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Microsoft to Launch Zune in EU
An anonymous reader writes "Happy with the sales from the little brown music player here in the states, Microsoft is working to launch the Zune media player in Europe by the end of the year. According to the Washington Post article, they are trying to have a realistic outlook on the entrenched Apple product line. They're not trying to play catch-up at the moment ... they're just trying to get on the map. From the article: '"Our next round of introductions will probably be in time for the holiday of this year." [Jason Reindorp] said Microsoft planned extensive research with focus groups in Europe to see how it could be modified for a European consumer. He said the Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category, according to the latest data, and that it was still in line to sell over a million units by June 30, the end of its current fiscal year.'"
Europeans will be excitedly squirting all over the place!
I would like to take this opportunity to
wel-
come
Europe
to the
social
Summation 2
Preliminary results suggest that European consumers would like it to be "less crappy".
Yeah right, after Apple launch iPhone by June, these will sell like umbrellas in a submarine
As much as the Europeans warmly embrace Windows Media Player (or Windows Anything), so too shall their success be.
Most of the stuff on
It might be prudent to ask how many different players the "30 GB cathegory" consists of. This sounds like the Zune's total market share is very, very small.
With a rollout in EU, and an anticipated 1M units sold by June here, what is the impact with the latest development whereby songs purchased for the Zune are not "squirtable" courtesy SONY's proscription? Is it really true about 50% of SONY songs purchased in the Microsoft way are not shareable with other Zune owners (if you can find them)?
If so, what is the Zune but yet another mp3 player (yamp?)? A music and video player offered by a corporation that betrayed not only those sucked into the siren song of "Plays for Sure", but betrayed the manufacturers of those devices.
I hope the buying public gets a whiff of this laughing gas before they open their digital wallets. The Zune needs to die, not on the vine, but in the ground.
He said the Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category
How specific do you want to be? How about this:
He said the Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category, and 100 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte Zune category.
Summation 2
Is that because they have a big stockpile of unsold zunes?
Bert
Probably convenient that there is no 30 gigabyte iPod.
Nyuk Nyuk... the opposing team left the field at halftime and they still lost the game. oh puuullleeeezzzzzz..
Most of the stuff on
Obviously, this belongs in the Apple section of Slashdot...
I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
Actually one exists, available in black and white.
Of course it is a funny statement to see coming from Microsoft.
Probably convenient that there is no 30 gigabyte iPod.
Sam Krupa Ever iPod generation since the 3rd generation launched in 2003 has included a 30 gigabyte model.
the Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category, according to the latest data...
That's fishy to me because it sounds like they mean of concurrent sales (meaning it wouldn't include people who bought 30gb iPods when Apple still made them in that size).
What that means is, of all media players sold this year that store 30GB of data that aren't iPods, the Zune has a 10% market share which, factoring in Apple's huge part of that market, is much, much smaller a percentage than it sounds like.
Triv
But in all reality, it's the Nanos that dominate the market, not the 30GB videos.
It means that 10.2% of 30gb players sold during the reporting period were Zunes, not that 10.2% of all 30gb players are Zunes.
MS Sales Guy #1: "Hey! We sold one!!!!"
MS Sales Guy #2: "To EUROPE!!!!"
MS Sales Guy #1: "We are SO on fire!"
MS Sales Guy #2: "Hollah!!!"
Mark
You're right. My 5G iPod is actually a 27.82GB model according to the Capacity field in iTunes.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
"Probably convenient that there is no 30 gigabyte iPod."
Uh, the current iPod comes in 30 and 80 gig varieties.
Not really, its called marketing.
They grab the only figure that gives them a reasonable percentage (everything else will have been drowned out to nothingness)
liqbase
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Hey... there is a 30gig iPod. So out of 9 different iPod models, the Zune had a 10.2% share of one of those which effectively means 1.13% share against iPods. Mix in every other player in contention and their market share is probably more like 0.04%.
Most of the stuff on
With all my excitement over Zune, I actually didn't realize it wasn't even on sale...
Just because it is marketing doesn't make the statement any less funny.
MOD PARENT UP!!
This statement sounds fishy: "He said the Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category, according to the latest data,..."
I suspect most people don't buy the 30 GigaByte iPod. I suspect that the "latest data" is only for new sales, and doesn't take into account all the iPods already sold in that category.
I also suspect that the "latest data" is a complete lie. Most people who call themselves marketing professionals are professional liars more than anything, in my experience.
I'd like to know how many people with no knowledge of MP3 players bought a Zune to give to someone as a Christmas present. I'd like to know how many Zune owners are dissatisfied with them.
--
U.S. government violence encourages other violence.
A common way of fluffing up your numbers is to narrow down what you consider competitive. In Microsoft Case they go 10.2% of the 30 Gig MP3 Players. So roughly 1 out of 10 people who decided they wanted a 30 Gig MP3 Player (not more and not less) got a Zune. Which is still bad considered that they should have gotten more from the Microsoffies who hate Apple so much that they will get a Zune, even if they don't listen to music, or need 30 Gig for one. Or the People who buy tech regularly just to check them out. I would have expected that the Zune would get 20% sales in that one area.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Happy with the sales ...
I guess their expections were rather on the low side.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
The market share percentage is certainly misleading when you look at the raw numbers: the Zune was introduced in November, and by June (7 months later) they say they will have sold 1 million. On the other hand, Apple sold 21 million iPods in the last quarter alone, and over 8 million in each of the previous 3 quarters.
In other words, by June Apple should be selling about as many iPods every 10 days as there were Zunes sold in 7 months. Put it that way, and it's hard for Microsoft to brag about.
Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
They're going to launch the Zune in EU, but not in Canada? Do they fear our ability to legally download over here? Oh well... even if it isn't that, I never expect Microsoft to do things logically a lot of the time.
And now its just 10.5 % in the 30 gigabyte category? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo Ballmer really has no clue at all. :P
the mere fact that they're having to mention just one catagory of the total player sales in the US to find a decent number is rather telling.
Is this a promise or a threat? I've seen wars started over less.
Microsoft is going to be sending little brown things to the EU? Is this as a response of the EU sanctions?
[alk]
is your Boss, you had BETTER be quick & nimble with the BIG WORDS, & the HOT PLANS, & the NEW MARKET ENTRY at the NEXT HOLIDAY season, & (most important of all)...
You had best get your RESUME OUT THERE NOW, and get that FLACK JACKET & HELMET on because you never known when chairs are going to fly again.
None of this is surprising to anyone I've talked to. No One!
What I am hearing from diehard PC users I run across is subdued speculation, and NOT about Zune. The speculation is all whether VISTA will mean anything to them.
I pity the project managers under Ballmer, because their stomachs must be tied in a knot 24 hours a day. Been there, done that, and you can't survive long that way.
It reminds me of a radio station in 20th place in the ratings, they'll pull weird stat out like... We're in 1st place for women between the ages of 48 and 52.
It's a way to rally the troops more than anything. The Zune is getting hammered like a rivet in a steel bridge.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
we certainly think so. but then, we lack the outstanding politicians the current u.s. of a. is graced with ;-)
Microsoft planned extensive research with focus groups in Europe to see how it could be modified for a European consumer.
Beige?
)9TSS
What? The odds are zero, plain and simple.Justification: everyone has been burned by Windows/Office, and consequently nobody trusts them with a just-work product. I don't know about US and rest of Europe, but in Germany the _best_ attitude they get from consumers is respect for the ruthlessness with which they won the OS market.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
uh? I'm european, and never noticed that. As far as I can tell, the usual black is the color associated to fascism and nazism. Anyway, I'm from italy, maybe the germans have a different perception.
I'm from sweden and I think I speak for most europeans when I say brown does not make me think nazi. It makes me think shit :)
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
Yawns
I think majority market share is pretty unlikely, even as far out as 5 years, unless they decide to subsidize the Zune and sell it much cheaper than iPods. As everyone has seen with Windows, it is very hard to displace an entrenched brand unless the market dominator really screws up. However, if they did offer Zunes at a substantial (30%-50%) price advantage over iPods, AND if they beefed up the applications for the WiFi feature, they could conceivably displace iPods when people make their replacement purchases in the 2-4 year timeframe. Imagine a partnership with Skype, for example, so that the Zune could function as a Skype handset. Imagine partnering with Toyota or other auto manufacturers so your Zune, via WiFi, could wirelessly stream your music through your car stereo. Just as the XBox is a stealthy assault on the desktop PC, the Zune could be a stealthy assault on the PDAs, Smartphones, and portable music players. Of course there are alot of "ifs" in this paragraph.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
I want to actually see the market share reports, instead of relying on press releases.
"... Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category ..."
I have a hard time believing this - with even 10% market share, I think I'd have seen one "in the wild" by now.
#DeleteChrome
Of course it is a funny statement to see coming from Microsoft.
Well, what did you expect? "We think we have some overall marketshare, but we can't say for sure, because the figure is lower than the error in the survey"?
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
They're not trying to play catch-up at the moment ... they're just trying to get on the map.
Comparatively speaking, it's a bit like Sealand's efforts to try and "get on the map" as a country when it's sitting right next to the much larger, more recognized, and somewhat more respected Isle-of-Great-Britain-like Apple.
Shameless plug for my photos on Flickr
It discusses:
- MS Zune's does not work with MS Windows Vista
- MS Zune's incompatibility with (even) MSN Music Format (you have to rebuild your music collection)
- 4 registration's before buying music from the Zune music store (when player installs, MS passport, Music Store Website, Tag registration)
- Zune points for buying music, to mislead consumers on the price of music (1 Zune point > 1 dollar, thus 0.79 ZunePoint looks cheaper)
- Zune player WiFi music share expires songs shared after 3 times listening or 3 days (whichever comes first)
Hilarious!
See also: CNN.com ridicules Zune Player
Other media players don't have the same limitation as Zune. Zune only can connect to Windows XP PCs, so they loose the marketshare of Windows 2000, Mac and Linux
1. Introduce Zune in the USA where we have fascist copyright laws and allow DRM to remove Fair Use
2. Watch Zune fail
3. Introduce Zune in Europe in the hopes it will succeed there, where DRM's blocking of Fair Use is illegal in some countries, resulting in Zune's ultimate failure and going the way of Microsoft Bob
4. ??? Profit ???
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
It's all legit.
The figure is 10.2 % (V/p)
That's Verizon percents, of course.
Took too long to notice this story now I can't do the ob. joke "both of them" or rather all 4 of them now..
I forget which, but don't Archos or iRiver pretty much support 3rd party apps (well, 3rd party OS). As far as DRM is concerned, it looks like either it can be there and totally ignored (i.e. as per most mp3 players - if you don't buy music online then it shouldn't affect you), or add restrictions on receive (only one I can think of is the Zune and it's WiFi restrictions). So DRM really shouldn't be that much of a deal breaker, should it (apart from using WiFi).
And before y'all call me a DRM apologist - no, I don't think it is a *good thing*. I have no DRM-ed music on my music player - it's just the fact that my music player supports DRM doesn't really affect me, as far as I can tell. (Okay - it does in that the machine is more complex than it need be, potentially, I do accept that).
So I guess the question is - why is the fact that a music player supports DRM a deal breaker? For me the more DRM formats supported the better! Much as I hate wma files in general, and protected 'fair play' AAC, I wish I had a player that supported both - I actually like the idea of a subscription music service (I'm not sure what download amount restrictions apply, but I'd happily spend £10 a month to just download and try different types of music, if it were an unlimited amount of downloads. I do understand that as soon as I stop subscribing I lose the music - but 2 months in a year I'd happily subscribe, to get a lot of tracks from artists I don't really know and from types of music I don't normally listen to. Play them, sort out which artists appeal, then trash the lot and buy some CD's...
Anyway - that turned into a longer reply than I intended.
(And offtopic - I noticed that your sig seems to be in support of an American band that look dangerously like they support the IRA - do they? And if so do you find that offensive?)
The best is the enemy of the good
Microsoft has missed a golden opportunity to release their own Windows Mobile media device, it has everything they needed but instead they create a custom device which does less.
The Zune would have had a wealth of software including GPS.
How refreshing to read something about the Zune by a real consumer who actually has one and is saying things that have the ring of truth to them.
(It doesn't bother you that everything you've bought will go poof if you don't keep paying $15 every month?)
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Schumi actually won 2 of his titles BEFORE he went to Ferrari. He drove for Benetton and captured 94 and 95 titles with them.
94-95 Schumacher Benetton
96 Hill Williams-Renault
97 Villeneuve Williams-Renault
98-99 Hakinen McLaren-Mercedes
0-04 Schumacher Ferrari
does the FM radio in the Zune support (radio data system) RDS properly which is pretty much the defacto standard, giving you station name, type, details, time code etc?
Even better, could Microsoft please put in a (digital audio broadcasting) DAB radio module and allow you to record digital radio (like the Pure PocketDAB2000, of which I have one, whose only downside is that it takes SD cards for mass storage with a maximum size of 2GB). Noone's sued Pure, unlike the makers of XM radios in the USA, so it's now accepted as a perfectly reasonable thing to do?
Shame the linux-on-zune announcement seems to have been a hoax, the zune hardware is quite sweet, if a tad bulky.
What are the odds of Microsoft getting majority market share in the next 5 years? Give odds and justification.
People laughed at the xbox, and said how will they beat Sony and its PS2? The xbox360 is now wiping the floor with the PS3. However, this is as much due to Sony's failures as MS's successes - to repeat this trick with Zune and Zune-v2, MS need Apple to really f*$%-up badly!
The problem is that DRM hurts everybody. The artist, the consumer, the quality of audio, the quality of audio device, the economy, and even human dignity. On some levels it ruins a fundamental part of the very experience that art is supposed to convey.
Granted, you can get an ipod (or in particular a linux formatted 3rd gen ipod), and put regular unDRMed mp3s on it. As you point out it does make the player unnecessarily more complicated, among other minor problems. However, the fact that there is no free market competitor offering a solid product in the same place, shows that our loss of democracy in 1963 also has led to our loss of free markets as well. (I don't consider those other brand's products as solid competitors. I wonder at their lack of quality with respect to build and ergonomics.)
With reference to the band, they don't support the IRA as such. The IRA is an ugly failed solution to an ugly problem. However, as an analog to our own founding fathers, who I hold in very high regard, I'd say that they have more in common with Franklin and Washington, than the Crown, who interestingly was and is the same enemy. I can speak with some authority on these issues because I have researched them, because I'm IN that band.
Terrorism is ugly, but much uglier is the wanton destruction of human life that is corporate greed and imperialism. The blood on IRA hands I'm sure is a drop in the ocean of blood that is on CIA hands at this point, for instance.
Don't let the lack of a free press in most of the "free" world color your opinions too deeply. History has shown that those attempting to evict a conquering force (win or lose), were generally in the right, and as ugly as it sounds, this means the IRA, the PLO, The American Indians, Hamas, and a myriad of other murderous freedom fighters who have little choice other than to fight or starve.
If you really want to stop the killing (which I'm in complete agreement with you on), you would probably serve yourself and others better by demanding real democracy, and real elections. If we had that here (in the US), I doubt Vietnam, Iraq, or any of the myriad of world problems we've caused would have happened, or at least not gotten quite so bad. Remember that Saddam was the guy WE put in power, shortly after killing our rightful leader (JFK). So maybe Iraq would be a burgeoning civil democracy (like we used to be!) now, had we not done that initially. Who's to say? Certainly we've completely fucked over Iran and all of South America, and largely because we do not have real elections and real representation any more.
rhY
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
no EU == 'la crème de la crème of Europe'
i kid i kid
i consider the scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden,
Really, there's no shortage. I just found the DAP database, where you can enter a set of criteria, bring up detailed comparison tables, and find the audio player that suits you -- e.g. if my ideal criteria are support for FLAC/Vorbis, good battery life, good HDD space, data transfer with any OS, and radio, I can easily find out that the Cowon range is the one for me.
I haven't yet seen any results mentioning the Zune, probably because when I'm entering criteria, I'm entering criteria that I want, and they pretty much rule the Zune out immediately ...
Maybe you guys looked like you needed cheering up after having a bunch of articles dumping on the iPhone? (OK, perhaps it would have been better marked as a "Laugh, it's funny"...)
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
think I speak for most europeans when I say brown does not make me think nazi. It makes me think shit :)
OT: You made me pass a mouthful of Margarita through my nose... very funny.
Most of the stuff on
The 10.2% number came from a marketing research firm named NPD. This firm doesn't have access to the sales records from all sources. This includes Apple online and retail stores, Amazon.com, and Wal-Mart (Sam's Club).
So that number is HUGELY vague because those are really big retailers for the iPod and other MP3 players.
The killer feature, to me, is the unlimited download subscription service. I've been having a lot of fun with that.
That's about the only positive thing anyone ever says about any M$ player. The problem is that most of them don't want it enough to pay for it and hate the software so much that they don't use it even when they have been forced to pay for it by their school. I'm glad you are happy with it, but you would have been happier with just about any other player when you realize how bad the battery life is.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Yes. I spent about 45 seconds scouring the Internet looking for recent data on the sales of each type of iPod - nothing! So even if the non-30GB units don't sell better, that just creates a worst case number against the Zune.
But iPod stats don't matter much for European Zune sales. Microsoft will change a few things to make European Zune customers as happy as possible. Both of them.
Most of the stuff on
the mere fact that they're having to mention just one catagory of the total player sales in the US to find a decent number is rather telling.
Claiming to have 100% of the brown 30 Gig player market was too obvious.
The truth shall set you free!
Are there any good players out there that are affordable that I can slap 15 GB of oggs, mp3s and older (ver 8) wma files on to?
Will you take 2 out of 4? I have a cheap Coby flash player. It plays WMA and MP3's. It doesn't do DRM at all. It takes SD cards, so a small collection of SD cards will hold your 15 GB.
The best part is it is compatible with drag and drop on Mac, PC, and Linux. iPod owners can spend $25-30 for a third party application that returns this basic functionality back to an iPod. My player is in the price range of the other players add on software.
The truth shall set you free!
Excrement over Zune? Would that change the appearance at all? I think not.
However, if they did offer Zunes at a substantial (30%-50%) price advantage over iPods, AND if they beefed up the applications for the WiFi feature,
And had a store for the tunes with prices 50% lower with a full catalog....
People buy iPods because they can use it at the hottest online music store. Nobody buys a Zune so they can shop at the MS Zune store. I haven't heard one rave review of the wonderful selection and prices at the Zune store except one person here in this thread. Someone likes the Subscription model for unlimited downloads. Other than that, I have not heard anything about the online music store.
The truth shall set you free!
MS need Apple to really f*$%-up badly!
;-)
Maybe they will include the Sony rootkit and Sony batteries. After all I heard Sony is starting to use Apple's AAC format. Maybe they traded tech.
The truth shall set you free!
(Okay - it does in that the machine is more complex than it need be, potentially, I do accept that).
If you shop carefully, you can find DRM free players. I have one. It's simple drag and drop loading. No software needed. Compatible with Mac, Windows, Linux, or anything that supports USB flash drives. Plays MP3's and WMA (non-DRM only). Records off the mic or radio and saves the result as MP3's which can be copied off the device.
I won't trade it for Fairplay, Zune, or Plays for Sure compatibility if it removes any of the above features.
Not a plug, just so you know what I found. I bought a $40 Coby flash player and a few extra SD cards.
The truth shall set you free!
So over the past two months I've played with both the Apple iPod Video and the Microsoft Zune and was very impressed with both of them. Both had good sound, were easy to use, and came with more than enough storage for my needs. In the end, I chose the Zune over the iPod and am very happy with my decision.
I love the Zune's interface. It's easy to use, has a pretty good FM radio, and has great audio and video playback. What really made the decision for me was the fact that the Zune has wireless built right into the device and has a good speed processor. This really opens up the device to all sorts of future possibilities, even if they don't come from Microsoft.
Now, though I love my Zune, I can't honestly say there weren't some frustrations or things I'd like to see that simply aren't:
1: I'd like to see the Zune open to wireless Internet. Let me find a hot spot, connect to the marketplace and purchase and download music/video directly to my device. I'd also love the ability to stream content directly from the net to my device.
2: Bluetooth support. I'd love the opportunity to be able to get content to my device via a quick, easy Bluetooth connection to my PC. Sometimes, I don't want to have to find the USB cable and go through all the problems of plugging it in and doing a sync.
3: Record from FM or external mic. Wouldn't it be fantastic to be at a lecture and simply use your Zune to record everything? 30GB is more than enough to accommodate whole semesters of classes, multiple hours of lectures, and all sorts of other audio. And it's be very cool to be able to grab content directly off of FM even though the quality would suck.
4: More accessories! Of course, this problem might be fixed once it's been out a while.
All-in-all, my Zune experience has been positive. The only problem I've run into was with installing the software. My WinXP wasn't fully patched so the software refused to install. I had to spend 3 hours searching the Internet for a solution (which in the end was NOT provided by the ZUNE.NET site) before I could even install my player. Additionally, I didn't like how the software searched my computer and automatically imported all of my media to the device without asking forcing me to have to go through deleted what I didn't want.
Would I recommend the Zune to a friend over iPod? Yes. I think this is one product that Microsoft has done very right and, while I don't like the DRM on the device, I've been told it's less restrictive than the iPod's.
The Zune has possibilities IMHO and I'm willing to give it the try it deserves. I can't imagine anything but loving it but I suppose we shall see.
techie74354@yahoo.com
Anthony Papillion
Advanced Data Concepts, Inc.
"Quality Custom Software and IT Services"
I didn't realise the PS2 was still such a big seller... but even so, I didn't mention the PS2. If Sony had got it right, the PS2 sales would be in the minority, and the PS3 would be killing the xbox360. Personally, I am happy with my original xbox, chipped, with (and this discussion reminded me to update it) the latest xbox media centre. Until the whole hd-dvd and blubetamaxray chaos settles down, along with the hdmi/hdcp crap, I'm not upgrading anything!
"Europeans will be excitedly squirting all over the place!" Not if they watch this video first: An Opinion about Zune.
"i consider the scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, ... ) to be part of Europe's elite as well"
Sweden has been in the EU since 1995.
I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.
And not if they see CNN's opinion: CNN ridicules Micosoft Zune.
http://www.blackfriarsinc.com/blog/2006/12/do-mat
iTunes sells about 22 songs per iPod sold. Something tells me most (all?) iPods have WAAAY more than 22 songs in them. So what are people putting in their iPods? Open mp3s of course. The iPod is a really nice mp3 that *ocassionally* is used to hold songs purchased from iTunes, but that is far from its primary usage.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
I disagree. According to this graph:
Sorry I generalized too much. I should have said some people buys iPods to use the iTunes store. The store does infulence some buying decisions. On the other hand, there are not many people who buy Zunes. Even fewer if any buy it because of the wonderful selection a great prices at the Zune store. I've heard reviewers bash the store due to the 4 registrations required to shop at the store and the store doesn't take dollars, but uses something called Zune Points to obscure how much the music really costs.
One fact that is an issue with many iPod users are they are young enough to not have a credit card. They fill their iPod from their CD collection, their friends CD collection, and songs from peer to peer. They can't shop at the iTunes store with an exception of a gift card. The largest demographic of iPod owners can't buy iTunes with small pocket change. Picking up a $50 gift card is just too big of a chunk of change.
The other thing I have heard is Sony and another label is severely restricting the songs that can be squirted.
The reviewers laugh at it. I haven't heard comments from end users who use the store. I haven't heard of anybody who bought the Zune to use the store.
The truth shall set you free!
I like my Zune. However I mainly bought it for its potential. Not its current state of being. Im really hoping that some 3rd party hackers will actually make this thing useful. Since buying my Zune ive yet to see a single other person in the "social" with its wireless capability. Ive sat in malls, hotels, restaurants, high rise buildings. My next attempt will be at a Microsoft event here next month. If I still dont see any other zune's, ill just turn the wireless thing off forever and give up that ill ever see another Zune.
The biggest impediment I see to iPod users switching to Zune is Apple's DRM. Once users have bought a collection of songs from iTunes (even if it's only 20 or 30) they won't want to throw them away by switching DRM vendors, so they will be pre-disposed to buy another compatible player (and since "fairplay" is Apple only, they will be forced to buy from Apple again). This is actually an aspect of DRM that is not as often discussed. People focus on the lack of portability, but not from the perspective of vendor lockin. heck, one could imaging Apple indexing iPod pricing to iTunes "installed base". As users become more and more encumbered by "fairplay" they become less and less price-sensitive on the cost of the player. In this scenario it seems Microsoft would need to come up with some sort of iTunes trade-in program whereby users could get new Zune-DRM'd versions of any file they bought from iTunes for free or a nominal fee.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
I see this going over as well as the overwhelming success of EuroDisney. And while we're at it, let's put the subscription price in dollars rather than euros/pounds, then lead a crusade into their homes as apart of our "War on Metric". That'll get them on our good side. Silly Americans, we'll never learn
I paid the going retail price for a Windows screen reader and got a free Unix computer!
Once users have bought a collection of songs from iTunes (even if it's only 20 or 30) they won't want to throw them away by switching DRM vendors
Which is exactly why I call any DRM format a Walled Garden and Incompatible with almost everyting.
I have stuck with MP3's. If everyone voted against DRM with their pocketbook, it would have died on the vine long ago. The music industry is in business to sell a product. Buy the music, but reject the DRM. Support e-music instead of iTunes. The artists will follow the money.
The truth shall set you free!
The Zune player has to go under some major changes to get along with Apples iPod and to have a stable market all over the world. Can't Microsoft get something new of its own concept or will it just keep copying ideas?