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Microsoft Confirms New Music Player
Udo Schmitz writes "It's official now. Reuters confirms the rumors that Microsoft wants to take on Apple's iPod and iTunes. From the article: 'Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it plans to release a new music and entertainment player and accompanying software under the "Zune" brand this year, in a belated attempt to challenge the dominance of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod player ... Microsoft sources said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, is working with J. Allard, vice president of its Xbox team, on the digital media player/software project.'"
No wireless. More buttons than an iPod. Lame.
In suspiciously coincidental news, Steve Jobs has been seen taking chair-throwing lessons.
John
"Zune"?
It just me or does Zune sound like some OSS dev tool?
"Personal ownership is a hallmark of conservative capitalism. And I don't believe I am entitled to anything that I did n
If this follows the suit of previous MS hardware it should be of good quality and support, but how smart is it to compete against those manufacturers supporting your Plays For Zure standard?
If someone comes up with wireless (WiFi or bluetooth) syncing as well as good sound quality (also meaning it'll support a [DRM-free] lossless codec), I'll be sold, but until then I'll hang onto my 3-year-old iRiver unless it breaks.
This comment does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author.
"That sounds like an awfully cheesy attempt to play off of Creative's Zen brand."
Well seeing how this is likely a cheesy attempt to copy off of the iPod,
and how Vista is an awful, cheesy attempt to copy of OS X,
that's pretty well par for the course.
In keeping with each system's naming conventions:
Apple:
iTunes
Microsoft:
My Zunes
In other words, Microsoft is even ripping off the name, but making it crappier.
Lemme guess... consumer multimedia is Microsoft's house and they're not gonna let Apple take food off their plate.
"Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, is working with J. Allard, vice president of its Xbox team, on the digital media player/software project"
Does this mean they'll spend $6 billion on it and end up capturing 23% of the market? Because this team is really, really good at that.
Set your music in motion
With support for up to 15,000 songs and up to 150 hours of video on a 2.5-inch QVGA color display, iPod^H^H^H^H Zune gives you the ultimate music experience -- sight and sound -- in a lighter, thinner design. Available in classic white^H^H^H^H^H Blue and dramatic black^H^H^H^H^H Blue."
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Go Microsoft! Delivering 2003's technology today!
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
I wonder how much they spent to come up with that dorky name.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
If they didn't have Apple to emulate?
But I don't believe it 'till Netcraft confirms it
when MS announce they are going to compete with apple in this market, and Apples shares go up?
And it is not a media device, it is a lifestyle device...sheeesh.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
From these guys.
And from their developement tool page:
I wonder how aros.org feels about this?
To come up with a bad name, all you need to do is sit down and brainstorm for a few minutes.
To come up with a really horrbile name, you need to give a million dollars to a marketing firm.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
They could of gone with MsPod.
or uPod
or PenisEnvy
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Microsoft's "me too" products have not been very successful in the last several years.
An organization that doesn't have the creativity to create something often doesn't have even the creativity necessary to copying it successfully.
--
Are you willing to pay a lot to kill Arabs?
Microsoft have already done the software on the Toshiba Gigabeat S series... It can be syncronised with an Xbox 360, plays video, has FM support and sells for about the same price as an iPod. It uses a portable Media Center edition.
m l
See the CNET review : http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11396_7-6550266-1.ht
Ah, and has DRM (yeah !)
Daas
Part of the reason ITunes is popular (and one of the reasons that I use Winamp instead of WMP) is that the user interface for Windows Media Player sucks. Likewise, Firefox isn't only more functional than IE, it also just looks and feels better and cleaner. Even if "Zunes" had a better name, a seemless interface with online music stores, and no annoying DRM gimmicks, I would probably still pick another media player. Because Microsoft's UI's just suck. Microsoft's been sitting around waiting for the past 5-10 years for someone to come along with sleaker media players and browsers (and a cleaner OS), and now it's paying the price.
Apple not only has a stranglehold on the music player market, they have insane product loyalty, and they own the elusive "cool factor" with the iPod brand.
At this stage, for Microsoft to try and get into this market comes across as desperate and pathetic. Microsoft can't use Windows as leverage in this proposition -- like they could when they killed the well-rooted Wordperfect, Lotus123, and later Netscape -- so the only way Microsoft can make a dent here is for them to do something extremely innovative. That's simply not Microsoft's M.O.
This time next year: MS "Zune" is a distant memory, and iPod/iTunes owns 85% of the online movie rental/download business, and Apple has begun to make serious inroads in the "home media center" market.
boxlight
Zune's a name like Tune, (how odd!)
Just lacks an 'i' and lacks a 'Pod'.
With marketing and Xbox gloss
They'll gain a share but take the loss.
With 40 billion stock bought back
Ballmer might just dodge the sack.
But Jobs would say the chance is slim,
and silhouettes will come for him.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Needs re-posting. ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXnJraKM3k
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
Well, people weren't appreciating the iPod enough, so MS in all their generosity wanted to show people how bad a music player could be.
Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
Zune = fuck (noun) in Hebrew.
My new blog
Microsoft is obsessed with success. They can't stant it when anyone else is a success in a certain market that they aren't a part of, so what do they do? They dive head first into that market without any care for the consequences (eg. XBox, Origami, Windows LIVE, etc).
They are a software company, Google is a search engine/web advertising company. What does Microsoft do? They get into the search engine/web advertising business and directly target Google. They jumped into the game console business because Sony was success at it, and now they are taking on the iPod. I see a disturbing trend here. Microsoft is spreading itself thin here "like too little butter spread over too much bread" quoting Bilbo from LOTR. They gotten into to many different markets and now they are getting into the MP3 player/online music store business. Not to mention they are going up against a seemingly unstoppable powerhouse; iPod+iTunes.
The company is faultering, they are under severe preassure from the EU over anti-trust violations, Windows Vista will now be 2 years late and will not have all of the features they promised, they are loosing millions on the XBox 360 project, and they are swiftly loosing users of their staple software ei; MS Office and Internet Explorer to the likes of Open Office, Firefox and Opera.
Microsoft needs to go back to what they once were, a software company and stop trying to be a do it all business. No one corporation can be in all markets at once, Microsoft is trying, but it will ultimately be their undoing.
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
Clippy(TM) for Zune:
"It looks like you are trying to play an iPod file. Would you like me to delete it?"
The iPod has been at the top of the heap for a long time now, for good reason. They have created a seamless hardware/software experience that makes digital music easy enough for non gearheads to understand and enjoy. I have a 10Gb iPod and a shuffle, and use both all the time. They're excellent products, and they've changed the way I listen to music. In fact, the RIAA has even made more money off of me than they would have before, because I buy more music now.
Apple has done a lot right with the iPod/iTunes combo, but it's not a perfect combination just yet. Managing libraries across different computers and different users isn't as easy as it should be, for example. But in a larger sense, I get a bit nervous any time a single company dominates a market. Microsoft's operating system dominance has helped in many ways, but has also arguably hindered to an even larger degree. After it gobbled up Macromedia, Adobe is pretty much the only commercial game in town for graphic design software, Quark being the lone holdout of note, and they're essentially a one-product company. I don't like shelling out big bucks for Adobe product updates as I wonder if their prices would be cheaper and the software would be better if they had some serious competition.
The same is true for Apple. They've done an excellent job so far, and I want them to keep improving the iPod/iTunes combination. They *need* competition to keep them hungry, and when they're hungry, it's better for consumers like me.
I don't think Microsoft will be able to unseat Apple from the digital music throne, but if Microsoft blows this one it won't necessarily be beneficial for the digital music market in the long term.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
According to this article, the music service and player will be incompatible with Microsoft's own PlayForSure format. So, Microsoft is planning to open a music store that sells music that is not only incompatible with the market-leading iPod, but also with every other mp3 player on the market today.
Does this strike anyone else as completely insane? With Napster, Yahoo, Creative, SanDisk, etc. already losing money competing with iTunes/iPod, does Microsoft really believe it can come into the market at this late with yet a third proprietary format and gain any traction at all? Is this move another sign of their arrogant belief they can do in every other market what the did in the PC space? Or, is it just desperation?
Does anyone here on Slashdot believe they can succeed with this strategy?
There's already a Wikipedia article covering this a bit, including a prototype picture. Not only is it very iPod-looking, but given that prototypes tend to be slick artist concept work often looking better than the end product, I'm not really impressed. :-/ Comparison picture as a reminder of what they're dealing with. Sure, it's just a prototype, but it simply can't look anything like that. :-p
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!