail for $9.95-$19.95 for PC viewing, some day-and-date with DVD release. Previously supported transfers to PMCs and compatible PMPs of music videos, older films not from major Hollywood Studios, and free videos from Sept. '04-April '05.More than 4,000 new and classic movies, TV shows, concerts, music videos from 250+ sources including 20th Century Fox, ABC News, Disney, HDNet, Lionsgate, MGM, Miramax, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures, Sundance Channel, Warner Bros. Available titles rotated from archive of 7,500+ titles.WMV protected by WMV DRMTransfers to portables not currently supported but planned for summer 2006 launch.
Movielink
Rental titles available at $1.99-$4.99 each. Once viewing begins, user has 24 hours to watch on PC, but file remains on PC up to 1 month. Purchased titles available at $9.99-$26.99, some day-and-date with DVD release. Purchased titles can be burned in WMV format to DVD for playback in up to total of three PCs and laptops.More than 1,400 titles for rent, mainly mainstream Hollywood movies; 450 titles available for a la carte purchase.WMV protected by WMV DRMTransfers to portables not currently supported, but company is “prepared to test” transfers to PMCs and to PMPs, possibly in 2006. Vista OS to enable automatic down-converting of 1.3 Mbps data rate MovieLink files to a PMC's maximum 800Kbps decode rate.
MTV/URGE
Music streaming and download service with streaming video; launched May 17Streamed video mainly of music videosWMV protected by WMV DRMVideo downloads to PMCs, PMPs planned for later this year
Sources: Listed companies, PMP suppliers ©TWICE 2006





Release Date: 
2006-05-22 06:00:00
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May 22 2006 - 6:00am