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Zune — $249.99 On Nov. 14
Cubricon writes, "As expected, Microsoft has dropped their price on the Zune in response to Apple's recent iPod updates. Ars Technica has an article that discusses the Zune's use of Microsoft's prepaid 'points' system for songs. Will the masses notice the difference between an iPod and a Zune? Will they want the FM and wireless capabilities?" The Zune lists for $0.99 more than the comparable iPod and songs from the Zune Marketplace will cost just under $0.99.
Wireless. Same amount of space as an iPod. Lame.
Everyone should have a battery powered radio receiver. Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Flooding, Volcanos (like Mt. St. Helens) happen, and you need a way to receive emergency information about which way to run.
As an Apple user, I'm all for this. A REAL competitor in the mp3 player market means that Apple has to "innovate" something cooler in order to stay on the top. I'd like to see a wide-screen iPod by the end of the year. :D
So at around the same time for $250 you can either get an also-ran music player or a brand-new game console. Zounds to me like they are going to lose a lot of tech geek sales.
Song downloads just under 99 cents? Would that make them 98 cents?
I predict a flood of switchers.
I mean, this thing is gonna bomb anyway, minus well lower the price and hope to make more money on the music-selling end of things.
Isn't that supposed to be "might as well"? Or is there some kind of joke that I'm missing?
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Most people are not "artist" enough to appreciate that "innovative" brown...
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When people are asked what they want, they do not say an Mp3 player. They say, "I want an iPod." That alone puts the Zune at a large disadvantage, not to mention all the other things. iPods are trendy, well-known, and easy to see(Look at me!) - so until people start looking at what kind of Mp3 player to buy instead of what version of iPod to buy, the Zune will struggle to find its place in the market, just like everyone else.
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How about one of the manufacturers come out with a user replacable battery. This was a major complaint for the first Ipods, and hasn't been fixed yet. A bigger screen means shorter playtime between charges. That's one feature that would make me choose one over the other. Besides that, they're all comparable.
"Hey, let's offer a player two months from now at the same price as Apple is already selling the iPod at today. Also, let's make sure that our new, unproven propriatary music DRM is completely incompatible with our previous propritary music DRM! That way we get to drive away consumers fearful of unknown technology and piss off our existing music partners to boot!"
Dead on Arrival.
Crow T. Trollbot
Yeah, hearing rhetoric, empty promises and outright lies live over the air while you're up to you ears in alligators would be a heckuva plus.
I can't believe what a turkey the Zune is. Here are 2 reasons right off the bat:
- It only lets you share one song at a time via wi-fi and then only with another Zune player. What's more, even if the song is not DRM'd, it infects that song with DRM so that the recipient can only play the song a maximum of 3 times or for a maximum of 3 days, whichever comes first. So much for Microsoft's wonderful social networking scheme.
- It can't play songs you've already downloaded encoded with Microsoft's own Play For Sure DRM. Dumb. Just plain dumb.
And if including an FM tuner didn't get people to flock to Creative's Zen video pod, why should it be such a hot feature in the Zune? And who the frack thought brown was cool?
but in the US a point is currently 1.25 cents
Um, yeah. I'm not buying into some funky dirka-dirka currency that can fluctuate at the company's sheer will.
Just wait until some hapless teenager shares a song with his friend only to find out a couple days later he can't move it off his player. "Dude, I just got Zuned!"
Insisting on "correct" English is like saying that there is only one, definitive recipe for chili.
Read between the lines of this MS developer's post, in which he says "PlaysForSure does not require devices to support only MTP - UMS can be implemented too, but under certain conditions that prevent newbies from transferring content via MTP, switching to UMS and then calling tech support because they can't find/play their content"...
Now re-read that sentence while pondering the notion that Zune will not support PlaysForSure.
This is a Microsoft product. More so than Apple products, less so than Sony products, it's still all about vendor lock-in.
I speculate that Zune will be an MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)-only device. UMS (USB Mass Storage) cannot be supported, because only by eliminating UMS can Microsoft mandate the use of WMP10/11 and the accompanying XP/Vista DRM platform.
People think I'm a bit odd... I have a TON of gadgets, but still don't own an iPod or "popular" MP3 player. The reason: Nobody makes one with both an AM/FM tuner in it. So I still use my Panasonic CD player with MP3 capabilities... as it has an AM/FM tuner in it. I enjoy listening to live baseball (and occasionally other sports) games on AM radio, which is why it's of key importance to me. I realize radio is a secondary feature for a music player, but my stance is simple:
If I'm paying several hundred dollars for a portable player, it should damn well have an FM *AND* AM tuner in it.
Simple as that. Until then, the CD/MP3 player that cost me $50 3 years ago will do just fine.
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
A bit of Slashdot antiquity.
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/ 1816257
The Braying and Neighing of Barnyard Animals Follows.
... remove the DRM. That's it. I'd buy one in an instant.
I like the Zune, from what I've read and the pictures I've seen it seems pretty cool! Especially the wireless sharing of files - that's really cool. However, the DRM that the wireless transfers forces on your media is unacceptable.
Any takers on how long it will take to crack the DRM?
Or
Any takers on how long it will take to get Linux running - doing the same things - minus the DRM?
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This is worse because if I actually wanted to BUY a song (own forever, burn to CD, etc.) then it only costs $0.79.
Ticket booth woman: Would you like to buy some Itchy and Scratchy Money? ... 'fun.'
Homer: What's that?
Woman: Well it's money that's made just for the park. It works just like regular money, but it's, er
Bart: Do it, Dad.
Homer: Well, OK, if it's fun...let's see, uh...I'll take $1,100 worth.
Homer walks in to see signs advertising that Itchy & Scratchy money is non-negotiable at various booths (e.g., "No I&S money," "We don't take Itchy and Scratchy money," etc).
Homer: "Aw!"
Talk about hindsight being 20/20...
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
I won't pay 99 for a DRM-riddled piece of music... I will pay a full dollar for a DRM-free piece of music though.
Ahh, but you'll make than up after you buy your 397th song from the Zune Store.
249.99+397*0.9875=642.0275 (Zune)
249.00+397*0.9900=642.0300
I dub thee... Sir Phobos, Knight of Mars, Beater of Ass.
I think the original poster just made a mistake. He's not the only one.
~ roscivs
Hey, Loudmusic, just for old times sake, can you make a prediction on the sales of the zune?
Sig removed because it was obnoxious
For famliles it may be unattractive.
As I understand the Zune sales model, if you buy a song it's locked to play only on your computer and your Zune is also locked to your computer.
The problem is then families that have multiple computers or multiple zunes. If both sis and bro and mom like the latest snoop-dog tune, they can't buy it once and share it o all their computer's and Zunes. They have to buy one copy per machine/zune. That's freakin' nuts.
Or did I get it wrong. Sorry if I did, since Im itunes for the long haul and don't really care about Zune.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
they sold over a million units before adding windows, so yes it was a success under those conditions.
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It's a mute point anyways, since what he said is, for all intensive purposes, correct. It's a doggy dog world out there, so they might as well keep the price low.
This guy's the limit!
Look at it this way. Even though MS controls the desktop, controls IE, and forces everyone to MSN, MSN is still not a real player in any market. They cannot win the the market on quality, or even controlling the software. So the hope is to take another page out of the Apple book and try make inroads into the music business by controlling the software and hardware, and locking consumers into the format.
I have a feeling that the lack of play for sure support is going to be a detriment, as those same people that buy the player form wal mart are going to want to download songs from wal mart, or whoever. Also, at some point MS is going to want to raise the subscription fee, and at that point owning a Zune will be more expensive than owning another device. Recall that one thing that makes a non-iPod device desirable is the play for sure market is somewhat completive, while the iTunes and alleged MS Music market is not.
As always MS makes the entire thing way too complex, and so will only appeal to those that want the MS name. Otherwise a Zen will be a better choice, unless MS is going to start giving music away, say a free three month subscription with purchase.
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