QuickTime 6 Preview Debuts

It's lights, camera, and action for Apple Computer and its QuickTime 6 player software, now available in a late beta version after almost four months' delay over licensing terms of the MPEG-4 technology.

The prerelease QuickTime 6 multimedia player and QuickTime broadcaster are now offered as a free download. Apple expects to release the final version of QuickTime 6 this summer with the launch of Mac OS X, says Frank Casanova, Apple's director of QuickTime product marketing.

Pushing MPEG-4

Apple announced the update earlier this year, touting the package as the first mainstream multimedia product to support the MPEG-4 digital compression standard, which was developed by the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG). QuickTime 6 will support all previous video and audio standards, but the release is noteworthy for its additional support for MPEG-4.

Boosters of MPEG-4 say the technology will dazzle users with its fast, high-definition video on desktop PCs and TV. The standard is also adroit at handling video and audio content on low-bandwidth devices. It is a successor to MPEG-1, the technology responsible for the popular MP3 audio format. It is also an heir to MPEG-2, which can encode DVDs and transmit video over digital cable and satellite networks.

The QuickTime 6 software supports both MPEG-4 video playback and the standard MPEG-4 audio format, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), which delivers high-quality sound in smaller file sizes, according to Apple.

QuickTime 5 Pro users will be able to encode to MPEG-4 audio and video using the beta version of QuickTime 6. Download the QuickTime 6 update to access the beta software's advanced features.

One such feature is QuickTime Broadcaster, but access to it is limited to users of Apple OS X. This tool lets you capture, encode, and stream QuickTime content over networks in real time.

Imposing Rivals

Despite Apple's commitment to MPEG-4 technology, debate over proposed licensing fees for the technology kept Apple from releasing its software earlier.

"We are very optimistic that there will be an end to this licensing stalemate very soon," Casanova says.

The longer MPEG-4's licensing plan stalls, the greater the danger that proprietary formats will usurp it, say proponents. That would let dominant companies like Microsoft and RealNetworks keep high-definition video and improved compression technology their exclusive province.

QuickTime 6 turns up the heat on those competing makers of video playback software. Both Microsoft and RealNetworks tout their own media formats as being the most compact, supporting the easiest authoring, and delivering the best content quality.

QuickTime 6 boasts the same, but Apple's edge is its support for the industry standard MPEG-4 format, Apple's Casanova says.

"The industry is sick and tired of the formats war," Casanova says. "Others put a big burden on users and authors. QuickTime makes life easier."

The advantage of an open standard is that it isn't tied to a proprietary format, like Microsoft's Windows Media Video or the RealVideo technology developed by RealNetworks. Users and developers have fewer compatibility concerns with open technology, which improves its chances of getting adopted. Content producers and others can then encode files without having to worry that the file may become obsolete if a company updates its technology.

Scarlet Pruitt of the IDG News Service contributed to this report.