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+<img alt="Flashicon" title="Flashicon" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/flashicon.jpg" border="0" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" />The National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas is in full swing this week and Adobe has kicked things off by [announcing a new media player][2] for Windows and Mac desktops. The Adobe Media Player is a standalone desktop version of Adobe's ubiquitous Flash Player browser plug-in.
+
+Adobe Media Player is built on the recently released [Apollo platform][1] and is expected to launch in a beta test phase later this year with the final version (which will also support Linux) arriving by the end of 2007.
+
+With Adobe's Flash Player 8 sitting at roughly 94 percent market penetration and the latest version, Flash Player 9, climbing about 20 percent a month, there's no doubt that Flash video is a dominate force on the web. Adobe is hoping to translate its browser success into desktop success.
+
+Adobe Media Player will be going up against Windows Media Player and incorporates similar DRM-based content locks as Microsoft's media player. Adobe's press release mentions "content publishers" no less than five times in eight paragraphs and the company is clearly trying to position the DRM "features" as a positive move.
+
+Adobe Media Player does boast some impressive built-in features like RSS subscriptions, on and offline playback, on-demand streaming, live streaming, progressive download, and protected download-and-play. But it's that last one that might leave consumers flinching.
+
+The Adobe Media Player has two elements that will appeal to content producers, but might leave consumers with some doubts. The first is a mechanism that will allow advertising to be embedded in downloaded clips in such a way that it can't be separated from the content. 
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+The second element is a "security" model (DRM) that will tie downloaded content to specific machines or users.
+
+While both options are solely at the discretion of the content producer, a lack of DRM features in the Flash browser plugin is arguably one of the reasons for its success and by adding DRM to the desktop client Adobe may well be shooting itself in the foot.
+
+On the brighter side Adobe has also announced improved video fidelity for the Flash video format, though details are few at the moment.
+
+With Microsoft announcing Silverlight (a Flash competitor -- more on that in a minute) nearly simultaneously, Adobe and Microsoft are set to go head to head over on/offline video.
+
+[1]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/03/adobe_launches_.html "Adobe Launches Apollo"
+[2]: http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200704/041607AMP.html "Adobe Media Player"
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+Not to be outdone by Adobe's [announcement of a desktop media player][2], Microsoft has unveiled its long rumored Flash competitor, [Silverlight][1]. Silverlight is new browser plug-in (formerly known by the awkward name, Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere) and will be release as a public beta at the upcoming Mix07 conference later this month.
+
+Silverlight is a media player that can run web applications on both Windows and the Mac in IE, Firefox and Safari (Opera users are apparently out of luck). 
+
+As with Adobe's Flash, Silverlight will also have development tools for designers and developers to create embedded content.
+
+Though Silverlight will reportedly be a paltry 2MB download, with a majority of users already able to access web media, like YouTube videos, via Flash, Microsoft may have an uphill battle ahead of them.
+
+Microsoft claims Silverlight is a better way to embed the Windows Media Video format in the browser. 
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+Silverlight will also feature tight integration with Microsoft's .NET platform enabling developers to apply their existing .NET knowledge to web video.
+
+The other advantage Microsoft is touting for Silverlight over Adobe's Flash player is the use of vector graphics which allows for better video resolution during full screen playback.
+
+With Adobe moving onto the desktop and Microsoft taking Windows Media into the browser there's no doubt that a showdown is in the works. The success of either will likely depend on which platform can transition more users in the respective directions.
+
+Given the failure of past browser plug-ins and the existing dominance of Flash video Adobe seems to have the easier task, but it's still to early to say who will come out on top in this one.
+
+We'll be sure to give the lowdown on Silverlight as soon as the beta is available.
+
+
+[1]: http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/default_01.aspx "Microsoft Unveils Silverlight"
+[2]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/04/adobe_unveils_d.html "Adobe Unveils Desktop Media Player"
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