Slashdot Mirror
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.
You know what's funny? It's easy to say bad things about a large company because they have marketing departments & businessmen running them. Oftentimes, marketing and business involve areas of questionable ethics & integrity--or the sheer will to sell your product at any cost since that's your paycheck. Is a "Digg fraud Campaign" really that surprising?
Microsoft is doing horrible things here
You know what is also funny? It's easy to say good things about a large company because they have a lot of resources and can accomplish a lot for the consumer. Stand back, I'm about to say something that will ensure this post hits rock bottom on the karma: Microsoft has done good things for computing. And you know what? So has Apple. I've used products of both of them to varying levels of success in my past--and that in and of itself is something.
Now consider the fact that both Microsoft & Apple are very large companies. This Zune/iPod crap is always going to happen and they love that it's in the public's eye.
My work here is dung.
There's no still reason on whether or not the battery is removable. My number one reason for buying an MP3 player other than an iPod was that the iPod's battery can't easily be removed - in fact, the Nano's is even soldered in, so levering it out isn't an option.
``It was also interesting to see that the Microsoft name was no where to be found.''
Perhaps they figured that saying it's from Microsoft is not a way to promote your product to their target audience.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
considering that the Zune is incompatible with other playsforsure devices including the ipod killers of old(creative, real, napster, etc) The zune is the Ipod wannabe killer.
because when it comes right down to it, all those other services will die becaue they partnered with MSFT, and then MSFT stabbed them all in the back.
or maybe it was a chair in the board room.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Coming Zune from Microsoft? In soviet Russia Zune comes on YOU!? Which is better, Zune or sex with a mare? I've got a hot Zune down my pants with pictures of Natalie Portman, naked and petrified? I kid, I kid...
I think that you'll find the market breakdown between Zune and the iPod will fall along the same lines that you see in the PC vs. Mac world. The people who want the "stylish and beautiful" device will still buy iPods. The people who want the utilitarian device with more features than sense, will buy the Zune. The wireless functionality of the Zune is a perfect example. To paraphrase Jobs, who WANT that sort of thing when you can just swap your [insert music player here] with a friend for a few minutes to listen to the songs on each other's players to see if you want to buy the tracks? (Funny how 80s Walkman technology, the 1/8" headphone plug, is perfectly compatible with nearly every music player out there. Don't expect that to last much longer... it keeps the goons from making more money through artifical restrictions.) The ridiculous filesharing that deletes itself thanks to DRM is just another component bound to cause more negative user experiences than positive ones. But, the fact is that Zune will likely break even or tank. I don't see it becoming the defacto standard as iPod has. Hell, I own a Rio Karma (they RULE BTW...) and I can attest to the fact that EVERY digital music player or service you want is made for the iPod. The FM transmitter I bought along with it's cigarette lighter adapter has a funny extra plug on it that is specifically for the iPod and totally useless on my Karma. Again... the problem of not using or establishing any kind of REAL drafted standard.
IF there were an actual standard, then the Zune and the iPod would be able to actually compete on their merits rather than artifically limiting each other. I'd say a reasonable standard would look like this:
1. A standard interface for purchasing/downloading music within the player itself rather than through a PC. This would happen via WiFi or a NIC or even a cell phone data link
2. Standard bluetooth for sending the audio data to a bluetooth headphone, or in-dash blue tooth enabled car stereos. This would eliminate the interference that you experience on the road while other people blast Howard Stern with their Sirius sets
3. A standard hardware interface for a dock that all players would utilize regardless of shape or size
4. Standard power jacks that are multipurpose for car, house or even USB power
5. A standard underlying base OS that could have extras layered on top of it to extend functionality and support for additional features in software and extended hardware features as well
6. Interaction with other bluetooth devices so that you could also use them as data drives, or even personal answering machines for cell phones (screw voice mail...)
Just a few ideas which I'm sure the "elite" here will rip apart. My point is that Zune is not going to be able to easily usurp the lead that Apple has at the moment. The only way they will is if Apple rests on their laurels and doesn't provide the next "high".
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
"The submitter calls the Zune an "iPod wannabe-killer".
That would make it something that kills iPod wannabe's, like Creative or Rio or Sandisk players."
Maybe it's just my pidgin English, but I'd see "iPod-wannabe killer" as something that kills iPod wannabes. Those hyphens...
If you look at the first run of commercials-- which you will undoubtedly be seeing every time you turn on the TV--you've got to wonder just what the hell Microsoft is thinking.
These ads show people out in public, at parties and concerts, with friends; there's talking, laughing, dancing; a DJ or a band playing music. And somehow you're supposed to make the connection that these are the perfect places to put on your headphones and listen to your own music.
"Wow, I'm glad I paid $20 for a ticket to this concert with all of these people! Now I'm going to listen to my $250 Zune by myself! Welcome to the Social."
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
Microsoft also did not push themselves with the original XBox launch. There was no Microsoft branding to be found there - their logo isn't on the console. They are trying to create a new brand with Zune, not making use of their existing brand, much as they did with the XBox.
Maybe they feel it unwise to make use of the Microsoft brand for these products.
That doesn't make any sense at all. If Murphey is trying to get people more interested in Zune and wanting to buy a Zune, why would he suggest that a new iPod is coming out. This would actually make people considering a Zune potentially abort that purchase waiting for Apple to produce an iPod with WiFi or something similar.
Actually, it does make some sense. Imagine you're a weak-minded consumer and you're going to buy an iPod tomorrow, and I'm selling Zunes. Now, if you buy that iPod tomorrow, there's no way you buy a Zune. Of course, I'm going to tell you about this Zune thing, but one day of my evangelism probably won't win you over. Unless I do something drastic, you buy that new iPod tomorrow.
So I bust out the big gun. I start an unfounded rumor that Apple is coming out with a Video iPod next month. You think, there's no way I'm buying a new iPod if there's a new one out next month. See, I just got you to postpone your iPod purchase! This gives me time to convince you that the Zune is great. It gives me time to get the Zune in people's hands, and allows you to *see* the Zune. If my marketing blitz worked, then it'll give you time to maybe think that this old Zune thing isn't so bad after all. The only problem is that you're still pining for that video iPod, and won't touch my Zune.
Next month, you're still holding out for that new Video iPod. By now, even though you're a weak-minded consumer, you've figured out that video iPod was just a rumor. Problem is, you still need a new music player. In the meantime, I've been telling every day you how great the Zune is.
If I've done my job, I've made you more likely to buy a Zune now that you've had a chance to see it and its marketing in action than you were before. With one little rumor, I got you not to buy an iPod at least until I've had a chance to demo my product. There was no chance you bought a Zune before, AND I would have lost you as a consumer for probably 2 years. Now, I at least get a crack at you.
The key here is that there isn't actually a video ipod coming soon, and the slick marketeer I am, I know that. ;)
Sure it's got wireless, but it's a huge brick.
My Christmas money is going on a iPod Nano PRODUCT (RED) 8GB model. My 3G iPod is still going strong - sure, battery is stuffed so playtime is now about 2 hours instead of 6, but at least the 40GB iPod still works as a 40GB Firewire/USB hard drive, while the Zune is a huge brick sitting on my desk wasting space while I play my music in iTunes.
The iPod Nano can fit in my shirt pocket, or it can squeeze in behind my mobile phone in the mobile phone pocket on my backpack. The Zune, being a huge brick, would have to take up space in my backpack. Along with my 3G iPod which is still functional after all these years (no battery replacement yet).
So: 3 year old iPod is still doing: calendar, contacts, music, and functions as an external hard drive. Zune would be doing: brick impressions.
Oh... I'm a Mac user by the way, so how am I supposed to load music onto the Zune for when I feel like lugging a huge brick around with me? I don't need to plug myself into a huge brick to compensate for lack of endowment. I'll buy the slim and fashionably coloured iPod Nano PRODUCT (RED) and have Apple send $10 off to help people in Africa survive against AIDS.