Well now, I guess that this clears up the old iPod killer rumor, doesn’t it? Then again, this does not mean that Microsoft might not wish to tackle this here in the near future?

Yesterday, Engadget posted some less-than-clear images with rumors of an iPod killer coming soon from the Microsoft camp. Today, PC Magazine has confirmation from a Microsoft rep that these rumors were nothing more than hot air. In fact, they were simply the result of a mis-translated Japanese press release about Microsoft’s new Windows Media Player 11 software; they had nothing to do with hardware.

So for those of you who might have developed a chronic nail-biting habit, worried that Microsoft’s new ‘#1 with a bullet’, MTV-infused music service and killer new hardware were going to usurp Apple’s iPod and iTunes overnight (ironically, the only time MTV has anything to do with music these days), I think it’s safe to say you can give your nerves a rest.

[UPDATE: Microsoft was setting other rumors about an iPod killer straight; their announcement wasn't tied to these images that Engadget posted yesterday. Those could be shots of a Gigabeat-S portable media player from Toshiba, for all anyone knows.] Source: tuaw.com

[tags]mtv,windows media player,ipod killer,engadget[/tags]