IP: Online Duel: You've Got Mail, Music and More

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

[An experiment using Coponic Summerizer , seems useful so far djf]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/13/technology/circuits/13STAT.html?homepageinsidebox


- December 13, 2001 Online Duel: You've Got Mail, Music and More By J.D. 
BIERSDORFER

In the early days of America Online, it seemed you could read most of 
"Ulysses" while waiting for Chiclet-size pieces of art to arrive on your 
screen over a 14.4-kilobit modem connection.
- Time flies and has brought with it bandwidth so vast that the latest AOL 
software, version 7.0, delivers multimedia music and video right to your 
desktop with nary a moment to read the back of a Cheerios box.
- And then there's Microsoft (news/quote): In a flurry of new offerings 
this fall, including an operating system overhaul and a new game console, 
the folks in Redmond found time to revamp their online service, MSN, with 
their own version 7.
- At first glance, the two services seem to be upgrading their Windows 
software to focus on the same areas: enhanced local content specific to the 
user's hometown, an emphasis on multimedia, and special goodies for 
broadband subscribers.
- Aside from the splatter of unwanted new icons on my nice clean desktop, 
nothing looked very different from the previous version.
- The Welcome screen has gotten a bit bigger and now includes a small area 
for local information like the weather, news and events around town.
- I sampled a few stations and found the selection to be pretty extensive, 
but the playback was at the mercy of my 56K dial-up connection and was 
interrupted a lot.
- A new Buddy Links feature will display the Little Yellow Running Man icon 
that represents AOL's instant message service in the mail header if your 
recipient is currently online.
- Unlike AOL, which immediately fills the screen with four windows and 
toolbars clumped together, MSN presents its Welcome area smoothly over the 
full screen.
- Features that help differentiate MSN 7 from Microsoft's free MSN.com 
portal page include the ability to save up to 10 megabytes of mail online, 
plus access to exclusive content from MSNBC and connectivity by either 
dial-up modem or D.S.L.
- With so many comparable features in AOL and MSN, the issue of control --- 
parental control, that is --- may be the deciding factor for those deciding 
which service to pick.
- The MSN Music page also gives you plenty of music channels and genres 
(not to mention advertisements from record companies) to choose from and 
will link you to Fye, another online music seller, if you get the 
insatiable urge to buy.
- MSN 7 has better graphics over all and runs faster but does not have the 
depth of service and content of AOL, with its vast Time Warner (news/quote) 
repository and taproot into entertainment franchises.

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