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Critical Review of the Zune

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the not-hard-to-be-critical dept.

ceallaigh writes "Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun-Times has a critical review of the Zune. "Avoid," is my general message. The Zune is a square wheel, a product that's so absurd and so obviously immune to success that it evokes something akin to a sense of pity."

3 of 616 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Some additional comments... by Buzz_Litebeer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is a good one, this is a CNN review of the Zune

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buKaqRG2SFA&mode=re lated&search=

    It turns into an ad for the new ipod shuffle. It is hilarity.

    --
    If you don't vote, you don't matter, so don't waste your time telling me your opinion
  2. Re:Why bother to comment on a first effort by AddressException · · Score: 5, Informative

    Your comments about Windows are spot-on, but this time it's different.
    The market for portable music players is not the same as the preloaded OEM software "market", nor are they entering a vacuum.

    This time MS needs to make a good product that will stand on its own merits, or they'll bleed red ink until the shareholders tell 'em to quit.

  3. Re:Did you see CmdrTaco's review of the Zune? by mhbtr · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, AAC is not locked in with Apple. It is part of the MP4 standard and the successor to MP3 (it is also known as MP4). All it has over MP3 (other than being higher quality at the same file size and support for more channels/bitrates/bitdepths) is that it ha mechanisms to allow for DRM. That said, AACs you encode yourself are DRM-less. Songs you buy from the ITS have Fairplay DRM (which is Apple's DRM). All none DRMd AACs will play in a Zune without modification (and several other players). While it is not open source (like .ogg), it is not any more closed source than .MP3 (how many of you out there know that media player makers have to play royalties to Thompson, etc. for the use of .MP3?) I honestly don't know why AAC has not caught on more - it is so much more "open" than WMA, an has MUCH more broad support than .ogg. -- .sigs are for suckers