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Critical Review of the Zune
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."
"Wireless. More space than a nomad. Awesome."
Never mind that Andy is usually an advocate for Apple's products, however, as he is often, Andy is right on and I agree with his sentiments. In addition to his comments, I got to spend a little time with a Zune and initially liked the large screen until I actually turned the device on. I found it to be clunky, awkward, irritating, non-intuitive, completely incompatible with previous Microsoft music standards, and has none of the features that make the iPod so completely useful (ability to hold various media and data, even allowing you to boot from Firewire iPods). And forcing users to rely on the Zune application to move data onto or off the device is infuriating (kind of like the Creative devices. Is it possible to "open" a Creative media player and put data onto it without having to use the Creative application?).
I simply cannot believe that Microsoft *ever* asked itself how users might interface with such a device and it's obsequious pandering to the music industry in an effort to out-compete Apple in this space rather than putting the effort into making a better product to the iPod quite simply offends. Hey Microsoft, how much did you spend coming up with this marketing, because I am simply stunned at how bad this is. If Microsoft *really* was interested in making a better product and not acting as a pimp for the record industry, they would also not have relied on "Zune Points" to purchase music. As anybody who has ever taken Marketing101 knows, you should always facilitate the process of getting people to spend money on your products and anything that steps in-between or slows this process down had better have a damn good reason for existing. Why do I have to buy "Zune Points" to then make music purchases? It's just stupid.
Oh, and Microsoft..... Just a suggestion: Very few end users want their products to "squirt" anything at them. That is just bad marketing.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
I'm not saying that the Zune is good by any means nor have I had a chance to play around with one. Which is why I read this review--I was hoping for a good review on this new MP3 player.
But I found this to be a particularly bad review. Perhaps I don't read a lot of reviews but I prefer them to be thorough. One thing that stuck out about this review is that it didn't even have room for something nice to say about the Zune. Not one thing. I'm sure a high school student could write me a review with a PROS/CONS table that would be more informative than this. I find it very hard to believe that this reviewer managed to not find anything good about the Zune.
Here's a simple question I didn't see answered anywhere, "Did it work?" If it did what was its sound quality like? Is it durable? How heavy/large is it? Every point of this article a mark against the Zune. I think that a 'review' entitles you to be subjective & look at it from all angles then weigh in at the end about whether or not you would recommend it. Instead this review starts off with the quote, "Yes, Microsoft's new Zune digital music player is just plain dreadful. I've spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face. '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." Why should I even finish reading your review if that's the first thing you say?
And then Apple enters your review. I can understand a comparison to other competitive MP3 players but you just start using the brand name Apple. Why? Why not give me a rundown of this versus iRiver or Creative's MP3 players? So the Toshiba MP3 player is $40 cheaper, doesn't tell me much if it sucks even more. Are they also compatible with podcasts and WMA codecs?
Reading this review causes me to question Andy Ihnatko's motive. Is he reviewing the Zune, grinding an ax or trying to get me to buy an iPod? I know the thing sucks but at least be fair if you're going to write a review for the masses.
My work here is dung.
It's not so much a review as a rant. Hardly any info is given about how the thing works. The software didn't install? Big deal! When I updated the firmware on my brand-new iPod 3 years ago, it bricked it. Most of the other complaints also apply to the iPod - works only with supplied software (theoretically, both players have workarounds), not compatible with other on-line stores, DRM, yada yada yada. Since most people don't actually buy from the store and rip their own CD's, maybe he could have talked about how that works for a bit. Or sound quality, or battery life, or how the UI works. But no, it's more fun and easier just to rip out a bash. Yay lazy journalists!
The Zune can be an incredibly cool and useable device as soon as the hackers get into it and create a differen Firmware/OS for it like they did with the ipod,iriver,creative and other popular mp3 players.
Sounds interesting, but it seems to me Andy's job is to review products as they are now, as shipped by the OEM. His reading audience isn't out to pimp their ride; they're out to get a device that does great stuff right out of the box.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
This is daft. Is the DRM imposed by the client or the server Zune? What if a band wants to promote their music by, for example, setting up free downloads of selected tracks after a concert? Why should everything go through the Zune store? Also, is there any way to get a server other than another Zune to interface with the thing wirelessly?
I hope this product does become popular enough for many different hacked firmwares to be released. Seems like a decent hardware with shitty firmware, but that's correctable :) - that's what I call "product support"...
-b.
At least with an Apple you can use it as a disk drive and use third party software to load it. People forget so fast that the first PC compatible iPods did not use iTunes but used Musicmatch. With the Zune you can't even mount it as a drive.
If that's not enough, the reviewer then weighs in with:
This suggests that for your typical tech-journalist, the issue of the power of music companies and the damage it does to consumers' interests is perfectly clear. However, I don't know anything about the Chicago Sun Times - is it a big newspaper? Does this review suggest that the mainstream media in the US is ready to turn a critical eye on the music companies?
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
a positive review for the Zune, could make it as a story on slashdot?
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
Remember Robert X Cringely's dictum about Microsoft - the third product is always the real one. The first two are just to scope out the market.
In every single black friday ad I got in the mail and paper and went through, Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, etc, not one bothered to even mention the Zune for my local stores. Most of them had the iPod on page one or two or in the hot gifts section. Their displays are kind of sad little things next to the area full of iPod gear and accessories and of course the iPod itself. One of the stores had more space for Sandisk players than the Zune. It would seem even some retailers know this is probably just going to be an expensive side shelf paperweight.
As for the iPod, the local grocery store now carries the iPod and accessories back in the TV and Game aisle and the corner gas station had shuffles for sale next to the compact flash cards, aimed at travelers and vacationers. You just don't get more pervasive than that. Until the Zune can even near this and can branch out into other small flash based devices as well, Microsoft just isn't going anywhere with it.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
He could be using a Mac. On my Windows laptop, my iPod Nano is visible as USB storage. On my Mac Mini, it is only accessible by using iTunes.
This is not a review from PCWorld. It's a writer with the Chicago Sun-Times giving advice to parents for the holiday buying season.
The purpose of the review is not to give geeks a rundown of every single feature and whether it performs as expected. The purpose is to inform the reader about whether this is even a worthwhile product, given all the hype that surrounds it.
The reviewer did point out other options that don't suck as much as the Zune and are cheaper. So he's done his job in giving the average consumer an idea about whether this is a worthwhile product... just as a movie reviewer in the same paper would give you an idea about whether ANYONE should consider going to a particular movie. Most movies have some demographic that might enjoy watching it... but the same is not true for technology products, which may or may not even work as expected. There were at least two features the reviewer pointed out that do not work as expected, given the way they are portrayed on the box.
So it looks like the Zune isn't even worth considering. I'm glad that reviewer was honest enough to say so.
You're right, the Zune won't be gone in 6 months, but for the completely wrong reasons.
Zune isn't about a drive into the living room. Portable music players like the Zune aren't meant for the living room, and never have been.
The reason it won't be gone in 6 months is that Microsoft doesn't come up with new things to get instant profit, and they don't make their choice whether or not to kill a product based on immediate consumer reaction. The company doesn't make decisions to only improve next quarter's profits, and it's idea of a long-term goal isn't 1 year away - and both of those are in constrast to 99% of corporate America. The company thinks much further ahead than that.
What's funny is the way that people here bash other companies for only thinking about the next quarter or the next year. Then Microsoft comes along and does things with 3 year, 5 year, or even longer-term plans, and then they get bashed for the long term thinking.
Oh, and here's a hint - the points model for payment matches up with the Xbox Live Arcade and Video marketplaces. You dump $20 worth of points into your account, and you can use those points to buy songs, buy games, and buy/rent videos. And as the points have worked so well on the Xbox, why not try them out for the Zune too? I really bet the bashing of the usage of points is more just an excuse than a real complaint.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Before you head bursts from an acute case of fanboy-ism, please note that sound quality-wise Creative devices have been repeatedly rated above Apple's. Why? Because Apple currently has no incentive to make things radically better (unlike its underdog competitors). Most of iPods have had incremental if not cosmetic facelifts in the recent revisions. As far as the iRiver is concerned, while its current offering is lacking, iRiver H1xx series are to this day reigning champion of features and sound quality (please notice I did not mention form factor/sex appeal/whatever). Don't believe me? Most pro-audio colleagues as well as sound connoiseurs to this day seek to buy this discontinued model due to its high quality sound output and more importantly CD-quality recording feature which includes also optical I/O. On top of that it also has a user-replaceable battery and hard drive so that you are not stuck in the "do-it-the-way-Steve/Bill-wants-you-to" wonderland.
So, yes, an objective comparison of features (not "everyone's-got-one-so-I-ought-to-have-one-too" commmon denominator approach often used when reviewing OSs by comparing it to Windows, or as is the case here comparing an mp3 player solely to an iPod).
At least I read (and cringed some) at the term as found in Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" published in January 2003. Despite this I tend like his writing and ideas.
This usage may appear earlier but I do not know where.
If you change the following sentence from:
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.
to:
Windows 3.x 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.
You'll realize that this is just a typical Microsoft "throw something out there" first effort. It was obviously never intended to be an iPod killer, or even to be successful at any particular level. However, you can bet your MP3 player (whatever it is) that there are a bunch of someones at Microsoft reading every public comment about the Zune that they can get their eyeballs on. It's just as important to know what customers think is stupid or otherwise dislike as it is to know what they do like (they need only look at the iPod for that information.) That's Marketing 101, and if nothing else Microsoft does know how to market.
Windows 1.x, 2.x and 3.x truly sucked at pretty much every level but at least 3.1 made a lot of money. Windows 95, for all it's many flaws made even more money, and 98+ made even more money. Don't expect anything positive for the first few years after Microsoft enters a particular market. Historically, they usually fail economically (if not technologically) at anything but operating systems and office suites anyway, but given time they could do well in the portable media player market.
Either way, Apple had best not rest on its laurels for too long. Microsoft isn't the only competitor out there that wants a piece of the iPod pie.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
That's not just bad marketing, it's a marketing showstopper. Remember Ball-buster-man's comment "You might want to squirt me pictures of your kids"? Sorry, anyone who puts squirt and kids in the same sentence should be locked up, IMHO.
Seriously, it sounds like Ball-head-man was desperately trying to come up with a catchy name for that wifi thing the device does so badly. He's the most executron-looking dweeb I've ever seen; he typifies the image of the whole company to the yoot who buy such gadgets.
So please Mr. Ballmer, don't squirt on me, K? Thanks...
Who is this delectable creature with an insatiable love of the dead?
I saw my first Zune a couple of days ago. It was an unattractive brown, clunky looking, and I didn't even want to bother turning it on. This is something that looks more like a Heathkit build-it-yourself than a polished commercial product. But that's almost an insult to Heathkits (okay, they weren't always pretty, but you took pride in the finished product).
I'm aware that Apple is not the best offering in the industry, but whether we like it or not their product is so ubiquitous that the average reader in fact expects such a comparison to be made. Most people will hear about the Zune and think, "Is it better than iPod?"
Whoever wrote the column is also very aware that his readership is thinking along these lines, so it comes as no surprise whatsoever that Apple was thrown onto the table. It's also no secret that Microsoft's Zune has been regarded as a challenge to Apple long before it was even released--they're even designed similarly.
No one has mentioned the feature that lost Zune to me: the video plays in horizontal format, but all the media listings are vertical. So you keep having to turn it 90 degrees. That sucks. How about an option to do all the listings horizontally?
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
I disagree.
.files containing attributes, I have to go to the terminal and pull a find /Volumes/iRiver -name ".*" -print -delete just to remove ugly .files everywhere.
I own both an iRiver iHP-120 and an Apple iPod.
The iHP, I have to manage all my files manually. I drag over the folders into the directory I want and bingo, it's done. However, that takes time and effort. If I rip new music on to my computer, (which I do often, I'm a musician) I have to figure out what folders are already on there and which aren't. Plus because I'm on a mac, and OS X generates all sorts of hidden
With my iPod, all my new music I rip in iTunes is placed neatly in my music library that I don't have to look at. All I do is plug in my iPod to charge, and *poof* all my new music is updated onto the device! I don't have to take time to dick around with folders, figuring out which songs I've added since my last manual update. As a boost, all the artwork is on there too, and I'm a meticulous tagger, so everything has art.
There are some nice benefits to the iRiver, of course, such as OGG support and a built in recorder, but over all, the iPod + iTunes experience has it beat, hands down.
Shouldn't You expect more from your DJ?
i really think that Microsoft, Apple, Creative, etc etc etc would prefer not to have any DRM on their devices. Apple didn't have much of anything until they started negotiations for the iTMS. iirc the only thing the iPod did was make the /music directory invisible, and there was a VERY simple fix for that. i don't know if that still holds true or not though.
i don't 100% understand the Zune DRM (i just don't care enough to research it), but Apple's is really only on the files you buy from iTMS. on the iPod, the files themselves are not encrypted, but the device makes it harder to get them off than a regular HDD. i would think there could be a fix for this, though i never looked. i suppose maybe if Microsoft (or anyone else) dropped any association with an online store (including their own), they could do whatever they want? kind of like MP3 players were 5 years ago. i think that was only pulled off because the music industry didn't really know what MP3 players were. they were not selling in any numbers, and only the Nomad was any kind of threat (in terms of a roving pirate ship). it probably didn't sell enough to be on the radar. other players were what, 32 MB? seriously, they were tiny flash players. my friend would put a gym mix playlist on his and that would pretty much fill it. it was neat, but you paid a lot for that digital mix tape. oh how things have changed.
The Zune is literally a marketing catastrophe. Andy I. is alerting his readers of the trainwreck it represents. He's identifying the showstoppers that make this a poor purchase. When we're talking about a $250 buy-in, it's important to warn consumers that the glitches are not minor. Even if MS got everything else right with this player, it would be something for parents to avoid purchasing if they're going to have to manually create and install
There's no sense for Andy to discuss the finer details of weight, size, etc. The problems cancel out how superior the form factor might be over the iPod. It's like you're asking for a reporter to discuss the positive aspects of Osama Bin Laden-- "Well, he exhales carbon dioxide, which plants need for photosynthesis." Yes, I'm in agreement with Andy on this, the Zune is the Alqueda of mp3 players.
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
I think the ad is saying that Microsoft are buying batteries from Sony...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
The 1G iPod was only 5GB and mac-only. The 2G added Windows support but the solid-state click wheel made the battery life go to hell.
Considering I have a 1G iPod sitting right next to me that has always worked with Windows, I'm going to go ahead and say you're full of shit, but I've already noticed that from the other replies you've made to this article.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
There's usually a fee for every authorization performed as well, so it'll be a fixed cost + 3% in total.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Only from the standpoint of people receiving one who really wanted an iPod. :-)
Trust me, the Zune won't put a dent in Apple's Christmas season iPod sales. This is not hubris talking, it's a plain fact. The thing has gotten almost uniformly bad reviews and has even been soundly mocked on CNN. Zune 1.0 is nothing for Apple to worry about. By the time Microsoft gets a worthy competitor to the current iPod out the door (if history is any guide it will be their 3rd generation Zune), Apple will have advanced the iPod further, still leaving MS at a disadvantage.
The network effect of the iPod is probably just too great for Microsoft to ever overcome-- there are already thousands upon thousands of iPod accessories out there, and the majority of new cars now offer iPod connectivity as an option. Furthermore, it's doubtful many companies will jump to make Zune accessories in any great hurry, seeing how willing Microsoft is to abandon things at the drop of a hat when they decide what they're doing isn't working out. In short, by going up against the iPod Microsoft is learning what it's like to be a competitor to Windows, where they are the ones enjoying the network effect.
~Philly
After playing with the unit for a few minutes and being disgusted with the UI, this is what I noticed leaving the store:
The "zune" logo on the translucent marketing material, when viewed from the back, looks a lot like "anus".
That about sums it up.
Have you considered that releasing products that dont work isnt the right thing to do? Because of the press influence that M$ can exert, innocent buyers get crap - thats WRONG. Secondly, did it ever cross your mind that the phrase 'iPod killer' is idiotic? This is NOT about proper analysis but more about SPIN - the jury has returned and delivered its verdict - the zune isnt a very good product, brings NOTHING new to the game, and has some serious software problems. There is no 'killer' - just a cascade of products over time, hopefully getting better. The zune will be judged over time and by its functionality at all levels. So far, its not doing too well, and to suggest that M$ is using it as a beta test is reason enough NOT to buy one. Furthermore, Microsoft is a badly managed company that has been boosted by the bandwagon of IT 'specialists' who love the fact that Windows has never worked properly - they make a lot of money by convincing the public that screwed-up systems are normal - and then charging them for repair. MS is a BAD example of how to live and work in a decent society - do you wonder that the zune isnt doing so well?
"Most pro-audio colleagues as well as sound connoiseurs to this day seek to buy this discontinued model due to its high quality sound output and more importantly CD-quality recording feature which includes also optical I/O."
Problem is, in the real world as soon as you say "Most pro-audio colleagues as well as sound connoisseurs" peoples' eyes glaze over and they stop listening. Most people couldn't care less about audiophiles' opinions - we have all heard way too much of their pointless (to us) droning. They're as bad as the worst of the anime fans.
I'm not saying you don't have a point - I'm just saying that, to most people, it doesn't matter in the least.
#DeleteChrome
Q. Can I remove U3 technology from my USB drive?
A. Yes. To remove the U3 technology from the drive, simply go to the U3 Launchpad and, under Settings, select U3 Launchpad settings and click Uninstall. This will completely remove the U3 Launchpad from the drive.
I still won't buy a flash drive with this auto-run crap on it, simply because I don't trust them not to stealth install some spyware or rootkit or something (yea Sony, I'm looking at you) - but according to Sandisk it can be removed from the drive.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
It amazes me that every review of the Zune has completely missed the point:
In today's day and age, with always-on devices with mandatory updates, DRM, and proprietary file formats, who you buy from and trust with your memories, pictures of family and friends, music collections, videos, pictures, letters, etc., is a very, very important decision.
Will you be able to look at the digital pictures of your child 30 years from now? Yes, we have entered that age.
The fundamental problem with the Zune is Microsoft's lack of integrity. Not the Zune's design. Not the Zune's user interface, or anything else. The problem is the lack of character of the company behind the product.
The Zune showed that Microsoft is more than willing to leave good, paying customers who bought 'Plays for Sure' music high-and-dry with a bleak future. And the killer is there is no practical reason for this other than to be sure they copy Apple identically and make people pay twice for the same music.
What's worse, what happens when the whole Zune thing (inevitably) fails? Then what? Customers should expect, based on current behavior, that MS will change the format again and make you re-buy your music. How could a logical, sane person assume otherwise?
(I know a guy, who despite my advice, bought about 2 grand of Plays for Sure music because "MIcrosoft is going to be around forever and they support their stuff." Needless to say, when he learned his music collection didn't work with his new Zune, he was at the Apple store a day later dropping 6 grand on a MBP, 30" display, nano and 5G iPod and tons of iPod accessories. Yes, one guy voting with his wallet--a fat one at that--but this guy is another data point on the tsunami that is building of CIO's, consumers, SMB customers, etc., who are sick of MS' lack of business ethics and their silly, silly games.)
That, for me, is the kiss of death for the Zune. And it should be for all people. For it demonstrated all the lipstick Steve "We need to act like Industry Leaders" Balmer is putting on the Microsoft pig hasn't changed it's DNA. Microsoft is, and always will be, a monopolist protecting its Windows and Office franchise. At any and all costs.
(Full disclosure: Never used Linux in my life. Nor Open Office. Use MS products daily. Don't "hate" Microsoft.
But I can tell a person/company lacking morals and character when I see one. And I know a doomed product when I see one.)
Apple is well regarded by musicians because of their Logic and Garage Band tools. Imagine if Apple offered (as part of the song creation workflow) an iTunes "upload space" to anyone for $X per year and Y% of sales. If $X per year was low enough for weekend bands to participate, they'd be promoting iTunes purchases at their gigs in bars and bookstores rather than hauling suitcases of burned CD's to each gig! If the Y% of sales was signigicantly under the 90% that most record labels take from bands, then even serious bands would consider Apple to be financially attractive.
As cool or frightening as this sounds though, Apple doesn't have this option because of their relationship with Apple Records. The agreements aren't fully public, but its believed that Apple Records still holds non-compete contracts with Apple (the computer company) in aspects of the music industry that overlap with what a music label does. Have you noticed that Apple avoids use of the Apple trademark in word form on their iPods in favor of the bitten fruit icon? That was an issue in one of the latest Apple vs Apple lawsuits.
Microsoft has this "label competitor" option so they just need to throw out enough money to create a Microsoft music marketplace. In that case, no matter what deals they may have made with the major labels to get there, they can usurp the market itself by offering the "Microsoft" branded music label. That would be pretty nasty for Microsoft to partner with the market's powerhouses, then turn around, undercut, and steal their former partners' markets.
Hmmm, perhaps Paul, Yoko, Dhani and Ringo should be offered positions on Apple's board of directors instead.
"I have years of files integrated into WMP"
The WMA format was designed with one goal, to lock you into WMP.
It was a very obvious trap but you fell for it.
Don't expect any sympathy...
No sig today...
You should have looked at the Creative Zen Vison M or the Creative Zen Vision W. Both support Audible and PlayForSure.
But the best thing about these two players is their Divx and Xvid support. No need to re-convert video, like the Zune or Ipod.
From your own spew; "why doesn't the iPod use standard headphone jacks?".
You claim to own an iPod, but yet you make a statement that is complete rubbish. To answer your question, the iPod "does" use a standard headphone jack. So are you lying about owning one?
People like you scare me. You're willing to wade in shit, just because it's not Apple. Being blind is one thing, recognizing a good product is another. Fortunately the iPod is the rare exception that quality beat out cheap mediocricy, something MS is trying to force back upon the market. MS's player is deserving of a quick death, nothing more, nothing less. The iPod already has good competion from other players, which are also a much better alternative to the Zune.
BTW, that cheap-bloated-FM tuner fits the Zune nicely.
Having to marry Bill Gates is considered getting off easy?
Maybe if the alternative punishment is having to give Ballmer a hummer.
A small registry hack so one can copy data off the Zune
http://www.zunehack.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7
Ditto. And as mentioned above, using "audiophile" and "portable music player" in the same sentence is a bit absurd. Too many of us listen to music on such devices on the street, in a car, on the subway, at the gym, or at any number of other places where the ambient noise levels are going to drown out any perceived "superiority" in sound quality anyway.
So unless you're going to record totally loseless and listen with $300 headphones in a quiet room... don't bother.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
A good and valuable use of Wi-Fi would be to allow users to buy music from the iTunes Music Store using only the iPod. The process would go something like this:
* enable wireless purchasing on your iTMS account using their iPod's serial number to help avoid hackery. This is a one-off task, and should be a simple preference on the iTMS account.
* go about your normal day, see an ad on a banana for some band, decide to try one of their tracks
* find a hotspot
* select 'iTunes Music Store' from the iPod's main menu
* wait as it syncs
* scroll through the band names looking for the one you want
* select the band name, go into sub-menu of albums
* select the album, go into sub-menu of songs
* select the song and either add it to the trolley or purchase it straight away
All of the 'find the song' work is exactly how we use the iPod to find a song, the only difference being we're in the music store and not our own collection.
When the user next syncs to their Mac or PC, the newly purchased track is authorised on that computer and iTunes downloads it from the music store automatically (avoiding a copy from the iPod to the computer) or just copies it from the iPod.
Wireless needs a good use or it's just a pointless gimmick. Access to the online store would be a real feature.
Just ensure the copy to library (or keep library organized) option is enabled in the iTunes preferences and then just drag and drop the folder or files into iTunes... The files will be automatically be copied to the library...
[All Your Fish Are Belong To Us]
The thing about the Zune not supporting podcasts reminds me of the newer versions of MSN Messenger. The program has a "Show what I'm listening to" feature. If you're to believe the Preferences box, it apparently only shows what you're playing in Windows Media Player. Obviously, a lot of kids these days are using iTunes and it has to support that too. I think in both instances, Microsoft tries to just deny Apple's success by removing any hard references to them. In the case of the podcast, Apple's very product name is present in the title, so by acknowledging this, Microsoft will also be acknowledging Apple's complete ownership of the digital music market. While I can understand their reasoning, I'd much sooner they gracefully admitted their inferiority (in the context of the battle for portable music players) and let me play my podcasts, than flat-out refuse to recognise their (and Apple's) contribution.
Indeed, the fact that some MP3 players try to even obscure the files (MY files) that I put on them made me return more than one... For example the Apple Ipod. Nice player but it drove me nuts. Although I could drag and drop files to it and use it as a nice 30GB external disk, these files would not be recognized by the player itself! I could not read text files, I could not play drm-free mp3's, I could not see jpg's, I could not play mp4 videos (MY VIDEOS, not drm'd ones). The only way for this silly device to see them was to import then into itunes, which would simply scramble the file names and put the files in a hidden folder, and then I could not transfer the files to another computer in an easy way. What a stupid device. These are MY FILES and I want to use the device MY WAY. So after 6 days I simply returned the Ipod to the place I bought it (I assume at a loss to apple...). Oh, well... sad devices, indeed!
I've been watching the ranking of the black Zune on Amazon's Bestsellers list and it has been dropping like a stone since its introduction. I first saw it in the top 30, then in the top 40, top 50 and now it is down to #93. This doesn't bode well for a new product. If it was really good, it would be climbing up into the top 10. Right now there are 5 iPods in the top 10 list and iPods take up positions 1, 2 and 3. There are three other non-iPod mp3 players in the top 25. At this rate, the Zune will fall from the top 100 list soon.
When we go to an antiwar protest, we always play "Spot The Fed" as we look for the inevitable FBI/Homeland Security plant in the crowd.
Well, I think we need to play this game here on Slashdot!
Who here is the RIAA plant?
Who here is the Microsoft plant?
You *know* they are here! Just like we knew, before we actually confirmed it, that there were Feds at the protests.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Even the Xbox 360 is hyped out of control. It barely sold 7 million units in a year--it was actually outsold by the five year old PlayStation 2, which sold 11 million units in the same time period.
Microsoft is fooling itself; it's time for the company to get real and start competing, because its empire is declining. Remember that Apple was also making craploads of cash deep into the late Sculley Era, when it was obvious that the company was about to crash. Microsoft has shadowed Apple's brush with death, making the exact same set of moves exactly ten years after Apple.
10 Ways Microsoft can Salvage their iPod Killer
10 iPod vs Zune Myths
10 More Myths of Zune Why Microsoft Can't Compete With iTunes
Strike 3: Why Zune will Bomb this Winter
The Two Faced Monster Inside Zune