Submitted by: kirkland on Friday September 03rd, 2004 at 01:49 AM EST

The world's largest software company makes its long-telegraphed entry into online music tomorrow, marking the first serious challenge to Apple's dominance of the market.

Microsoft unveils a new download store called MSN Music as well as an updated version of the Windows Media Player. The media player incorporates five online music services and an Internet movie rental store into a single digital media mall. The company also will launch a new class of portable player for music, video and digital photographs.

The MSN Music service might best be captured in the words of the the Four Tops: ``The Same Old Song.'' Not much is different, aside from the availability of such sought-after artists as Dave Matthews Band and Madonna. But its staggering reach -- with a reported 350 million monthly visitors to the MSN site, and 220 million downloads of the media player and 70 compatible devices -- make it a serious threat to Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Source: Mercury News