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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 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
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.
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
Which tends to be the problem when you're copying instead of innovating.
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? :)
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
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
Wait, are you for Apple or MS? Because
:)
"Being able to buy songs right on your device is a more powerful form of sharing,"
sounds like spin out of the MS PR department: "Paying a license fee to see our source is more powerful form of open source because you know what you're getting is supported code"
Just admit its a better feature than the iPhone/Pod and move on with it. You'll still get into Apple Heaven when you die, and be greeted by a hundred user-friendly black turtlenecked angels blowing their iTrumpets.
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.
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.
I'm not saying its a fantastic feature, and not a killer app, I'm saying its _better_ than the current sharing the iPod has, which is 0. So to turn those around:
1). 0 plays on an iPod is rediculous. I can't even hear the song once!
2). Both of you need an ipod!
Of course, if iPod did have this feature I'm sure they'd do it in a better way, but DRM doesn't seem to be one of those things that's up to Apple (see iTunes and pricing schemes for DRM free music). I don't own a Zune or an iPod, but I'd probably go with iPod just because they seem to be a better overall experience from trying them in stores. But either way, my whole point was defending something as "well, it sort of has that which is better anyways and is another form of" makes you sound like a frothing zealot. Just concede the point that "yes, it has crippled sharing, so what?" and move on. Its the same arguments with arguments like "Wii has worse graphics which actually makes it better because...because...because of the wonderful things it does!"
Anyways, we've strayed to offtopic and I think I'm just procrastinating doing work!
for the poor kids whose parents don't get it.
It's going to be equivalent of the bunny suit from The Christmas Story.
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...