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How Microsoft Can Make Zune a Success
jcatcw writes "Zune had potential, but 5 months in it barely gets passing grades. According to the article, there are five things Microsoft must change: 1) The built-in Wi-Fi, aka 'the social,' was a bad idea. 2) Tell newbies what it can do. 3) Create a low-end, flash-based player. 4) Push subscriptions. 5) Make it sexy. A Microsoft representative said, about the wireless concept: 'We felt we were addressing the social aspect of music, and the research we've done has shown that people understand the concept that wireless enables sharing ... but the tagline, while provocative, hasn't meant a lot to consumers.'"
I got one, how about you just remove the DRM in the Wi-Fi?
In other words, make it an iPod? If MS really wants it to be an iPod killer, it has to beat it in every area, not match it. I think the WiFi was a good idea, but it doesn't have the sexiness or ease of use of the iPod.
Wi-fi was a good idea (battery life issues notwithstanding). Crippling it to the point to where it was useless was the bad idea.
If it had useful Wi-fi and the abilty to install Opera on it, I would have bought one.
Nothing wrong with built in wifi...That's a solid feature, if it's not crippled. Imagine being able to really share music with people near you, or to do some limited web-browsing, or, even better, listen to internet radio (if there is any left), if you're near a hotspot.
Crippled as it is, though, it's worthless. It's always the same. Who wants to buy a player that gives you less than other players?
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Oh god I've got to start reading these comments right after the article is posted. First we've got this guy who busts on OP's grammar using the phrase "dune coon", which albeit racist as fuck makes me laugh to the point of epilepsy- and then we have this wiseass who says if you get Dvorak to hate the Zune you're good to go.
*wipes a tear away* Slashdot is good again...
+5, Truth
FooFoobar isn't trolling - this is what Microsoft DOES. I can't really think of many things that they actually created from scratch.
I dare you to name five.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
"2) Tell newbies what is can do." Poor english teachers, at the rate we're torturing them today on /. , some editors are going to end up in prison for crimes against humanity...
I suppose we can now answer the question, "What can brown do for you?" with a solid negative answer.
Seriously, though - if they want to make the hardware a success, go find some balls and tell the recording industry they can take their DRM and shove it where the sun don't shine. Once they're done with that, make the thing scream over Wifi. g is good, n is better. Wifi sync. Bluetooth A2DP. Make it play most audio formats - it's not like there's a shortage of ram for the codecs - use the power used for DRM overhead to put in better decoding.
Quit trying to help the content industry screw the consumers, and it might have a chance - take that 11 digit warchest and help make DRM a thing of the past, and make the Zune the central figure in the battle.
Or just satisfy yourself that apple will always be cooler than you, and your products will always suck.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The market has spoken here. Subscriptions don't appear to be remotely exciting for most consumers. There seems to be only a small minority who want to pay monthly for access to a lot of different music rather than pay once to permanently have access to a specific set of songs.
The article uses NPD's already-discredited research and cites a 10% market share figure.
NPD counts only retail sales from a subset of American-only retailers. This ignores online sales and also excludes a number of Apple sales since MS's channel overlaps Apple in only a few places. It's also susceptible to MS's notorious channel stuffing.
The rest of the article basically discusses features that exist in many other players. Zune isn't even in second place. Why waste so much time and space talking about it at all?
just MHO here, but the WiFi is possibly the most groundbreaking thing it does and it could be much more.
The problem is MS neutered it so badly that it is simply worthless. Ways to fix? Some of these were mentioned before.
A) Full sync over wireless
B) If a file does not have DRM on it, dont PUT DRM ON IT.
C) Allow people to have a "Sharing" folder or flag. People within wifi distance could then listen to a snip of songs that were sharable and request if they wanted a copy of the song.
D) Allow for an architecture that would let people set up a "broadcaster" to send/sell songs out to those who request them. For instance, at a live local show the band could have a laptop running in the merchandise booth that gives out a free song from the band to whoever has a Zune and is nearby. Maybe giving them an option to buy the album electronically. Places like Starbucks could then also be music retailers selling their music they play electronically.
E) Give people a "listen along" option other than "squirting" a song across. That way if you're doing something like working out with a friend you can listen to the friends play list at the same time they are.
Now admittedly, these won't happen because as has also been mentioned MS would have to tell the media industries to shove DRM requirements up somewhere which makes stuff the same color as some Zunes.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
1. Play for Sure???? Why doesn't the Zune support Microsoft's own standard for DRM'd music? That bolws a lot of trust that I will get to play my music in the future.
2. Work with Windows MediaPlayer. You know like Play for Sure devices do.
3. WiFI sync.
4. Allow me to sync with my 360 content. Why the heck do we have Play for sure, XBL market place, and the Zune Marketplace??????
5. Good car interfaces.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The Zune 1.0 doesn't make money. It's the Zune 3.1 that makes money. Microsoft can afford a few unprofitable years pushing the Zune, XBox or whatever, because of their deep pockets. Eventually they'll get a better mix of product features and bundling with Windows to create something that people will choose. Just like the XBox wasn't a short term decision for Microsoft, instead looking toward the XBox 360 and successors for the real revenue stream. When dealing with Microsoft you have to remember that they don't make a killer product right out of the gate. They take what they have and build and improve to the point it becomes good or at least good enough. The first versions of IE were a me-too product. However, making it good enough and strapping it to Windows ensured its victory in the browser wars. Declaring Microsoft is "loosing the war" because generation 1 Zunes aren't selling great misses the fact that Microsoft will continue plugging away at it until the Zune (or whatever it morphs into) will be market dominant at some level.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli -- Clemenza, The Godfather
Actually, that showed that Apple gave people the features they really wanted, and not the features overly-techy nerds decided they should want.
Here is where the gulf between Slashdot/Nerd culture and wider culture is most easily seen. Technofetishists see their computers and associated technology as an end unto itself: the fact that you got Beryl running on an unsupported video card, or that your mp3 player has two features no other one has, is enough to make it interesting. Most people in wider culture--the people you need to make a product a real hit--don't care about the technology in and of itself. They care about what the tech can do for them. So the fact that the iPod was and is relatively small and lightweight is a huge selling point. It easily fits into the pockets of a pair of jeans. I remember a lot of the early commentary on the iPod, a lot of which started with ,"well, my mp3 player is only 25% larger than the iPod. . ."
Although I have no insider knowledge, I will bet a month's Manhattan rent that Apple did a lot of research as to which features people really wanted in their portable devices before making the iPod. I'm sure they still do this. This is the reason they're so successful in the mp3 arena. It's not because of the usual Slashdot reasons, which usually boil down to 'people are dumb sheep and will buy whatever you tell them to.' It's because they sell a device which is simple to use and simple to understand.
The OSS community actually needs more thinking like this. The question shouldn't be, "why is Linux so cool?" The question should be, "how does Linux make my life easier than other operating systems?"
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
2 more things for wifi:
Auto download podcasts (zunecasts?) when connected to a real network.
Get with Tivo so I can cut out TivoToGo and get show directly from the machine.
Except that it doesn't enable sharing! At least not in a timely fashion and not without encumbering it with the most restrictive DRM ever.
The sharing idea is nice, but I wonder if it would have been more effective if it were implemented using Bluetooth -- allowing a Zune to essentially act as a wireless headphone to another. This way you can hear what I'm hearing and I can play DJ for a group of friends (if I had any). If you like a song you can tag it and download/purchase it later. This seems much more social and no one needs to get squirted.
Wanted: witty unique signature. Must be willing to relocate.
At it's core, the original concept for the Zune wasn't a bad one. It's the implementation of those ideas that have brought about failure.
First, design and develop the product from scratch. One of the reasons the iPod is a success is because Apple is involved in every aspect of that device's development. First, Apple has a clear design concept. Keep things simple. It drives the look and feel of both the hardware and software. Secondly, everything is done within a single company and there is obviously open communication between the various departments responsible for it's development. This ensures the software works seamlessly with the hardware. It's why the device is so easy to use. I'm convinced this is why a true competitor to the iPod doesn't yet exist.
So this was Microsoft's first problem. They took an existing Toshiba MP3 player, gave it a new shell and had to develop software around that. They should have set up a partnership with a manufacturer and had them build a device around their own specs. That's obviously a lot more expensive, but if they want to seriously compete with the iPod they can't compromise.
As I've mentioned, Microsoft limited by the fact that they were working around an existing device. But I think they made a few design mistakes. I actually thought the brown version wasn't too bad. But I do agree, brown isn't usually on the top of anyone's list for colors they'd like to see electronics come in.
I imagine the decision was made to go with unconventional colors to steer away from everyone trying to knock off the iPod's color scheme. I do tend to find it annoying that everyone just copies what Apple does. Apple's products look nice, but there's untold potential for different and equally attractive designs.
In general I thought the Zune was attractive. But it doesn't quite have the elegance of an iPod. Interestingly, although it isn't really much larger than an iPod. But it looks gigantic whereas the iPod looks smaller than it is.
And of course, another big flaw in the Zune is limited functionality. Well, it's more of a problem that Microsoft promoted the hell out of some features, like WIFI, but then crippled the hell out of them with DRM crap.
Contrary to what Apple's marketing department claims, Apple doesn't really innovate. They don't try to implement all the latest features into their products. However, I think that's what makes them so successful. What features their products do have work extremely well and are easy to use. Apple knows how to keep things simple.
Given how Microsoft does things I don't think this is a problem they'll ever be able to overcome.
I think the current subscription pricing is amazingly compelling...
Lets say most music fans own 100 cds, and perhaps they paid an average of $12 a disc for them. That's a one time investment of $1200 and they get to keep the music forever.
Now if you take that $1200 and put it in a savings account at 5%, then you should get back $60 year. I pay $60/year for my Yahoo Unlimited subscription.
Hence unlimited music forever costs the same as having 100 cds forever. Now it's possible that market forces will change the pricing of subscription services and it's possible that your CDs will no longer be playable, but I find subscription music to be very compelling.
This is why I bought myself an iPod, my best friend and iPod, my mother an iPod, my wife an iPod, etc. They just work. I've never heard of anyone with an iPod having anything remotely like your experience, a consumer device that requires 10 hours of fighting to get nowhere in an attempt to correct fundamental problems sounds like a disaster to me.
It's all about one single feature: "usability". It's a feature that is subjective, and so, it's something that is always left off of bullet-point charts. The iPod is more successful than it's competitors simply because it is easier to use than any of its competitors.
The cake is a pie
Allowing Microsoft to take control of DRM and hence hedge it's position into a new market as a monopoly would be an incredibly negative thing. They are trying this with Vista with all the DRM implementations and the fact that they have required hardware manufacturers to comply nor not be certified. This makes Microsoft Windows the defacto iPod of computers. You know you are locked into the iPod if you buy from Apple's music store. This means that anyone developing for Windows Vista would be essentially locking in their customer's content to that platform. You may purchase a new video but you can't play that on say a Macintosh or Linux because Microsoft won't license that technology to those platforms. Instead they want to become the monopoly in another market. They are using Vista to do that. They are using the hardware requirements put to manufacturers to make that happen.
DRM is to data what the OS is to program. You don't write your program to work on multiple platforms (with some exceptions), you write software to a specific platform. Microsoft knows this. They are happy to have your software product locked into their OS because it props up their monopoly.
DRM will do the same thing except at the content level. Gates stated that content consumption is the future of computing and that most computers are used to consume that content. Giving them control of DRM, at any level, gives them a monopoly into another market.
If you do not enjoy knowing that Microsoft is spying on you with WGA/WGN and other features of Vista then you should move to another platform now and ensure that those favorite movies, music, etc aren't going to be purchases that lock you into a platform that provides Microsoft with the power to spy on you.
Microsoft has become hostile to its customers and Ballmer is getting hostile toward Linux users. You want to support a company that is hostile not only to its competition but also to its customers? You would not be seeing this had there been adequate competition all along.
To limit your access to content and hence choice is to allow Microsoft to implement their DRM into your OS and into your devices. This is not something we want. We want less encroachment into our lives. We don't let the police encroach on your life and you should not let private entities encroach. To allow this is to say that it is all right for everyone to have their rights encroached.
Linux is the only true answer. It currently out paces the Macintosh world wide and is growing by leaps and bounds. With the distro's such as Ubuntu you can have a fantastic desktop environment that plays your movies, music, and other forms of content without those spying prying hostile hands of the convicted monopolist. Linux protects your privacy. Linux protects your future, our future.
To promote the Zune as a media player worthwhile is to tell everyone that you accept that Microsoft should have control over DRM in that market. We don't want that, we don't need that. We don't need the mediocre nature of Microsoft's products. We need to rapid solid development that projects such as Ubuntu provide us.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.