Xbox One can play audio CD, will support DLNA

Microsoft has announced that the Xbox One can play audio CDs. Support for the DLNA standard is also in the works for the console.

This comes after Sony announced that the PS4 would not be shipping with DLNA compatibility and would not be able to play MP3’s or have a music visualiser in their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list on the Playstation Blog.

Microsoft has now gone on record to state that the Xbox One can play any audio CD out of the box, although ‎Senior Director of Product Management and Planning at Microsoft Corporation, Albert Penello clarified that ripping audio CD’s to the hard drive would not be a feature.

Albert Penello on Xbox One’s ability to rip audio CDs.

Microsoft has also confirmed to The Penny Arcade Report that the console was going through the process of being certified by the DLNA committee, but the process is not yet complete. It’s unknown at this stage if the launch firmware for the console will have DLNA capability added to the list of features out of the box.

The Xbox One is also a Play To receiver, a technology that works in much the same way as Apple’s Airplay feature. Devices that support Play To, like Windows 8 tablets or Windows 7 desktops, are able to stream supported content to devices such as the Xbox One.

Play To is limited in terms of container and device support. Microsoft stresses that not all Play To devices can support all media, and may be barred from playing media bought from online stores that implement DRM.

DLNA as a standard was begun by Sony in 2003 under the name “Digital Home Working Group,” an initiative to allow devices to be interoperable with each other when it came to streaming media. Sony changed this to an open standard, the “Digital Living Network Alliance” (DLNA), in 2004 when the first set of programming and support guidelines were released.

In March 2006, with enough devices supporting DLNA to achieve critical mass, the DLNA standards body released “Home Networked Device Interoperability Guidelines v1.5” which was necessary to define new device categories and identify ways in which to retain interoperability between device ecosystems.