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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."
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."
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!
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.
No, we've always hated it rationally. Also, you don't have to do what the herd does to fit in here, you can also post smart, witty, insightful, or intriguing posts. If they are well written, and the arguments presentedtherein are cogent, you will be accepted here, as is the case anywhere that nerds congregate. Good luck.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
By the way, given the headline, shouldn't Zonk have posted this story?
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
What is the rational arguement then?
You can rip your CD's, or get Mp3's or whatever from elsewhere that don't have DRM built into them, and it'll never question where your music came from. It's had a nice form factor and disk space for the price. Had a nice looking screen, and built in FM.
A DRM-gimped wireless music sharing feature that no other device really has anyways? OK, so don't use it.
Which tends to be the problem when you're copying instead of innovating.
Explain to me how Apple is to backport video to ipods with no video decoder hardware or the ram to run them. Explain how to backport wireless to ipods with no wireless transmitter.
Apple has backported a lot of features, but not all are possible to back port due to hardware limitations. It's like asking Sony to backport your cassette based walkman to play CD's.
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
No. It is hated because it's an inferior product.
;)
What defines inferior. WiFi sync, WMV support and FM are useful features to me, and the fact i don't need to run the hideous iTunes Win port is yet another great feature.
The second generation of Zunes looks quite promising (the first didn't quite) both as form factor, weight, battery life, features, capacity and price. And the 80 GB model has real earbuds, not the garbage shipped with iPod which you throw away and buy 3rd party ones.
I don't have too much love for Zune, but it's a nice product in its second generation. Don't forget Microsoft always hits a homerun on attempt 3
Last question: Do you always hate inferior equipment? Why on Earth *hate* it? Ignore it, dismiss it, not buy it, tell your friends it's not a good buy sure. But hate it? Someone has issues.
So, i was reading a number of the comments that said basically the same thing - it might not be good, but it is better than nothing. Obviously some people feel it is NOT better than nothing, myself included and I wasn't sure why. So, I started thinking about it, trying to understand why I felt the way I did.
I think part of it is a feeling of MS being dishonest. It feels like they are trying to "cheat" the users, to cheat me. "Here is what you want, but not really, so why don't you buy our crippled product."
It ALSO feels like it carries a certain mental baggage. By accepting that someone else can only play it 3 times, I am buying into a system that thinks DRM is a good thing in a very obvious way. With the iTunes/iPod connection, DRM is still there but it is not nearly as blatant. Basically, Apple doesn't get the same grief because the are better at seduction then MS. Apple is the smooth talker that just says, "hey baby, marriage just is not for my thing. Maybe it will be someday." While MS says, "I could give you what you want but I am not going to. Deal."
It is a strange situation. We geeks often hate MS and love Apple. Both are not giving us what we clearly want, but one is more upfront and honest about it. You could also say blunt even. Which, if either, is better? Personal choice I think. Some of us prefer the pleasant lie, some prefer to take whatever we can get right now.
I mod everyone down who says "I'll get modded down for this." I hate to disappoint.