CES 2006 Announcements Fuel Digital Media Revolution

LAS VEGAS -- Judging from products and services announced here at the International Consumer Electronics Show this week, as well as comments from industry movers and shakers, the digital media revolution is really starting to take off.

Intel and Microsoft rolled out products and services connecting PCs to entertainment devices and content, a variety of vendors weighed in with music players and services to rival Apple's, a new Wi-Fi telephony product will give users yet another mobile communication option, and game technology made deeper inroads into the automotive arena. And those were just a fraction of show announcements.

The Breakthrough Time?

A confluence of new products and enthusiasm from early adopters of digital consumer products will work to bring interoperable digital media devices more than ever before into the mainstream, according to industry heavyweights.

"When we look back five or ten years from now I think we'll look back and say that the period in the middle of this decade was a period in which things really broke through," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in an interview with IDG News Service.

On Thursday, Microsoft executives disclosed two new Windows Live services that connect to Windows Media Center PCs. The services, one in beta and another one due out in a few months, are designed to allow users to remotely record television shows, get program information, and share show favorites with buddies in their MSN Messenger social network.

On Wednesday evening, during his traditional opening keynote, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates announced, among other things, new partnerships, including one with MTV Networks. That deal calls for the integration of MTV's Urge music service with Windows Media Player 11, which in turn will be integrated into Windows. In a breakthrough for the company on the handheld front, Gates announced the first Palm device to run Windows Mobile. The Palm Treo 700w is available now from Verizon for $399.

Intel Announcements

Adding heft to the long-expected, formal announcement of new chips and entertainment machines based on its Viiv consumer PC platform, Intel lined up big-time content providers. For example, Intel and DirecTV said they aim to deliver a set-top box, based on Viiv technology and capable of receiving DirecTV satellite content, in 2006. The company also premiered notebooks running the Centrino Duo chip, which had been code-named Napa, and revealed the name of the dual-core Pentium M chip code-named Yonah and now formally dubbed Core Duo.

Giving users more choice in the digital music market, several companies challenged Apple's lead in the digital music arena. SanDisk, for example, showed off two new flash memory-based MP3 players: the SanDisk Sansa e200 series players, due out in March and offering up to 6GB of storage, starting at $199; and the smaller Sansa c100 series players, starting at $119.

Carrier Verizon Wireless said that by the end of January it will offer a music site where customers can download songs directly to their phones for $1.99 each and to Microsoft Windows XP PCs for $0.99 each.

For more CES coverage, head to PC World's CES Info Center.