Sony to support AAC -- heck not to freeze over
When Sony execs
recently announced
that the company was prepping to take on the iPod with new software, a
download service and new digital audio players, we didn't expect the
company's first move to be to announce support for the AAC audio
format. But plans by Sony to include the format in the latest version
of its Sonic Stage software -- and, presumably, in future portable
players, as well -- makes perfect sense. After all,
the PSP -- not to mention most
Sony Ericsson
musicphones -- already supports AAC, and Sony was one of the developers
(along with AT&T, Dolby and others) of the format in the first
place. However, that hasn't stopped various pundits from concluding
that Sony's AAC support marks some kind of victory for the company that
leads the market for portable media players (or as
PortalPlayer likes to call them,
"our biggest customer"). But despite headlines such as "Sony bows to
Apple format," which appeared on Asahi.com earlier today, Sony will not
be supporting Apple's FairPlay DRM, so iTunes-purchased tracks will
remain iPod-only. And, chances are, despite the AAC support, Sony's
products will still be Sonic Stage-only, so you can probably forget
about using iTunes with your next-gen Bean. Now, move along. There's
nothing going on here.
Read the entire Engadget article here.