Battle of the Media Players

In the right corner we have Microsoft Silverlight. In the left we have Adobe Media Player (link via yahoo group). Here’s a third article about Silverlight vs. AMP.

Here’s some stuff I like:

Silverlight:

• Free


• Cross-platform


• Plays HDV


• New Expression (VC-1??) video codec will be “’cheaper, faster and better’ than Adobe’s”


• “faster delivery via Longhorn, the code name for the new Windows Server and the IIS7 Media Pack”


• Backwards compatible with Windows Media systems


• Template-based publishing. Example, “a ‘nightly news’ template”

AMP:

• Free


• Flash video available for download and viewing on desktop or mobiles


• “higher-quality Flash Video, anonymous metrics for content publishers and advertisers, and a social media component including tagging and consumer ratings”


• Supposedly intuitive for consumers to use


• "Consumers won't see Adobe's brand at all," says Craig Barberich, group product manager in Adobe's Dynamic Media Organization. "Our philosophy is to let media publishers take over the experience and customize it to their liking.


• Publishers can monetize content through advertisements


• users can't pirate or share it in ways that conflict with the publishers' intentions.

Stuff I don’t like:

Silverlight:

• Still in development


• Plays HDV and “Depending on bandwidth, videos start playing either immediately or after a few seconds of caching” (I sympathize with people with bad connections/computers)

Adobe Media Player:

• Gives Flash video DRM


• User information is collected anonymously via cookies

Who will win?

• Silverlight is at a disadvantage because “the cold, hard issue of the number of eyeballs that Flash currently owns”


• It’ll take a long time to find out


• “While Adobe Media Player is clearly at least partially an attempt to compete head-to-head with Windows Media Player by offering downloadable content and DRM, the fact that it doesn't impose Adobe's brand on the player should create a user experience that is more in line with what consumers are demanding in the Web 2.0 world-access to content and the ability to interact with as few intermediaries as possible.”


• Silverlight formed partnerships with Limelight, Brightcove and some other big names


• Microsoft knew “it took them years to lose their market share in online video and that to do it right, it will take years to win it back."