Music fans have often viewed Microsoft as something like a bad cover band, one that pumped out uninviting facsimiles of Apple’s

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问题    Music fans have often viewed Microsoft as something like a bad cover band, one that pumped out uninviting facsimiles of Apple’s iPod and iTunes with its Zune music players and service. Now that the Zune brand is dead, Microsoft is once again in search of a hit in digital music. But this time, to improve its odds of success, it is marshaling some of its most powerful brands as never before: Windows and the Xbox.
   On Monday, the company plans to announce a service called Xbox Music that will offer access to a global catalog of about 30 million songs. The service will let consumers listen free to any song on computers and tablets running the latest version of its Windows software, as well as on the Xbox console. Microsoft will not initially limit how much music can be streamed, though that could change over time. The service is part of a broad set of bets Microsoft is making this fall to help regain ground it has lost to competitors, especially Apple and Google. In addition to Windows 8, a major new version of its flagship operating system that will start shipping Oct. 26, the company is close to releasing a new version of its Windows Phone operating system for mobile phones and its first Microsoft-designed computer, a tablet device called Surface.
   In an aggressive push to persuade lots of people to use the service, Microsoft will package the software for Xbox Music with Windows 8. The arrangement could awaken antitrust concerns about Microsoft’s use of Windows to gain toeholds in new markets. Microsoft’s do-over in the market is a sign of how a strong music service has come to be seen as a prerequisite for any serious player in the gadget business. Xbox Music is entering a landscape thick with independent music services that offer their own variations on the listening experience. Spotify, for example, provides on-demand listening to a large library of music, while Pandora programs radio stations tailored to its listeners’ individual tastes.
   Scott Porter, principal program manager for Xbox Music, said many music fans today relied on a variety of services like those, along with more traditional sellers of songs like iTunes, to satisfy all their musical needs. This approach, though, can be tedious. "The dilemma is that music has become work," he said. "Our vision for Xbox Music is that it shouldn’t have to be work." Xbox Music incorporates elements of all of those services. There is an option to buy songs, so a music fan can own them permanently with minimal restrictions. There are Pandora-like radio stations built around songs and similar-sounding music.
   
Which of the following would be the topic of the text?

选项 A、Microsoft introduces its powerful service: Windows and Xbox.
B、Microsoft turns to Window and Xbox instead of its traditional style.
C、Microsoft’s Zune service was obsolete.
D、By virtue of the Windows and Xbox, Microsoft attempts to win victory in the field of music.

答案D

解析 主旨题。本题考查文章主旨。纵观全篇,文章主要是介绍微软为了在数字音乐领域重振雄风,决定用自身强有力的品牌Windows和Xbox来增加其胜算的筹码。因此D项为正确答案。
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