Zune Team Getting Amnesty for iPod Use

MsManhattan writes "The Zune development team at Microsoft is apparently offering amnesty to employees who give up their iPods in favor of using the Zune MP3 player. An MSNBC employee has posted a photo on Flickr of the company's 'iPod Amnesty Bin,' which sports an image of a bitten green apple and the words 'Bite me.' Whether it's to be taken seriously or is a joke to boost employee morale is anyone's guess, and naturally no one at Microsoft was available for comment. From what can be seen in the photo, only a few early-model iPods have been deposited."

Comments

new ad campaign ineffective, misses point

[yagu]

I saw the new ad by Microsoft (on American Idol, at least they're finally picking a demographic):

Still, Microsoft is ramping up its marketing efforts around Zune in the hopes it can drum up interest in the device. The company released a pink Zune earlier this month that is outselling Zunes in white and brown, according to the company, and also launched a new print advertising campaign to promote the pink Zune called "Sync Pink." Microsoft also introduced a new TV commercial that highlights the features of Zune that differentiate it from the iPod, such as wireless sharing and the FM radio tuner.

I asked my wife to view the ad (tivo), as I suspected the "uploading one song" (tune?, track?, can't remember) on one Zune screen, and the "downloading one song" on the screen of a Zune behind the first did not convey the "sharing" notion. Sure enough, when asked, she said "of course" she understood -- it was demonstrating how a Zune could upload and download music from the computer wirelessly (something I don't even think it really is capable of).

I explained what it really demonstrated, and she thought that was kind of cool, but I told her she'd have to

• encounter a fellow Zuner within fifty feet of her (unlikely)
• could only play the shared tune 3 times OR
• within 3 days, whichever came first
• live with drm encumbered music

All of which she says (said) "ewwwwww!" to, and not in a good way. Zune is hardly a product that lights a fire under any consumers' desires.

Re:new ad campaign ineffective, misses point

[soupd]

And anybody who bought into Microsoft's 'Plays For Sure' DRM, which Zune doesn't support, is surely going to think twice before picking a Zune over an iPod.

Re:new ad campaign ineffective, misses point

[Andy Dodd]

I think the point made a few posts up was that people are angry with MS not because of DRM in general, but because they pushed the "Plays for Sure" DRM initiative, which had two problems:

a) It didn't really "play for sure" even on devices that were theoretically compatible and supported
b) After heavily marketing PlaysForSure, Microsoft made their very first self-branded media player incompatible with it. Not just "claimed compatibility that doesn't work" but explicitly "not compatible".

As much as Apple's DRM sucks, at least one thing can be said about it - It's compatible with every iPod ever released since Apple started using that DRM technology, and as far as anyone can tell will continue to be compatible with all future iPods. Yes, you're locked in to Apple hardware, but at least you don't have to rebuy your music every time Apple releases a new iPod, whereas Microsoft's track record with compatibility is awful, even between different versions of their own products.

Uptake ?

[Space cowboy]

So, according to a manager at Redmond, there are ~16,000 iPods at MS-HQ. From looking at that bin, they've managed to get about 0.1% of those people to "upgrade" to a zune...

I especially love the employee who gained brownie-points by putting something (anything!) in the ipod-bin, even if it was only an iPod *cover* [huge grin]. I wonder if Steve (that's Balmer, in case of confusion) was watching him walk on by, and he thought he had to put *something* in...

If MS can only get 0.1% of their *own* people to switch, they ain't gonna make it too big in the far more neutral marketplace...

Simon.

Corporate welfare?

[aero6dof]

I'm missing something here. Why would anyone deposit a few hundred dollars worth of hardware into essentially a trash bin for the sake of an anonymous show of company loyalty?

Make a better Zune

[PackMan97]

I would think that the Zune team should be working on making a better mp3 player instead of trying to guilt trip MS employees into giving up their iPods.

Heck, it should be mandatory for every single employee on the Zune team to have an iPod just so they know what the best in breed mp3 player looks like.

Re:In other news

[fistfullast33l]

Who the heck modded you interesting? Is their sarcasm-meter broken? Just because someone says the word interesting, doesn't make them interesting.

Insightful +1

keeping track of competition

[j00r0m4nc3r]

"Most of the people [working on] Zune would want to have an iPod to keep track of the competition,"

That's right, how can you copy your competitor if you don't have any of their products on hand? Oops, did I say "copy"? I meant "compete with".. my bad..

no, use *your* headphones.

[oni]

plug their dirty headphones in your ear?

just plug your headphones into their ipod.

What's the matter, you don't have your mp3 player with you? Well then, you wouldn't be able to share with the zune either.

Re:no, use *your* headphones.

[Mockylock]

Damnit, i AM a retard. ;) This is true.