Matt Goyer, TDavid, and Thomas Hawk have had a nice round of discussions going regarding TDavid's post, “Reasons why we returned Windows Media Center 2005”.  I love seeing this kind of dialogue, even when parties don't necessarily agree.  Microsoft spends massive resources on real-world research, structured feedback, and usability as well as tracking press response to products but rarely do we get this level of feedback so directly and honestly. 

TDavid asks, “Who is the MCE 2005 for? ...Unless Microsoft answers these relatively easy questions from a marketing standpoint... “

Short answer- two main audiences:

• Digital Media enthusiasts (Photos, Music, Video, TV) who want the best version of Windows for their home PC, with the most flexibility for enjoying around the home or on the go.
• Home Theater enthusiasts looking for the most full-featured, best quality home theater or living room PC that combines TV, photos, music, and video in a familiar way.

Let's face it, Media Center isn't necessarily for everyone and TDavid is fully justified in why it didn't work for his family.  Why?  Because it's his family and you should pick the products or technologies that fit your lifestyle (yes, a key tenet in our message of choice for music too). However the latest Media Center release does seem to appeal to a much wider and growing range of customers.  It's a shift in thinking and a solution that's not right for everyone.  But Living Room PCs, Media Center Extender and the kit for Xbox were designed to hit different price points so people can add-on to their Media Center experiences as they add home networks, or an HDTV, or a Portable Media Center- Media Center PCs act as the hub enabling all of these.

Just like the thought of using a mouse, connecting your PC to an online service, or a BBS, or the Web, or downloading Music and playing video on your PC were all new concepts that required a change in thinking, the same holds true for PCs available today and moving forward.  The good news is that we already know how to use a remote control :) 

I'm the first to say, no product is perfect.  You should see the hardcore mails that go around internally during product design, development, and after.  What would I like to see improved? Here's my short wish list:

• HDTV via Digital Cable and Satellite.  Like Thomas Hawk, this is #1 on my list. Don't forget to keep calling your cable/satellite providers and ask for support for Media Center :)
• Better Photo support - Thomas did a great writeup which has been circulating the team. Specifically I want ratings too, RAW file import support, one-click photo and video import, and metadata tagging.
• Bookmarks!  Now that I'm into Podcasting, I would like bookmarking for my audio and video files or set by playlist so I can pick up where I left off.  The Sync engine in WM Player 10 and MCE are great, now I just want someone to write a Podcasting app that does this- it's entirely do-able (Doppler, are you listening?  Email me, I'll beta test ;) )
• Crossfading and Normalization settings in MCE's 10' UI.  If you set these in WM Player, Media Center picks them up and will mix your songs like a radio station and avoid large volume changes.  There's your power tip for today :).  Matt knows I pushed hard to get this into the TweakMCE Powertoy he did but it didn't make it in - maybe next time :).
• Let me rate everything - TV, Photos, Music, Video, and a unified feedback mechanism for 3rd party services. Just let me rate songs as I'm listening to them with 1-2 buttons on the remote. It shouldn't matter if it's a video on Napster, a song on MSN Radio Plus, or a movie on CinemaNow, it should be easy to everyone to tap into in a trusted way. Perhaps I'm sick, but I have over 250 movies rated on NetFlix over the past 3 years.  I want to do the same for my media and have it persist.

Ok, that's my short list.  Be sure to continue sending me your feedback via email or via comments here.

So my strong recommendation is that if you're interested in a Media Center - take it for a test drive. Go to your local Best Buy and you'll find a Media Center kiosk just waiting there for you to try out.  See if you're comfortable with the experience, the features.  Drum up questions- ask the salesperson and if they don't know, ask ME here! Get out of the demo loop and try the product both as a full-screen Media Center as well as a windows app on a traditional Windows desktop.

So to Matt, Charlie, Zach, TDavid, Thomas, Chris, all of our MVPs, and of course Robert Scoble- thanks for all the great feedback over the past year and let's keep the ball rolling into 05.  I hope this little blog has been helpful and will continue to strive to improve.