My Gigabeat: Gigabeat S: Portable Media Center no more?

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Gigabeat S: Portable Media Center no more?

So it has been reported by Engadget, and here is the original Microsoft news group post, pretty much confirming that Microsoft is no longer actively working on the operating system for the Gigabeat S models. The Portable Media Center has been abandoned by Microsoft.

I guess this was expected after Microsoft released their own Zune player. But it would have been nice of Toshiba to let us know... Seems like they have known for quite some time.

"With the re-investment of resources in media experiences on connected
Windows Mobile powered devices, Portable Media Center 2.0 is the last
version of our Portable Media Center software under the Windows Mobile
brand. We do not plan any future Portable Media Center software upgrades
or marketing activities."

What does this mean for us Gigabeat S users? Well it seems that Microsoft still offers support to their PMC partners. But support does not mean a new firmware, and I'm not sure at all what it means.

"We will continue to work with existing Portable Media Centers licensees to ensure that devices they are developing come to market."

Another thing that makes me wonder is that it is pretty obvious that the Zune is using a version of PMC. Did all the PMC developers get picked up by the Zune team? I would think this is most likely the case. There is definitly a conflict of interest here at Microsoft, and you cannot either disregard the fact that the Zune is not Play For Sure. Another stab from Microsoft at all the other non iPod players out there? Will Play For Sure also disappear?

It would be nice to hear something from Toshiba, but so far I have had no luck in contacting them.

posted by Tomas @ 9:12 AM

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6 Comments:

Jin said...: yay for gigabeat s users! (sarcastic)

now we're more screwed for firmware support until someone rock-boxes it!; Tue May 08, 08:41:00 PM 2007
Olivier said...: You know what, this totally sucks and I was upset about it yesterday when I saw the Microsoft and Engadget posts, but honestly, I've had only good experiences with my S30 and I don't need a firmware upgrade. So this doesn't really make a difference for me.
So yeah Microsoft and Toshiba have dropped the ball and I'll think twice before revisiting Toshiba next time (I will never visit them again actually), but that's about it.; Wed May 09, 01:24:00 AM 2007
JF said...: Maybe it's time for the community to stand up and request that PMC's source code be released by MS. I'd be more than happy to get my hands dirty on that little piece of technology, but I'm not that good with corporate negociation :(; Wed May 09, 05:57:00 AM 2007
Andy said...: Well color me retarded.

I LITERALLY just ordered a marked down S30 on Monday. Should arrive today. As a Rhapsody-To-Go user, this seemed like the best possible device to go with, and two days later...dunzo.

Although, I'm still happy with my decision. I got it for under $200 and from everything I've read, it is the great coulda-shoulda-woulda been iPod killer. Oh well...here's hoping communities like this stay open.; Wed May 09, 07:23:00 AM 2007
Devarshi said...: I sold my s30 on ebay a couple months ago and bought a zune for $20 more. I'm thrilled that I did now. While it looks like they're still working on Zune, the s30 was abandoned the day it came out. I am very unlikely to buy Toshiba again.; Fri May 11, 11:52:00 PM 2007
Anonymous said...: I think PMC was a stop gap for low memory devices back in the pre-convergence days of dedicated MP3 players.

Given the sea change it just makes sense for all new MS partners to run Windows Mobile with Mobile Media Center.

Nearly every Toshiba owner has asked for the ability play games, better file management, screen savers, text editing, and other Windows Mobile features.

Most of the new devices are convergence devices. Think of the iPhone and any of the new 8 gig flash memory phones/MP3 players.

My wayward guess is that Toshiba will have to enter the Blackberry/Treo space or simply go away.

16 GB SD Flash memory is next. It's available but pricey. $100 by XMAS 2008.

There is no real future in the S30 or 60 as a hard drive device. By the end of the next product cycle (3 or 4 years) everyone will be buying convergence devices with Flash and Blue Tooth style headsets, QWERTY keyboards and Operating Systems richer than PMCs subset of MS technology.; Sat May 19, 03:06:00 PM 2007