Sony supporting AAC
Posted by Mark Nelson on 10th May 2006 | Permanent Link
Sony has a history of backing their own technologies long after everyone else in the world has seen the writing on the wall. A good example would be the BetaMax tape format. Superior or not, it was a VHS world for a long time before Sony finally gave up the ghost and quit trying to sell Beta to consumers.
In the audio side, Sony uses a format called ATRAC that absolutely nobody has any interest in - now or ever. This announcement seems to indicate that not only are they giving up on ATRAC, they are going all the way to the dark side, and supporting the AAC format used by Apple. The article hints at support for Apple’s FairPlay DRM, but I don’t think that is going to happen - Apple hasn’t been too keen to license that technology to anyone yet, and I don’t think Sony is going to get inside the tent.
The interesting thing in this article is the statement that Apple controls 52% of the portable digital audio player market, with Sony in second at 15%. I think most people intuitively believe that Apple owns close to 100% of the market, which is far from the truth. On the other hand, the 50% Apple doesn’t control is so fragmented that it’s hard to see any real competitors out there.