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ZOMG New Zunes
BarlowBrad writes "From PC World: "Microsoft announced a new slate of Wi-Fi-equipped Zune players today, including $150 4GB and $200 8GB flash-based players, and a $250 80GB model that's slimmer than the original Zune. All of the new models feature touch-sensitive controls and wireless syncing with your PC, a much-demanded feature that Microsoft will also make available on the original 30GB Zune when the new models debut in mid November."
Wireless. More space than a Nomad. But draw your own conclusions."
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Circumcision is child abuse.
You still only get 3 plays out of stuff you transfer to friends...
Test your net with Netalyzr
In other words...
"Microsoft releases iPod killer. However, the new Zune was designed to kill the last generation of iPods - not the currently released iPods."
Do we hate this irrationally still? I don't read the newsletter much, but I want to feel like I fit in.
Thanks!
what about the DRM "feature" that essentially made the original zune so...pointless and unwanted by many?
Also, it's not the player - I still can't believe people are missing this. It's the synergy of the player, the music, the store, the industrial design, the marketing and the ubiquity. MS have just changed maybe 2 of these (the design looks to be better). That's not sufficient.
If you saw any of the zune V1 adverts, I think you'll agree they were just plain weird - Apple's promotion of (ahem) a *music* player was to show people enjoying their music. Microsoft's approach should be a case-study in how not to market stuff -
Let's see if they do better this time around. I think they will, marginally. I still don't think they have a world-changer on their hands, and that's what they need - in the same way as Apple need a world-changer to upset the MS hegemony in the PC sphere; even with steadily increasing monthly saled percentages (far better than the zune is doing), a Mac is still very much a second-tier choice.
So - nice try MS. Must do better.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
Is that I hear they are backporting all of the new features to the original Zune. So gen 1 Zunes would get the wifi improvements etc. Hey Apple you listening?
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
does anyone know exactly how large the 80 gb version is? its priced identical to the 80 gb ipod, but it has a bigger screen. from eyeballing the pictures, it looks like it is significantly larger.
Wireless sync and no DRM is a great step in the right direction. The software update even applies to the old Zune. Very unlike Microsoft. Good to see.
How do I order the "new black is the new white" color?
--- What?
Does it do Plays For Sure yet? No, no, sorry, nevermind, I don't want to ruin the slashvertisement.
StoneCypher is Full of BS
You still have to charge the thing. How difficult is it to plug your player in before you go to bed and in the morning it's charged and synched.
Frankly I think we are lucky that they did not change the DRM and force everyone to buy new tracks for the new player.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
They have to lower the price to 1/2 of the cost of an equivalent ipod. (Implicit Pile Of Dung)
is Microsoft paying Universal per Zune to have DRM-free mp3's?
Wow. Up until now, we thought you just threw furniture. How long have you been having these homo-erotic fantasies?
http://www.zunescene.com/zune2pics/zc1-380.jpg
With only seven options on the main menu, you think they could've fit it on to a single screen (settings is below the fold). This is the sort of crap that makes me not take Microsoft seriously. To quote SNL - "Who's the marketing genius who came up with that one?"
Zune. No grapes, no nuts. What's the deal?
So the next generation can wirelessly synch with a desktop. This still misses the potential for wireless.
Can I access the store and buy music DIRECTLY ON THE DEVICE?
Can I download free MP3's available on the Web DIRECTLY ON THE DEVICE?
Can I listen to online streams? (including the BBC, so realplayer may be needed)
Does it have a PodCatcher, or can I add one, so that I can download podcasts DIRECTLY ON THE DEVICE?
Can I use it without ever synching anything with a desktop?
These are the features that could set the Zune apart (yes, even from the iPod) It isn't clear that they get it yet.
Microsofts stock plummeted 12.5%
It will take months to come up with a competitor. These products were probably at manufacturing approval stage before Microsoft got their hands on an iPhone.
Test your net with Netalyzr
I know this opinion will be like an STD here, but the new Zunes actually seem alright.
Disclaimer: I pre-ordered an iPod Touch last week, and am actually expecting it to arrive today via FedEx.
Ars Technica had an overview of the major changes yesterday:
* Wireless syncing with a PC? Check.
* Software now supports podcasts? Check.
* Move TV shows automatically to the Zune? Check.
* Share whole playlists, albums, and podcasts (with no more silly time restrictions)? Check.
* Bring DRM-free music to the Zune Store? Check.
For Windows users, those actually seem like pretty nifty features. The wireless syncing alone is pretty darn cool, and is a feature iPod users like myself have wanted for a while (and my iPod touch STILL will not have). The DRM-free music bit is obviously in response to Apple, but it is a welcome move no matter what the catalyst. Being able to record TV shows using Media Center, and then move those recorded shows to the Zune is nice functionality too.
I also think it was pretty good of Microsoft to extend this firmware update to existing Zune owners, so they get all of this new functionality, and aren't pushed to buy a new Zune.
It's also worth noting that the new Zune's don't come in brown (the 80GB one only comes in black, for example), according to Ars.
I am an iTMS user, so the iPod touch is still my personal preference (and I like the iPhone UI), but for others, the Zune 2.0 finally seems like a more than decent alternative.
With that in mind - flame away.
- Scott
So what! MS releases a new version of their also ran crap Zune and the world yawns. What is their market share right now? 1%? This release will not cause their share to even wiggle.
It's got Wifi, and it has a screen... but I still can't check my email or /. on it.
As such, my 4 year old Axiom still beats the pants off of either a iPood or the Zune.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
does it have Gapless Playback? Please tell me it's got Gapless Playback.
Summation 2
I don't care why you're posting AC
even still...a limit is a limit.
plus with the wifi, u probably be breaking the new law in Japan when u fly with it:
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/03/1620259
Being able to play Halo 3 on it.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
Why is it that when the Zune first came with wireless but only for the sharing feature did hundreds of slashdotters bitch that it would be more useful for syncing and now that they include it for syncing as well we're going to see it bashed?
Be anti-MS all you want but at least be consistent. When MS delivers the product with upgrades that users have been asking for and they get bashed for including it that only means to me that the bashers are little cry babies who look for any reason to cry about the shit in their own diapers.
If you want to plug the thing in then just fucking plug it in. No need to make a big deal over being offered an alternative.
What the fuck am I saying? This is slashdot, nothing is ever good enough for anyone.
Is a headphone jack on the Surface table! Now that would be a PMP that would sell!
load "$",8,1
So "ZOMG" is now officially acceptable for slashdot article titles? What next? OMGZ? WTFBBQ? TITZ? Oh oh oh letz go 4 TEH last one PLZTHXBAI!!11. LOLOLOL.
The point of wireless syncing:
You have your player in a dock connected to a stereo in another room (but not connected to a computer). With wifi syncing, you can sync it without removing it from that dock.
What would be even better would be some sort of scheduled auto-syncing, and to take it a step further being able to remote control the player over wifi.
ah yes, that's what happens when you have a huge bank roll and an utter, ruthless determination to penetrate all markets regardless (xbox, media center, zune, mobiles, pdas). that way you can run at a loss whilst trying to unseat generally successful and entrenched designs with nothing more then pale imitations.
on one hand it's good business. on the other its desperate tactics.
on the gripping hand its still a untrusted (at least by me) DRM infected iPod wannabe with only the merest smidgen of innovation and limited wireless capabilities that make sense only if all your friends had zunes as well.
bottom line: if it was format friendly, had decent free and documented SDKs, and no DRM I would buy one in a flash - but as is? no way.
Have they upgraded squirting to splashing?
Interestingly, I've been paying attention to this story on some of the unmoderated comment nerd boards. It seems like there's some kind of astroturfing campaign going on. Check Digg, where this story has hit the 10 ten twice and any comment that is negative about the Zune is voted down to obscurity. Since I just can't imagine that there are more than abot 4 Zune fans, where are all these diggs coming from? Other boards are showing the same effect. I suspect shenanigans.
Slashdot with it's infinitely more responsible moderation system doesn't show the same pro-Zune bias. (or maybe that's the proported Slashdot anti-MS bias).
I've always wondered about this... and it perplexed me to no great end that no one in the media mentioned this...
:) Definitely a double standard. Apple up to this point has had a lot of slack given to it, both by the media and its users. They better be careful though, with all the missteps lately with the iPhone (price drop timing, locking down the device, etc) they shouldn't rest on their laurels. I for one, will never buy an Apple product again within 6 months of its introduction.
When the Zune came out, everybody lambasted it for not having wireless syncing, even though it had WiFi (come on, this is a "duh of course you should have it" feature). Yet the iPhone came out and it didn't have wireless syncing EITHER. But nobody complained, heck nobody even MENTIONED this. AND... the Zune didn't have the capability to be used as a storage device (e.g. usb drive). Guess what? Neither does the iPhone and iPod Touch!
I'm not a Microsoft nor Apple fanboy (heck, I have an iPhone myself!). But I'm curious as to why no one's complaining about the lack of wireless syncing with iTunes with either the iPhone or iPod Touch. Seems like a... "duh of course you should have it" feature.
(I do know that at least one review complained of the lack of use as a disk drive - iLounge's review).
Seriously, microsoft wants to take this market. If they really want this, why aren't they pushing the boundaries, middle of the road design, middle of the road capacities, and a mediocre implementation of their killer feature. Seriously, how hard would it be for them to stick in a 250gb hard disk, keep the product small, sell it for a loss, and wait for higher uptake and lower costs whilst keeping their products at the high end price ($300). No one seems to play the long game anymore, so Apple never gets challenged.
What's a Zune? :)
I've not bought a Zune nor an Ipod, but I welcome the competition. I've seen improvements now in both and a price drop to go along with it. Currently $10 hand held CD player can do everything I need for my lifestyle, but with the improved storage capacity, lower price, and other features both are getting closer to a point where I'd consider a purchase.
"To be is to do." --Socrates
"To do is to be." -- Aristotle
"Do-Be-Do-Be-Do..." --Sinatra
Take your bitching to Apple and have them add sharing files to the iPod :)
* I'm sure there's some, somewhere.
I would have preferred a roflcopter.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
I think the GB spec is "Gates' Billions" spent on development and marketing the thing.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Zune market share in the mp3 players is about the same of the one OS2 has in the OS world. ...).
Come on guys, be serious. Apple is making $B with the iPod family, when Microsoft is losing money with Zune (and xBox, and
Reality is, no matter how hard they try, they still make money with the very few products they used to make money in 1995. And I don't see any changes in the future. Actually, I predict situation to worsen.
Well, I'm not an iPod hater, but I would certainly never buy for all the reasons that you've probably heard before.
But the Zune? If MS is going to overcome Apple huge lead and cool factor they will have to do much, much better then this. If I had to pick between Zune and iPod I would hold my nose and pick the iPod.
If I could pick anything I wanted I would buy something from one of the many smaller players. One of the ones that supports the subscription services from yahoo, etc. Those services are great, though they are being crushed by iTunes.
What?? The Zune sync cable IS the power cable.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
This looks like you're trying to find something to complain about. Wireless sync'ing is slow? Well, you could hook it to a cable and have it go faster. It isn't like they are *requiring* anyone to synch via wireless.
If you just want to set your device down by your desk for 5-10 minutes while you're doing something else and have it grab the stuff you want, then what's the problem? If you're getting ready to go somewhere quick and need it now, then you're in the same boat as the 1.0 units and iPods - tether the thing.
This is all about providing options that users wanted. How can you come across as anything but a MS hater if you're simply lambasting a feature people wanted because it works like you'd expect?
I stand formerly ignorant, now informed. Thank you.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
I'd say it's still behind the new iPods then.
Apple backports features as well - on the 1st gen iPod I had previously, I had updates well into the third generation of iPods that were still adding features.
But really the better comparison for Zune updates in the Apple world is between the Touch and the iPhone, since it's a much more similar case - very similar hardware with one released after the other. The Touch shipped with the WiFi music store, and a few weeks later we get that on the iPhone too.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You still can only play shared music three times, even if the limit is gone. And that includes DRM free tracks you buy.
Also note the post below about how wireless syncing requires the Zune to be docked!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
With a Touch or iPhone, I can buy the song myself right on the spot if I like it.
Being able to buy songs right on your device is a more powerful form of sharing, since it works regardless of which device either person has.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"How difficult is it to plug your player in before you go to bed and in the morning it's charged and synched."
Not very difficult. But it is a good deal more convenient to sync wirelessly if you just want to add a couple of songs. If you've ever used BlueTooth or 802.11, you have all the pre-requisite knowledge needed to grasp this concept.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
When you get past the Anti-MS bandwagon, the Zune could've been a decent player. I bought one back when the price dropped, and it was a competent piece of hardware; the size was comparable to the other media players, the unit felt sturdy without being too hefty, the buttons were responsive and didn't feel cheap (I never really got behind the iPod clickwheel anyways, give me a set of tactile, clicky buttons any day), the screen was large and bright, and the interface was easy to use and made sense.
The problems I had were the battery life and the proprietary syncing software. Their Zune app made it a chore to organize music, frequently split CDs into two separate entities, or just dumped entire albums unorganized into artist listings (Note that I don't like iTunes either. I'm one of those guys who likes his directory structures just fine). Also, videos would not reliably upload to it. The app did a crappy job of auto-converting supported files, forcing manual encoding more than I'd like. These inconveniences were enough for me to return the thing.
I never ran into the "crippled by DRM" problem. Then again, I don't pay for DRM'd music; I buy unrestricted music if it is available, I'll pirate it if it is not. I never gave the Zune store a second thought for that reason.
The complaints about "squirting" seem stupid to me too. Every complaint I hear about the '3 day 3 play' scheme just seems like "I want to 'share' music without having to pirate/purchase it myself". After 3days/plays, you'll know if you like the song enough to get it through either method. That said, it was a dumb move to cripple the WiFi at all; the Zune is the only seriously advertised player that even has WiFi, they should have ran with it from the beginning.
When the Zune came out, everybody lambasted it for not having wireless syncing, even though it had WiFi (come on, this is a "duh of course you should have it" feature). Yet the iPhone came out and it didn't have wireless syncing EITHER. But nobody complained, heck nobody even MENTIONED this.
Just search back through any of teh 10k/minute iPhone stories from earlier in the year and you'll see this is not true. There were (and are) a LOT of people asking for wireless sync from the iPhone.
I would personally like wireless sync just for quick podcast updates, not for large transfers...
However, did you seee the story that offhandedly claims the Zune must be docked to initiate the wireless transfer?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Did anyone else think the Zune menu font choices in the pictures are a little... gigantic? And grey and Helvetica... It's like the spirit of web 2.0 came down and settled in the Zune.
I wasn't sure if those were real screenshots, or what.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Um... it charges over usb. Isn't that by definition data & power?
-]Phreak Out[-
So can I redistribute those 3? or can I copy those 3? If I could copy them 10 times them squirt the ten copies to a friend that would be 30 plays. Might be enough for many people.
No brown on the big guy, just Black Pink Charteruse Maroon. (blech who thinks of these colors) and the little guy still comes in brown. Perfect for hiding up your ass in a prison camp.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Hey, enough about the brown ridicules. Brown is a warm earth-tone, and is the same colour featured with the default Ubuntu setup. It's also the same colour as wood, and we all know we like wood. Don't we?
Can I hack my Zune so it doesn't run some MS OS, but rather Linux, or some other OS I can trust?
I want cheap little "LAN -> audio" device for my home streaming system. All it has to do is take incoming shoutcast streams and play them out an audio connection (miniplug/headphone, RCA, 5.1, 7.1, whatever) into which I can plug some powered speakers, or (at worst) a full stereo amplifier. But not a device that will tell me what to play, or rat me out to MS, or open a secret hole in my network I'll never find until it's cracked.
Can I make a new Zune do that?
--
make install -not war
I hope $ms didn't put the same hardware locks on this one that the original
one did (to prevent you from rockboxing it). Also I wonder it these
models are clones of the Gigabeat like the first one was.
I only take my ipod out of my car to synch it. If it could be done wirelessly, I'd never have to take it out of my car.
You are not representative of everyone else. The plural of "anecdote" is not "data." Other people may do things differently than you. Get over it. While you're at it, get over yourself.
slut.
Or you're like me and you have your player in a dock in your car, and you never use the player outside of the car. Right now I rarely add new music to my Zune because it's a pain in the butt to bring it inside. I do have to remember to hook it up to my PC once a month to renew the DRM licenses, at which point I may put some more music on it, but that's it. If I could wirelessly sync to the device while it's sitting in my car in my garage, I'd put so much more music on it and I'd never have to worry about songs expiring on me while I'm out on the road.
I can't use it on my Mac. It is, therefore, irrelevant.
Seriously - if Microsoft wants people like me (and the other 2 million people in the last 4 months that bought a Mac) to consider their products, step 1 is making it compatible.
This is a singluar reason why iPod is crushing Zune.
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
Like anyone smart enough to read /. is going to buy a Zune? Come on!
This is not really "sharing".
What if the song i squirt is under creative commons or other licenses? Does it feel nice that MS can decide if the music one decided to give out for free can be shared or not? Does one have to release music under gpl3?
Or for RIAA infected music, can I consider the copy on the zune a backup or am I fscked if the only copy of one track resides on the zune and it can't be retrieved?
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
does it still come in "shit brown"?
"Zune" itself is a Hebrew word for anal sex... which is strangely appropriate for the Zune!
Scenario: So you get home from work to have a shower and walk to your mates place to play Halo 3 on your mates wicked Xbox 360. You just got squirted some cool tunes from a workmate, and you cant wait to listen to them on the way to your friends place. You leave your new Zune next to your computer. It wirelessly syncs to your computer while you have a shower. You come back to listen to the freshly squirted tunes and low and behold, the battery has died. Fuck it, I'm going to learn how to whistle.
This random 3 plays limitation has a terrible uncertainty feeling. The 3 plays are so arbitrary when it comes to how people listen to music, or evaluate it. That's why it's a stupidly thought-out limitation: MS just doesn't get it.
Firstly, how are the 3 plays counted? What if I start listening to the song while working, but then I take the headphones off while a coworker asks a question? If I forget to hit pause, the song will finish playing, but I won't hear it. What if I'm scanning through songs on shuffle in my car, I hear this song come on, but 30 seconds into it, I decide to keep scanning. Does that count as a play? Who knows? There is uncertainty.
So if someone transfers me this song, I have to WORRY about pausing the song before taking off my headphones, or WORRY about not accidentally playing it and "squandering" a play? It's like having a text editor with no undo. This is worrying about stupid stuff. Who the heck wants to worry? I want to listen to music. I don't want uncertainty.
Secondly, people don't simply evaluate music by listening to it X number of times. Often, when listening to music, we may not be concentrating on it, or we may not WANT to put in the effort to think about it. It's the nature of portable music players: we don't have that "I'm in a store, evaluating things" mentality while using them. Yet, the 3 listen count forces that upon us. Listening to a song 3 times in a music store is enough to evaluate it, but that just doesn't fit the casual listening environment of a portable player.
So of course nobody really cares about this squirt feature.
It would be a better feature if it were not so constrained:
1) Three plays is ridiculous, even for evaluation purposes. Partial plays count against the limit as well.
2) It's unlikely anyone has WiFi enabled by default due to battery drain, so you have to go through some setup hassles just to make it all work. And both of you have to own a Zune!
That all combines to mean that even pencil and paper make for a more appealing and useful sharing option. If you could simply transfer a song over to someone, and let them play it forever with the option of buying it if they wanted to, then I might start to consider it of some use. As it is, it's almost never going to actually get used.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yes, and when you buy a MP3 player with wireless capability, a representative from Microsoft actually comes to your house, holds a gun to your head, and forces you to sync it wirelessly!
Cripes, if you don't like the feature, don't use it. Why is that so hard for people on Slashdot to get?
Comment of the year
for the poor kids whose parents don't get it.
It's going to be equivalent of the bunny suit from The Christmas Story.
Like Jonny Fairplay on Danny Bonaduce
I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft.
The real burning question is "How long until they make new hide-a-pods to match?"
I think this misconception (that all wireless syncing requires docking) comes from Microsoft's non-detailed press release. It is, after all, just a press release for products that are coming in November.
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
From the Zune web site:
Music and entertainment, your way. Learn more.
Burger King's slogans:
Have it your way.
Your Way, Right Away
I propose the following for the new 3rd gen Zunes (when they get here):
We do music right.
Finger Lickin' Good
Microsoft Zune. We're Hot and on a Rock 'n Roll.
Zune. Squirt fresh
and... Zune. I'm McLovin it.
Hmmm... Maybe I should trademark those now...
Man... I should resist the urge to even get involved with a thread like this. *sigh*... okay. Let me put up front that I'm pretty firmly in the Apple camp, though I use several Microsoft products on a daily basis, I wouldn't if there weren't a practical need. The first generation Zune's were pretty easy to laugh off, and I really think Microsoft missed a few golden opportunities here. However, to capitalize on those opportunities, they probably would have needed to know what Apple was doing before anyone outside of Apple knew, which is not necessarily an easy task. I didn't seriously expect them to have a capable touch-screen product in this generation, but I did expect them to have a 160 gig model. All-in-all, however, the 2G Zune seems like competition. Maybe not stiff competition, but not something to be laughed off at least which, in this market space, is an accomplishment. I'm glad to see Microsoft pushing some features that Apple doesn't have - competition is good and Apple desperately needs competition in this market space. That being said, wireless syncing (even if you didn't have to plug the darn thing in) wouldn't be enough to justify charging the same amount. I mean, this is going to sound crazy, but people expect to pay more for Apple products. Why would someone go with a Zune for the same price? Oh, I know some people will, but if Microsoft wants to grab a substantial part of the market, they need to either be noticeably better or noticeably cheaper. They've decided not to go the cheaper route with the Zune, which I respect, but they're going to have to come up with some form of really kick-ass distinguishing feature to get most people to even look at their product as an alternative to an iPod. The whole DRM-free store thing- well, they look like a Johnny-come-lately on that given that Apple did it first and that Microsoft has been such a strong proponent of DRM in the past. People are not going to notice if they have more DRM-free songs, they're just going to notice that they did it second. The subscription thing? Well... maybe, but nobody's really found a way to use that model to make an serious impact yet. It seems like a great idea, but when it comes down to it, it seems that people really want to own their music rather than have to keep paying regardless of whether they get new music in a given month. The economics may seem to favor the subscription model, but there's something about being beholden to somebody every month that I think gives people pause. I'm willing to give the Zune a chance - software makes the device, and it's possible that they've nailed it with the interface in a way that puts Apple to shame, and if they have, my next MP3 player will be a Zune. But based on past experience, I will honestly be very surprised if they've beat Apple on that account or if they've evan managed to be more than a cut-rate copy. It's an uphill battle for a monolith like Microsoft, and Apple got quite a head start. But I'll hold out hope for Zune G3 if Zune G2 isn't an iPod killer.
> This bothers me. Why is there such a vocal minority regarding "open up the
> iphone/ipod/appletv/iwhatever ZOMG" (including comments in this article) but absolutely NOBODY
> is whining about how the Zune (and Zen, and everything else) are completely utterly closed?
There are two issues, and none of them involve a conspiracy against Apple:
1) I'd like to buy an iPhone, had it been less closed. I'm sure others feel the same. It is Apples choice, I just believe they have made a poor choice.
2) I don't care about music players, but I care about monopoly power, so I complain about the iPod/iTunes binding. This is similar to how people (and important ones, like EU) complain about Microsoft bundling applications with MS Windows, but not about Apple bundling similar applications with MacOSX.
I'm about ready to update my old Neuros II for something that can do video. At $250 for 80GB (just over $3/GB) I wouldn't mind one of these new players.
Has anyone actually done a comparison between the competitors though? I mean a real feature-for-feature, bug-for-bug comparison, not the typical slashdot fanboy wankfest.
Currently, it looks like the zune is winning from a practical standpoint. It has WiFi syncing, the iPod doesn't. The iPod offers ITMS, which is a non-starter for me. I don't think either syncs well with Linux, which is a consideration (no, using iTunes under wine isn't a viable option)...
Anyone have any real pre-purchase research that a practical geek can look at between these two (or even other available) options?
I guess some of us are just curious why it's such a huge attraction to some people. I know if someone came up with a good scenario where Wifi sync made my life easier or more convenient, I'd be sold. But really, the only time I'd have changes to sync to my media player would be when I'm actually at the computer making changes (buying/downloading songs, videos, etc), i.e. when it's also convenient to plug it in and get some extra charge at the same time.
I've been waiting forever for this announcement!
It is your personal duty to fight for what is right on a daily basis. Ignoring injustice is identical to approving
Off-topic, but if not an iPod (Apple's PO-ed me severely by purposely borking my iPhone), and not a Zune, then what? What music players to /.-ers favor?
Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
...new for old trade?
Or more likely (since it is better for Apple, not the consumer) - bring in your old iPod and get a discount buying a new one.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Actually - that is not such a bad idea.
If by splashing you mean something like transmitting your currently played songs info in the area around you covered by your WiFi.
Seeing people use various plugins to show other IM users what they are listening to at the time, and sites like Last.fm - that seems to be a wanted feature.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Or you're like me and you have your player in a dock in your car, and you never use the player outside of the car.
Ah yes, being able to sync from your car, an even better example of why this is useful. I always wanted a car stereo player that had a hard drive and could sync over wireless. Some sort of auto-sync feature would be even more handy, though even without it could be nice.
My question is WHO would have a WiFi hotspot in their garage?
. . . Does it play oggs?
Plagued with niggers.
You mean... buttons and dials. Oooooh. Very high tech. My computer has touch sensitive controls, a keyboard and a mouse.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
In general, I presume /. folks prefer the iRiver devices, since they support Ogg Vorbis and FLAC (as does the Rio Karma I've got... RIP, Rio). IIRC they're also supported by open source firmware replacements.
My new favourite is the new iPod Nano. The UI is soooo slick and sensible, it syncs nicely with my laptop (a long-in-the-tooth iBook), it's really light yet sturdy, and the wee screen is quite good for watching video, which surprised me. I've been using it to listen to podcasts/audio books while commuting, and watching Firefly while I work out. This is my second favourite tech gadget ever (the first being my Nintendo DS).
Before that, I tried a Sansa e270, which was a piece of crap. It had two (count 'em!) volume settings (WTF), the UI and controls were really clunky, and it only sometimes mounted properly as a USB mass storage device, which is its only interface. WTF, how do you screw up presenting a Flash device as a USB mass storage device?
Before that, I was using the aforementioned Rio Karma, a 20GB hard drive-based player from just before Rio was bought and summarily executed. Despite being dropped several times, it's still working great, I just wanted to move to a smaller device without moving parts. Also, it uses proprietary transfer software instead of just being a mass storage device, which was a bit annoying.
- chrish
p0tat03: I run multiple Macs at home ... wireless sync? On that itself I'm sold
You have checked that sync works over wireless, and that it can connect to a Mac, right?
A Zune employee confirms that not only can you not sync over WiFi, but that you also require a Windows PC to sync at all. No Zune sync for you, Mr. Mac, WiFi or not!
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
Yeah, that's the real rub... the Apple products are simply better than the others :-( They just screwed me out of a $400 iPhone, so I'm in no hurry to give them new business... maybe if the class-action suit is settled :-)
Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
>Cripes, if you don't like the feature, don't use it. the problem is, you still have to pay for it. paying for a feature that is definitely for tech-horny teens is not my cup of tea. why cant we have a fucking decent player with no unusable shit to pay for?
ZZzzzzZZzzzune?
I can't think of a worse program that I use regularly. It's just awful. No standard Windows conventions are respected, it's a processor hog and the latest versions cause BSODs regularly in an otherwise-stable system. Despite ostensibly being a music management program, it's unusable for batch tagging. The syncing and library management concepts are ridiculous. Its one-way copy restrictions manage to make it a terrible program even for managing iPods.
It isn't even primarily a music player or management program. Its main function is to sell things via the iTunes store. (The option to disable the store has vanished in recent versions, which is extra-lame.)
The only reason I still use it is that I have an iPod... and Apple keeps breaking 3rd-party iPod management programs with every firmware update, to the point that it's not worth resisting.
I can't imagine how the iPod has created "Switchers," because judging from iTunes, Apple is at least as shitty of a company as Microsoft. I hate iTunes more than I hate Internet Explorer, which is an incredible accomplishment on Apple's part.
I wonder if they've decided to shift their target market to the visually impaired. Heck, my iPod has a smaller screen but displays 9 lines of very readable text with no problem.
Actually, now that I think about it, since the Zune has the same resolution as the video iPod those same 9 lines would probably look pixelated on the physically larger screen. I never would've thought that the larger screen would actually be a detriment, but there you go.
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
If you have a house with an attached garage and an existing wireless network, there's a very good chance that you already have wi-fi coverage in your garage. I know I do, without having to do anything special to extend the network out to my garage specifically.