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The Zune Cometh
Well, except for those hiding under a mountain of used iPod batteries, it's fairly well known that the Zune iPod-wannabe killer is coming out Monday/Tuesday. There's a piece in the NYTimes about counting on the wireless part of the Zune to take down the iPod as well as some interviews with people involved in the creation. But OTOH, RoughlyDrafted (which has had a series of pieces about the Zune) points out some issues with the DRM systems, and forecasts a number of issues — and also calls out what they called a "Digg Fraud Campaign". But soon — the market decides.
Try this:
Reset your iPod (either action+menu, or play+menu, depends on model)
While resetting, hold action+back, and throw it in disk mode.
Use your favorite disk management tool (Computer Management in Windows, Disk Utility on OSX, and you probably know if you're on Linux), and blast off all partitions on your iPod, then put a new FAT32 partition on it.
Use the iPod utility (or iTunes, if you have iTunes7) to restore the iPod software
If that doesn't work, you're probably screwed.
"I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
I overheard an employee talking to some customers about the wonders of the Zune. It's much sleeker, looks better, is thinner, and has a bigger screen... you know, all of the important things.
I keep hearing about how Zune is slimmer, smaller, and has a better screen. But when I look at the specs, the 30 GB iPod seems to be actually a tad smaller and lighter than the Zune. The screen resolution is the same, so Zune just has larger pixels.
Zune:
2.48" W x 4.17" H x 0.65" D. Weight:, 6 oz. Resolution: 240x320
30 GB iPod:
Height: 4.1 inches
Width: 2.4 inches
Depth: 0.43 inch
Weight: 4.8 ounces
Display: 2.5-inch QVGA 320 by 240 pixel resolution
Also, I have heard that the Zune's "wheel" is not a wheel at all. The reviews suggest that the Zune has a regular 4-button "D-pad" menu button arrangement hidden behind that round black wheel-looking thing.
Who is correct here? Have I been reading iPod fanboy BS?
The first article is legitimate news but the second two aren't even close. Who goes to the trouble of making that many images just to slam a new product? Slashdot shouldn't be giving press to scrubs like these.
Well, while the idea of the ipod going the way of netscape scares me, I really hope that the X-Box has taught us that Microsoft is not as sucessful at the "embrace, extend, extinguish" game as it once was.
It usually takes Microsoft about three versions to go from half-assed to usable and take the market. The monopoly abuse with the Xbox and Windows is also a bit weaker than other markets they have tried to take over and their competitors larger and smarter. MS's plan is to make ActiveX all there is and make it easy to build a game with tools they provide that runs on Windows and the Xbox with no fuss. Ideally, they'd also like it to run on other consoles as well, but they may not be able to manage that. This means they get more games from independent developers and they've already bought a pile of them in order to "set the standard" for the industry.
I'm not sure this could be described as MS being worse at embracing markets, rather they are about the same as ever, but are tackling larger targets and are still early in the process.