Microsoft backs off music player squeeze
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft has pulled back from a plan to exclude rival media players from portable music devices using its software. Details of the plan--and the reversal--were contained in a quarterly status report that Microsoft and the Department of Justice filed on Thursday with the federal judge that oversees the company's landmark antitrust settlement.
Microsoft has been trying to find ways to make portable music players that run its software compete better in a market dominated by Apple Computer's iPod player and companion iTunes software. Under the program Microsoft had proposed, device makers that included a CD with Windows Media Player and other software would have had to agree not to include any other software, including rival media players.