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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.
Well, except for those hiding under a mountain of used iPod batteries
I, for one, can't wait to get my hands on a Zune, with its new infinitely-rechargable battery technology. It uses a nickel-adamantium alloy, right?
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
Now, stuff like this digg thing, is pretty different. Setting up anonymous blogs, etc. to give the impression that the story is independent and not coming from the company paying for it and doing the marketing is something different. Same thing with slashvertisements.
Not necessarily saying anything is better or worse, but I think there's a pretty big distinction to be made between things that are clearly identified as advertisements, and things that are not clearly identified as advertisements in order to give the impression that they are something else.
I noticed while looking through the newspaper adds this weekend that there isn't much of a marketing hype around Zune. It was buried in all the adds and the biggest selling point I found was that you could put your own picture on on the background. It was also interesting to see that the Microsoft name was no where to be found. I was really expecting to see front pages ads, WIRELESS in big letters and Microsofts weight behind it all. It was also interesting to note that the accessory packs advertised with it were $80-$100, I guess they are trying to beat apple at the sucker game. All in all I didn't see anything to win over the mass market.
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. I wonder whether that is what the submitter meant, or did he mean "wannabe iPod" or "wannabe iPod-killer"? And I wonder what Microsoft's goal is?
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.
Dislocating my jaw when I yawn like that.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
This is an unusual viewpoint here on slashdot, but honestly, so long as they stick to bettering each other through competition rather than belittling each other, I'm all for it. When one company decides to launch whole hearted smear campaigns rather than improve their product, or, even worse, decides it's more cost effective to buy out the competition, that's where I get worried, and in honesty, most major corporations have done one, if not both.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
Pot, meet kettle.
...that only computes for three days.
Clunkier than an ipod. Crippled wifi. Lame.
insert inflammatory anti-microsoft comment here
That's right, because in Soviet Russia, cliché posts mod YOU!
I think this will work with the OS as poeple don't really try to understand how their PC works, but I question this dethroning the simplicity and popularity of the iPod and iTMS combo.
I will also point out the obvious that MS has seeded quite a few landscapers here on Slashdot lately, but I'm sure one will come along soon and prove my point...
Microsoft is not even challenging the most popular of the iPod lineup. Seeing that the iPod nano is the most popular of the iPod lineup (even without video).... how exactly is the Zune an iPod killer? The Zune is not a killer to anything until MS has a device to challenge the tiny iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle. One device is not going to "kill" iPod, or even hurt it.
Checked one out yesterday, the 60's Soviet looking shit-brown one. The screen is gorgeous but the unit itself is OMG XOBX HUEG. What's with Microsoft and huge hardware? It is too big and bulky to be carried in my pocket.
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
simply rotate the device 90 degrees to watch video.
HOLY SHIT! I never thought of that!
Can you please teach me how to rotate it 90 degrees? Do you think it will also work for all those photos I have, that are on a 90 degree angle for some reason, too? They look so silly on the wall with everything sideways like that...
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
I'm an early adopter and usually purchase many products like this that come out. I'm really looking forward to it.
The problem with the Zune is unfortunately that it will be compared to the iPod. On it's own the Zune seems to be a decent enough MP3 player. To differentiate from the iPod, MS has put in some interesting features. To me though, these features all have caveats. For example, MS is marketing that the Zune has wireless. Technically true but it's not wireless like you'd expect in a laptop. Really, it's limited wireless sharing with another Zune. It plays video but you can't really buy any from Zune marketplace right now. It's got a bigger screen but has the same resolution as an iPod so your pictures are larger because the pixels are larger. It's got the same capacity as the 30GB iPod but you can't use it as a portable harddrive. And so on. I'm not buying it because there are no killer features that I really want. I feel sorry for those who don't research these things and end up with a player that doesn't do what they thought it would do.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
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?
Remember the Switch campaign from Apple? Apple got real people to get on TV to tell why they switched to Macs. The campaign worked because it was from genuine people. Microsoft tried to do the exact same thing but it backfired terribly when someone noticed that the picture of the first Microsoft "switcher" was a stock photo. Was there a real person that switched? There may have been but the method of how MS did it was so underhanded that it immediated discredited their whole campaign.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Pretty neat how Data fictionally spent about 50 years trying to develop a sense of humor without success, yet in the real world, Google has developed a highly evolved sense of humor almost entirely by accident in less time than a human learns about fart jokes.
Karma: Incomprehensible (Mostly affected by posting at +5, reading at -1, and metamoderating everything unfair.)
You're saying Apple is horrible for having funny commercials? Or am I misunderstanding your position here?
I mean, you don't need to be upset. Microsoft is good at spreadsheets, Apple has admitted that. Why can't Microsoft say something nice Apple?
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
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.
Alright, since theres nothing about those ads that are misleading, please explain to me: - Why they mention that PC's get viruses and Mac's don't (ever)
Because PC's do, and Macs don't.
I've been running an entire network of unsecured Macs 24/7 connected to my DSL connection for years with no anti-virus software. Not one infection.
On the other hand, in a one-year span, I had a RedHat Linux box and a Windows game machine that were pwned once each.
Why they claim Mac's are "just better" at doing graphics work
Ask somebody in the graphic printing business. I don't really know everything about it, but the professionals swear by Macs.
Why they claim that your average PC lock up every few seconds and needs rebooting
An amusing exaggeration. It wouldn't have gotten so many laughs if it wasn't rather close to the experience many people had with Windows.
If you honestly believe any of these things then you are behind your reality distortion field.
Call it what you like, but working virus-free on computers that don't get in the way of my creative work and run more reliably than Windows is a nice "field" to be standing in. You should try it sometime.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.