Windows Media 9 steals MPEG-4's thunder

Computerworld - With the Sept. 4 release of its Windows Media 9 digital media platform, Microsoft Corp. may have stolen the march on the MPEG-4 codec standard with its own digital video codec.
Formerly code-named Corona, Windows Media 9 players will ship as part of Windows XP and will be available as an upgrade to earlier versions of Microsoft's video player.
Windows Media 9 includes Windows Media Player, new codec technology for viewing video on computers and other devices such as mobile phones, a new streaming server, an encoder, a software development kit and what Gartner Inc. analyst Louis Latham calls "superior digital rights management" capability.
But don't count MPEG-4 out too soon, says Michelle Abrams, an analyst at In-Stat/MDR Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz. "Microsoft has yet to convince companies to use [Windows Media 9] beyond the PC platform," Abrams says.
Japanese companies are already delivering video over cell phones, including one that uses MPEG-4, Abrams says.
MPEG-4's scalability and its ability to deliver video at the lower bit rates common for mobile phones, as well as its ability to deliver high-quality video and streaming media over fast networks, are excellent, says Latham. And, as part of the larger MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 digital media platform standards, MPEG-4 has more to offer than a codec standard.
"But none of this stuff lasts very long," Latham says of codec standards. "MPEG-4 is vendor-neutral, and the new licensing structure is better than it was, but as far as the technology goes, it's not a better codec than in Windows Media 9." Also, in what Latham described as "a partial embrace," Windows Media 9 includes support for MPEG-4.
MPEG-4 also retains its edge with broadcasters and cable TV companies, Abrams says. "Cable and satellite providers have a heavy investment in MPEG," she says. "Even if they wanted to, they couldn't afford to put Pentium chips in set-top boxes."
The MPEG-4 standard lost momentum in February, when the Moving Picture Experts Group Licensing Administrator (MPEG LA) announced a much-criticized licensing structure for use of MPEG-4 technology.
At the time, streaming media companies said the group's fees would price them out of business. Apple Computer Inc., which uses MPEG-4 extensively in its QuickTime products, flatly rejected the proposed rates and threatened to withhold release of QuickTime 6 and QuickTime Broadcast. The licensing plan was also criticized for the extensive record-keeping it would require.
In July, MPEG LA issued revised licensing terms. Under the new plan, content owners with fewer than 50,000 subscribers don't have to pay royalties, while