Lets talk about Microsoft's Zune!

[adrian]

"If you can't beat 'um, make your own" is what Microsoft was probably thinking. Their Zune portable media player is poised to take on Apple's iPod in this sea full of other portable media players.

here's a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMmD6a8N8Q4&eurl=) on the basic operations of the media player, including video, pictures and the FM radio that everyone else has but Apple's iPod. :D

[Leo Lakio]

One of my co-workers called it "MySpace in your hand," because of the ability to share music with friends via wi-fi.

[Palolo Joe]

Sharing music with friends via wi-fi has nothing to do with Myspace.

[Leo Lakio]

One drawback of the music service will be the three-day use limit, but I'm sure someone will be able to hack that before long.

[i-hungry]

The first edition zune is a rush to get in the market. The next one will probably be different. I'll wait until then.

[pzarquon]

Zune launches on Tuesday, and Microsoft is pouring huge bucks into the launch. There've been a lot of previews and videos and the like, but now the main tech writers for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal weigh in:

Trying Out the Zune: IPod It’s Not (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/technology/09pogue.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=technology)
David Pogue, New York TimesCompetition is good and all. But what, exactly, is the point of the Zune? It seems like an awful lot of duplication — in a bigger, heavier form with fewer features — just to indulge Microsoft’s “we want some o’ that” envy. Wireless sharing is the one big new idea — and if the public seems to respond, Apple could always add that to the iPod.

Microsoft's Zune Challenges iPod (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116302848393917854-wNNFl42I1SSNBP6dH5xF08kTRlQ_20071108.html?mod=blog s)
Walter Mossberg, Wall Street JournalOverall, the iPod and iTunes are still the champs. Still, I expect the Zune to attract some converts and to get better with time. And this kind of competition from a big company with deep pockets and lots of talent is good for consumers in the long run.

[Hellbent]

hmm...a music device that microsoft made... I think I'll stick to my PSP and ipod. No BSOD yet.

[pzarquon]

So. This guy (http://www.flx-tech.net/2006/11/zune_on_early_sale_at_bestbuy_1.html) got a Zune early. (Release is officially Tuesday, but his Best Buy store didn't know any better.) He did the whole "unbox" picture taking thing that folks traditionally do with Apple gear. All was going well until he actually tried to use it. Then it wouldn't install -- some bizzare Windows conflict, I'm sure.

How quaint.

I love that he got the brown one. Hell, if I were forced to own a Zune, I'd go for the brown one too. It's funnier that way.

[tutusue]

Can this (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2237) really be true?
"Zune incompatible with Windows Vista"

[adrian]

Can this (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2237) really be true?
"Zune incompatible with Windows Vista"

Well, Vista isn't even officially released.

[tutusue]

Well, Vista isn't even officially released.
Regardless, it's still a problem if it's not fixed before Vista's release in a couple of weeks...isn't it? Makes no difference to me, tho', as I'm a Maccie. I just found the incompatibility a bit interesting!

[Miulang]

Regardless, it's still a problem if it's not fixed before Vista's release in a couple of weeks...isn't it? Makes no difference to me, tho', as I'm a Maccie. I just found the incompatibility a bit interesting!

This is not surprising, given the fact that Squishy has different teams developing the products. It still hasn't dawned on them that making their products/platforms backward compatible (or compatible in the first place) is what will help get customers to buy their products. The Zune platform itself is manufactured by Toshiba. (Kind of like the incompatibility of older PS games to be played on the PS3 box). More than likely an upgrade to Zune will be forthcoming within the next year so that it is compatible with Vista. I'm pretty sure Zune would be compatible with XP, though. And if it's not, some heads will roll over at the Zune offices (where's the QA and UAT?):rolleyes:

Miulang

[Bard]

So. This guy (http://www.flx-tech.net/2006/11/zune_on_early_sale_at_bestbuy_1.html) got a Zune early.

I was just about falling out of my chair at the "installation failed" screen shot. What are those girls doing? Does this thing connect up with the iGallop? Or did they just Join the Social? :D

[pzarquon]

Yeah, I've read that people are messing with their installations just to see that odd bit of stock photography. Who would've thought an installation error would hurt so bad... or feel so good?

The incompatibility with Microsoft stuff is what really boggles my mind. Not working with Vista is forgivable, IMHO... most folks will be on XP for the near future. But the fact that they came up with yet another DRM format, instead of Microsoft's own "PlaysForSure (http://www.playsforsure.com/)" platform, is insane. So even if you did sign up with Napster or other music stores using Microsoft's original DRM, none of that music will work on Zune -- a Microsoft product.

So if you got a Zen player and a MusicMatch account, signing on with Microsoft even if only to spite Apple and iPod and iTunes... you're screwed. You have to start from scratch with Zune.

And the WiFi music sharing is a neat idea, don't get me wrong. But... how long do you think it'll be before there are enough Zunes out there to make spontaneous swaps in your local coffee shop commonplace? Even worse, Zune presumes DRM requirements. In other words, if I were a musician with my own band and music, and wanted to spread my music via Zune so others could check it out... I couldn't make it free or available to pass on again even if I wanted to. The recipient gets three plays, and then the song dies, even for a file specifically designed to be free of licensing constraints. Insane.

[adrian]

I saw it at Circuit City this afternoon, and I think MS should stick to making software instead of making hardware stuff. The screen is very big, but it stretches the album art, and having to change the orientation of the unit to watch videos is odd when its caged on the unit's display.

Too me, the unit was a bit fat compared to my Creative Zen Microphoto, and the screen is useless while listening to music (most of the screen is taken up by the album art).

[GeckoGeek]

But the fact that they came up with yet another DRM format, instead of Microsoft's own "PlaysForSure (http://www.playsforsure.com/)" platform, is insane.

It's the AM Stereo, VHS/Beta and Quadraphonic wars all over again.

[pzarquon]

The young lady with the agonized/orgasmic face in the Zune error screen (http://www.flickr.com/photos/-flx-/294929001/in/set-72157594292367584) has inspired a spoof ad (http://www.flickr.com/photos/deepsignal/298765089/).

I think it was a fundamental error for Microsoft to position this as an iPod killer. It's basically a rebranded Toshiba Gigabeat (http://www.gigabeat.com/). It's not a music player to topple the mother of all music players... it's one of several dozen portable media players. A perfectly respectable product category, but a completely different one from the iPod.

People already sense that it's not a better iPod... it's just another device in line with the Zen Vision (http://www.creative.com/products/pmp/) or iRiver PMP (http://www.iriver.com/html/product/prpv_product.asp?pidx=45) or Archos 604 (http://www.archos.com/products/video/archos_604wifi/index.html?country=global&lang=en), but with an emphasis on music and with an integrated music store.

[pzarquon]

What timing. Microsoft's Zune came out the same week as the Playstation 3 (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=10997) and Wii (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?p=115795), with surprisingly little advertising, and so not unexpectedly, isn't selling particularly well (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2059178,00.asp). In its first week of availability, new gadgets usually spend some time at the top of Amazon.com's hourly Top Gadgets (http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/ref=pd_ts_c_th_more/103-9875532-2621438) list. The Zune made number eight, and is at 23 as of this posting, behind several iPods, cameras, other media players, and GPS receivers.

Of course, Microsoft has deep pockets, and isn't known for being agile in the marketplace. It has a lot of mass and inertia to work with.

[mel]

Supplies of Zune are not running short like Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii.

In this article, the writer says (http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7489/983/):



The first time I tried to download the Zune software, it wouldn't let me even though my system met the Zune software standards - Win XP SP2, a processor that runs at least at 1.5GHz, memory of at least....hang on what is this nonsense anyway!? I got none of this minimum hardware requirements rubbish when I installed iTunes 7, which installed without hitch in exactly five minutes.

In fact, I can imagine all those Windows 2000 and Win XP SP1 users who don't quite have the grunt necessary to install XP SP2 feeling quite a bit miffed by the minimum hardware demand to run the Zune software.

Anyway, as I said, I have an up to date box but the Zune software refused to install. Guess why? Because I tried to download it using Firefox, my browser of choice. Luckily for me an iTWire reader had the same problem. So Microsoft wants to alienate about 13% of browser users - actually about 40% in Germany and more than 20% in Australia - who use Firefox and force them to use IE 7 just so they can download the Zune software.

So, the Zune software has to be downloaded after you buy the Zune? I know for the most part, Apple bundles a CD with iTunes with most if not all of their iPods.

The Zune software doesn't want to download or install if you use Firefox on a PC. You have to use MS Explorer version 7.

You need Windows XP SP2 for the thing to install. Got Windows 2000 or XP SP1? Vista? You are outta luck.

[Leo Lakio]

Scathing review (http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/147048,CST-FIN-Andy23.article) from the Chicago Sun-Times' technology reviewer.Yes, Microsoft's new Zune digital music player is just plain dreadful. I've spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face.
"Avoid," is my general message. The Zune is a square wheel, a product that's so absurd and so obviously immune to success that it evokes something akin to a sense of pity.

[tutusue]

Thread bump...

BREAKING NEWS...

The Zune is currently, as in right this very minute, available for $149.99 at woot.com (http://www.woot.com)!!!

:D

[Random]

One drawback of the music service will be the three-day use limit, but I'm sure someone will be able to hack that before long.
I thought the three-day limit is imposed on borrowed music via wi-fi. If your friend bought a music digitally and is willing to share it with you, then you can only hold it in your Zune for three days before you should buy your own copy.

[Random]

I think it was a fundamental error for Microsoft to position this as an iPod killer.
Why not? What makes iPod better, other than being first out of the gate?