Convergence has been a buzz word for many years. The idea is simple, would it not be great for there to be a device, which was not just a humble computer. No, it would also be a television, hi-fi and be able to control a variety of household appliances. For the past few years, computing power has advanced so much, that it has become possible. Today you can buy huge hard drives that store your whole music collection and even a selection of films. However, this approach is very much for the hobbyist. Most computers still produce too much noise and are too fiddly to setup for this purpose. Also it is not that good, to have a computer crash in the middle of a film (from personal experience) and wait ten minutes to reboot and restart it!

Apple have tried to make things easier with their iTunes for music and a range of machines that run incredibly quietly. Microsoft is readying the release of Windows XP Media Edition. It will run on specially designed computers, which are supposed to be placed in your living room. It can do everything that Windows XP can do, but it can also act as a storage for your music and video. A special interface has been designed that can be easily accessed (at least that is what Microsoft has said!) from a remote control. I presume also that the machines that run Media Edition need to be specially designed so that they can be as stable as possible (and hopefully as quiet as possible).

To a certain extent, Apple and Microsoft are just repackaging old ideas. They will only succeed if they can make their “media centre” computers work as easily as CD and DVD players. Even the most optimistic of us recognize, it will take a long time for computers to be this user friendly. However, it is interesting to see that computer companies are at least trying this - they have to try this, as their traditional market is getting saturated. Just as computer manufacturers are embracing these technologies, we have the record and film companies attempting to cripple the MP3 and DIVX formats that enable you to store music and video efficiently on your computer. This is not surprising. However, it is strange that some companies like Sony are producing MP3 players by the million and on the other hand advocating that CDs produced by their record label should not be played on computers. In other words we might come to the point that you cannot play Sony CDs in Sony MP3 players.

Watch this space, the battle between the computer companies and media industry is only yet beginning. Also companies with interests in both industries will have to make up their minds.