By Sarawanan Ravindran (saran81kid91)   It’s something that has been speculated as part of Zune since the beginning. It may be an edge over the iPod, but it also has its share of disadvantages.  We have not heard anything officially of the Wi-Fi capabilities though certain insiders have hinted at it.  Microsoft hopes to win people over [...]

Now that its sale to Nokia is announced, you've got to wonder just how much of Loudeye's May restructuring was just primping the company for a sale.
I'm curious about how the deal will affect Microsoft, which has a longtime relationship with Loudeye.
Why didn't Microsoft buy the company? On the surface it seems like it would have complemented either the MSN or Zune music platforms. Was the price too high, or is Loudeye's stuff too outdated or specialized to fit into Microsoft's grand datacenter plan?

With all the partner-swapping going on between the Internet giants, I hope they are practicing safe service.
First eBay courted the three, then decided in May to use Yahoo! ad services.
Then on Friday word came out via the Wall Street Journal that Microsoft, eBay and others are forming a consortium that will auction TV ad time.
Of course Google announced Monday that it won the bidding to serve ads on MySpace. That had to hurt for Microsoft, which powers the MySpace network and has been making content deals with parent company Fox.
Then Google piled on by announcing another partnership with MTV to provide video download services. Remember that MTV was supposed to be Microsoft's shining hope in the digital music space -- the two are partnering on Urge, an iTunes challenger that will be bundled into Windows Vista.
Maybe MTV felt burned by Microsoft going solo with Zune.

Well first thing is what the… The word going around the Zune world is that Microsoft will be delaying the video feature with in the Zune. If this is to be true, it is really going to put a massive hole in Microsoft’s plan to take on the iPod. With iPod having full video features, who [...]