Xbox 360 Unable to Play Purchased iTunes Music

By Frank Ling, GN Writer Tuesday, November 08, 2005 Microsoft has gone through a great deal of posturing in lauding the multimedia capacities of the Xbox 360 to the press and public. One of these abilities is to stream music from Apple™s iPod MP3 players to the front end of the 360, which would allow individuals to play their favorite iPod tunes in the background while playing video games. Sounds good so far? But wait, there™s more. The Xbox 360, while able to stream music from the iPods, cannot play music that is purchased from Apple™s iPod Music Store. The track titles will simply grey out and not be accessible. The reason for this is due to the DRM (digital rights management) software on iPods, which prevents any illegal activity. Having another device such as the Xbox 360 attempting to access these DRM files may lock the music files from play. Microsoft tried to get a cooperative effort on the iPod issue, but was flat out rejected by Apple. Microsoft™s answer to this seeming slight from Apple is to redouble their efforts to make their own music service, MSN Music, a bigger player in the download music service business. Microsoft is serious. Robbie Bach, Microsoft’s Xbox chief, has been given the reigns of running MSN Music, and to make it into a success.