Jeremy Charette
10-22-2005, 03:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/oct05/10-18Sony.mspx' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/oct05/10-18Sony.mspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The kids are asleep. The popcorn's ready. Time to watch that favorite old movie on DVD. You pop open the case, but instead of “Dr. Zhivago,” you're staring at a copy of “Dr. Seuss.” Another misplaced disc, another frustrating search through the entertainment center shelves – it’s one the more familiar and irritating drawbacks of owning large collections of entertainment content stored on DVDs and CDs. But with today’s launch of the Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System, a new digital content management product developed in close partnership with Microsoft, movie and music buffs can get back to enjoying their discs instead of playing hide-and-seek with them."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/181511.jpg" /> <br /><br />I saw a Windows Media Center Edition PC driving a 200-disc Niveus DVD changer at the Digital Life Expo last weekend, and it was slick. The interface is simple, easy to use, and fast. Cover art loads up quickly, and there are myriad options for sorting your DVDs. I'm happy to see Sony finally wising up and building a Media PC around Windows MCE, rather than their own proprietary software. This really is best in class hardware combined with best in class software. The $2300 price tag is steep, no doubt, but considering what you get for that, it's actually quite a bargain.