Kurt Scherf, vice president of research at Parks Associates, a Dallas technology consultant, said that for now it is mainly music that will attract consumers to media-convergence products.
"We see this more for consumers who view the PC as an entertainment platform" -- witness the popularity of downloaded music -- and who want to extend its use, he said.
Computer makers such as Hewlett-Packard, Gateway and Dell are promoting their "media centers," PCs that have some of these capabilities built in, but those computers tend to be expensive and use the latest operating systems, Scherf said. Instead, consumers might prefer to buy one of the media receivers and hook it up to their existing home-entertainment equipment, he said, so they don't have to buy all new equipment to enjoy digital content.
From the article "Come Together" By Jim Fuquay
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