When you create a CD or DVD on your computer it can sometimes be a problem to use these disc in your home CD/DVD players. According to CNET News.com Microsoft and Panasonic will announce a new technology today which should make things a lot easier.
The technology, referred to as HighMAT, was designed to let consumers easily sift through and open photos, music files and other digital content stored on a compact disc, whether they're using a PC or a consumer-electronics gadget such as a CD or DVD player:
Consumer-electronics devices have traditionally differed from PCs in the way they display and open digital files on CDs, making crossover use of compact discs a random and confusing experience for consumers, according to Michael Aldridge, a Microsoft spokesman. |
The two companies are trying to smooth that wrinkle with their co-developed High-performance Media Access Technology (HighMAT). They'll license the technology and also use it in their own, respective products. Fuji Photo Film has signed on as an early licensee. Though HighMAT will initially work only with compact discs, the two companies have plans to extend it to other storage formats, such as DVDs.
"As digital entertainment continues to evolve in the home, we see many opportunities for PCs and (consumer electronics) devices to enhance each other through faster and easier interoperation," Will Poole, Microsoft vice president of New Media Platforms, said in a statement.
Microsoft will add HighMAT support in its final version of Windows Media Player 9 and in a future version of Windows Movie Maker. Panasonic will add it in CD and DVD players due out in 2003.
Source: CNET News.com
