With the three main firms currently competing in the media playback industry being Microsoft, Apple and Real, Adobe has decided to launch its very own media player in an attempt to gain a foothold. Adobe Media Player (AMP for short), which is backed by several companies including CBS, PBS and Yahoo (as well as a few other online companies), is designed to work with files based on the same .FLV format used by YouTube and several other video sharing sites, with Adobe saying:

Adobe is driving the next generation of internet video delivery with the Adobe Media Player, the Flash Media Server, content protection technologies, and a broad and powerful ecosystem of partners providing key solutions from content creation through delivery and monetization. AMP brings the best of both the broadcast television and web video worlds to your desktop-providing high-quality content both online and offline, with a wide range of business model possibilities.

AMP is still only a BETA at the moment, with a final release scheduled for March 2008, but if you want to take a look at it you can download it for free from here.