Zune to launch November 14th?
By Ryan Block 
posted Jul 31st 2006 12:13PM
posted Jul 31st 2006 12:13PM
Alright everybody, we've all had a few days to cool down on the Zune stuff -- hope you've been well rested. So with no further delay here's the latest from from the inside: a trusted source has given us a little more to go by on the hardware end, including a few specs we more or less expected or heard, such as that the Zune should have a 30GB drive, black, brown, and cotton color options, FM tuner, 13 first party accerrories available at launch (and who knows how many 3rd party accessories), and a 50% larger screen than the iPod with video (making it 3.75-inches if you're talking diagonal, and not areal). The jucier bits, however, are that we can all expect to find out some hard information from Microsoft in August, and that the player is slated to launch on November 14th, right in time for the holiday buying season (what a huge surprise). As always, more to come.
I can't wait for this thing to come out!
what, no 60 gig version? i was all ready to sell my 40 gig ipod and make the switch back to the evil empire.
I can't say I'd ever actually buy this, I enjoy my iPod and it's integration with iTunes etc but it definitely is different to see SOMETHING being released that has actually tempted me. I can't wait to hear more about the actual specs and how it'll work (definite information, not speculation)
Now the competition begins, and the consumers will win! I just found out about puretracks.com and think that will be a great combo...
is that what they are using to take away attention from the PS3? lol thats pretty funny.
I have a feeling we'll get full specs, a release date, pricing, and all that at the time WWDC starts when Apple announces all it's lateest iTunes, iPod, and iPhone stuff.
Black, Brown & Cotton? lol
Cause you know that other (not mentioned) company is already associated with White, so we can't just White!
Black, Brown & Cotton baby!
Should have a internal speaker. So i can watch a movie without headphones.
"black, brown, and cotton color options"
Nice to see that they're going for that oft-neglected Southern plantation crowd.
I mean, are they serious?
I think the colors are racist because black and brown people used to pick cotton. :(
I believe that only maintaining a 30 gig, hard-drive based player is going to be a massive impediment.
Power-hungry, impact-sensitive, corrupt data . . . I think they're already missing the mark, straight from the Gate.
Okay so let's analyse these "awesome" features:
30GB drive: for the price of a 60GB iPod? No thanks
black, brown, and cotton color options: Black is fine but shit brown and dirty white, bleh! I hope that image is an early prototype cause that player is fugly.
FM tuner: I have an MP3 player so I don't have to listen to crappy corporate radio
13 first party accerrories available at launch: I'm sure they are including subscription cards and Pre-paid cards in this. I mean other than a case, car adapter and FM transmitter, what else could you need?
Including and a 50% larger screen than the iPod with video (making it 3.75-inches: that is 50% larger than last year's iPod as Apple will undoubtedly make some major changes this time around.
I feel like I'm alone in thinking that this Zune looks like an overhyped, subpar product with no future. Just another iPod/MP3 clone.
@djphatjive
I agree that it should have internal speakers, but just so you can preview some things without having to plug in speakers or headphones.
But there's no way the speakers will be any good - or even very loud. Would you really want to spend 2+ hours listening to that (not to mention staring at that small scren).
so looking at that prototype. you turn the thing in it's side to watch a video in "widescreen" mode and then the control placement gets messed up. hmm not alot of thought put into that it seems. this is the reason apple didn't go this path with the video ipod and why they are going to innovate right past this with the full screen ipod and none-touch interface. ms will be out before they even begin.
November should also be right around the time that PS3 could launch. Huge marketing blitz put on by M$ would be beneficial to counter both the iPod attention of consumers as well as the attention of the PS3. It's a possibility.
"13 first party accerrories available at launch"
There goes the notion that MS made it more attractive than Apple for third parties, doesn't it? I mean: yes the iPod program can be expensive BUT it's optional AND yes, Apple makes accesories but much fewer than half of this count and that's after 4 years...
What incentive does a third party accessory maker have to make products for a device with 0% marketshare (and only 15-20% in the next five years if optimistic) when that party is already covering all the bases?
And why would they be covering all the bases if they had attracted any (if not some) of the third parties to the game?
Puretrack's encoding is 192 so that would have far better sounding tracks than any of the other sites that I'm aware of.
Well, I think its still early to judge this product as all the Apple fanboys are doing. I think it has potential, as long as MS doesn't make the same errors with the OS usability they have made on a lot of thier products (lagging response of PPC for example) I think it could be alright...
Someone will come out with a converter that will allow iPod accesories to work with the Zune...
I think the Zune will be a great seller this holiday season.
Will it resist scratches better then the iPod? Will the battery last for more than 2 hours on video mode? Will it come with a wall charger? Here's the real kicker: will one be able to use it in OS X? I mean, will this only use Media Player 10/11? If so then this thing will only be usable in a Windows environment. I think if Microsoft really wants to stick it to Apple then develop a Media Player that works in OS X, right?
Also, will this thing look like a Toshiba Gigabeat but with a circular controller instead of a cross controller? If so then what is the big deal here?
yes to all of that i printed out all the info
yes 2 all og that i printed out all the info
I wasn't excited until I read that Microsoft expects it to take 5 years to defeat iPod. This makes my participation really exciting! I'll be part of a major struggle! I'll play a part in deciding choices consumers will have for years to come!
I can buy crappy Microsoft iPods for about five years and defend them in arguments with iPod losers, yelling "You take that back! You just wait! We're gonna kick your *ss!"
Then, after upgrading about every 1.5 years because ... well ... because they're going to be crappy, I'll be able to swagger and hold my head high by my third or fourth Microsoft iPod, knowing I'm somehow connected to the world's richest man! I'll have done my part to help create a desert where there used to be a confusing market with choice and stuff! I'll have eliminated one more threat to MIcrosoft ecosystem! And what will it have cost me? Hmmm .... Wait a minute!
"Someone will come out with a converter that will allow iPod accesories to work with the Zune..."
Ha, ha, ha. It's a proprietary interface that Apple can control the licensing of... not going to happen.
i cant say i am too impressed with features compared to iPod. i always thought that in order to have a successful alternative product, you need to be at least 30% better than the competition. microsoft thus far is virtually mimicing them.
is the fm tuner, shared music with buddies, and greater versatility with mp3 market choice that big of a selling point?
if microsoft really wants to hurt apple, i would build the zune on an open platform to allow user generated plugins. with its wifi capability, you could be able to view your email (doubt you could respond with a wheel), use all of your little widgets, play games, and who knows what millions of things the world will create for it. that is something Apple could/would/hasnt ever replicated....
I hope they have a 60 Gig for the $399 price. You will need a 60G device to have a nice collections of videos. A 30G device will not steal the show from Apple.
"Ha, ha, ha. It's a proprietary interface that Apple can control the licensing of... not going to happen."
You are an idiot. What does this have to do with someone coming out with a converter that will allow iPod accesories to work with the Zune. It would be a device which converts Zune to iPod standards to work on pre-existing devices.
You saw it here first (I know someone working on it)
"What does this have to do with someone coming out with a converter that will allow iPod accesories to work with the Zune."
Apple owns the male and female end if the connector, dumbass. The interface is not just the female end.
wow november is gonna be a big month, with this possibly, the ps3, and the wii, i better start saving up
"Apple owns the male and female end if the connector. The interface is not just the female end."
The device goes between the apple connector and 3rd party product! Game over pal
"What does this have to do with someone coming out with a converter that will allow iPod accesories to work with the Zune."
good luck with your lawsuit.
And @ the end of the year Apple will introduce the new Video Ipod!!! much larger screen with an integrated touch screen menu...sweet!
You can tell who the apple fan boys are. We still know very little about what this Microsoft player will include. It's mostly all spectulation. Why don't you wait until the specs are official, the player is released and you get some hands on time with it before making your stupid comments?
Like everything else the iPod has flaws which have gone uncorrected with every revision. For example, lets talk about battery life which is always horrible, $299+ with no AC adapter, and scratch prone. Bluetooth should have been added during the last ungrade for wireless headphone connections.
I have an iPod 60GB Video and while I do love the way it looks, the easy intigration with iTunes, and ease of use. I will continue to keep an eye on what Microsoft has to offer. I don't expect them to beat apple right out of the gate or ever for that matter. What I do expect is that we will see a new innovation with the iPod driven by the features rumored/implemented in Zune. Beleive it or not even the iPod and Apple probably wouldn't win a war of attrition with Microsoft.
The next couple months will be very interesting.
Uh, macproguide, any use of the Apple connector requires licensing from Apple. Apple can pick and choose who licenses it. A 3rd party cannot make this device without Apple's expressed consent. I don't know why you keep repeating the same thing; it doesn't get the need to license from Apple out of the picture.
Game over, pal.
LOL God im so sick of people with iPods...
"cant say i am too impressed with features compared to iPod"
WTF are you talking about? What features does the iPod have exactly? Beyond the clickwheel... it plays mp3's and videos and is locked into itunes... umm ... ya... ummm... i'm not seeing any "features" here buddy.
They even said they have no intentions to add wifi or add features like the store from the device purchasing... so while i can walk around and buy songs or via subscriptions just grab songs while im on the road via wifi you have to go home.. load up your crappy itunes and download songs ...
The fact is the ipod is one of the least feature rich devices EVER.. the device has 0 features, i mean give me a break their are a thousand devices out their that are better than the ipod... what the ipod does hve is IMAGE, its an ipod after all people like saying they have an ipod... but when a big name like Microsoft gets involved no one knows whats going to happen look at the 360... they expected them to take maybe 5-10% marketshare in the last generation and they ended up beating out nintendo... and then analysts all said they would drop out ... but nope their back with the 360... microsoft's hardware division is awesome and people neglect to understand that.
As for the guy saying that they will be crap and have to buy one every 1.5 years... no thats the ipod... last i knew microsoft hardware hasnt had issues like that... i've had a keyboard and mouse from them for 5 years without a glitch.
You can bitch about windows being buggy or whatever but when it comes to hardware stop being arrogant, thats one thing microsoft is inherintly good at... the problem is they try to stay out of hardware and just provide frameworks so other manufacturers can make cash. But that hasnt worked in the past because no one seems to be able to crack apple, so microsoft has had to step in.
I DO HOPE HOWEVER< that they follow the color conventions that they provided in the Vista Hardware pack for companys... Obsidian and Ice would be wicked combo for a player like this.
"The next couple months will be very interesting."
The next couple of months will only see more rumors and leaks from Microsoft. Don't blame iPod fans for responding to Microsoft's game.
Jeff, you're killing me man... "...Southern plantation crowd"... that's classic.
You hit the nail on the head though. So far, the image they are going for is "corporate stiff" or "office stodgy". This can hardly compete with Apple's projected image of hipness. I mean they might as well just use the "PC" guy from Apple's latest ad campaign. He's a perfect fit for a brown MP3 player.
Regardless of technical specs, kids and young adults (the biggest market for these things), will buy what's cool, and what's elegant. I highly doubt Microsoft's device will be either.
Chris,
i agree with a lot of what you say. the ipod doesnt have that many features, but at this point i am not really interested in the stupid ones touted by microsoft with the zune (then again, who actually watches movies on their ipod). i dont want to be harassed by some stranger on the subway who is interested in hearing what i am listening to....
nonetheless, microsoft is a great company. i prefer windows to mac osx any day. its cheaper, has just as many features, more efficient (i have yet to see any mac pro use a mac as efficiently and productively as pc pro (my best friend is a geek at a mac store), but then again, i dont see macs being used in a corporate setting).
but the ipod is still a good product, as is its integration with itunes. microsoft's domination of the video game industry was systematic. i have no doubt that they could do the same with music player. as for pcs, you can read in tons of places how microsoft is now setting its sights on makeing them more elegant for users instead of relying on pc manufacturers to do it.
either way, dont take shit so personal. this is all just a game.
"WTF are you talking about? What features does the iPod have exactly?"
Umm, hello?!? Snake...
i think both sides of the coin need to ingest a sedative.
this is going to be the most impressive launch for an mp3 player in quite some time. for a first gen device, microsoft has a very, very good idea of what consumers want, besides the color choices (brown? cotton?).
i also think that apple is waiting for people to go nuts over the Zune so they can say "wait. can your zune do this?"
the Zune would be great if it came out a year ago, but the fact is, they're going to suffer the same fate as creative, sandisk, toshiba and sony because they can't innovate. wifi is not innovation.
the Zune will be great once they include video gameplay.
We'll see about Zune. The current news isn't too awe-inspiring, but then again nobody expected the original Xbox to be a smash either. I expect great things from the guys that brought us the Xbox, and I hope they have enough sense to not screw this up.
"The next couple months will be very interesting."
Yeah, we get to see Leopard next month.
Other than that.. who cares.. nothing interesting on the WIndows front, and the iPod will just keep kicking ass and taking names..
Chris, honestly I think you might be missing the point in terms of this whole feature discussion. As you said, there are many players out there that have more features, but consumers haven't been buying them. The reality is that just packing as many features as possible into a music-playing device isn't really selling products. I think MS has finally realized that with the Zune, and you can see that they are emphasizing a similar focus on the core experience.
The "image" of the iPod is certainly a factor too, but that only gets you so far. If the iPod were a piece of crap that no-one liked, it would have died out a while ago - you might get people buying iPods for a generation or two based just on image, but if the product didn't work for them, they would not continue buying them.
Image gets people in the door, but the way the product works is vital too. I think the mistake that iPod competitors have made in the past is thinking that the iPod can be beaten just by sticking a ton of features in their music players. With the Zune, MS has realized that the experience in general is really vital to the player's success.
Leo, just out of curiosity, could you provide some more details on this one? "more efficient (i have yet to see any mac pro use a mac as efficiently and productively as pc pro (my best friend is a geek at a mac store), but then again, i dont see macs being used in a corporate setting)." I'm sort of curious about what sort of use of Macs you've seen that you've never seen a "Mac Pro" (I assume that means a professional Mac user) use a Mac as efficiently and productively as a "PC Pro".
The fanboys will cry later, remember: we are not the ones that had to celebrate becuase our PC company finally made a mouse with 2 buttons!
"more efficient (i have yet to see any mac pro use a mac as efficiently and productively as pc pro (my best friend is a geek at a mac store)"
Yeah, because kids working at retail are clearly pros... Why have a real job when you can work part-time making near minimum wage at a retail store... That's who I think of as a "pro user."
Zadillo, on quick thought two examples come to mind....
up until recently, the fact that there wasnt a two button mouse (and applications to go with it) forced mac users to manually click on the % button or scroll to the top. you may see this as a minor detail, but for excel monkeys like myself, this was limiting...
this may be out of ignorance, but i havent seen people be able to hook up multiple monitor displays, which is really useful in cad applications and running bloomberg.
but in all fairness, my experience with mac is limited to that of my close friend, who works in a mac store but is not a hard core computer user by any means, and my girlfriend, who uses macs for artistic applications (like photoshop) for which speed of program and mouse navigation is unneccessary.
tf ,
the kids working the retail mac stores undergo a considerable amount of training in order to service the world's mac needs (which are considerable despite what apple would lead you to believe). just like anyone who specializes in servicing a pc is probably more familiar with certain nuances that non-specialist would never take the time to figure out.
"this may be out of ignorance, but i havent seen people be able to hook up multiple monitor displays, which is really useful in cad applications and running bloomberg. "
I can testify that I can do so quite easily and that OS X makes it much easier than Windows.
"who uses macs for artistic applications (like photoshop) for which speed of program and mouse navigation is unneccessary."
Huh? Speed and mousing is necessary. But moreover, your complaint centered on lack of keyboard shortcuts in which any pro Mac Photoshopper should be very efficient and know them all.
BLACK BROWN and COTTON
as in "bill gates probably could get several black men with the last name of brown to pick his cotton" wow this is as good as PSP Netherlands campaign lol this is great
"the kids working the retail mac stores undergo a considerable amount of training "
So what? I can find 10,000 kids who went through all sorts of Microsoft training and I wouldn't call them pros. I can grab a bunch of fools out of CompUSA's tech support section and not call them pros.
If you want to claim you don't know a single Mac pro (which seems pretty clear), that's fine. Don't assume you know anything about these people you do not know though.
There are plenty of Mac pros who are just as efficient and/or more so than equivalent Win pros. You just don't know them.
touche tf.
Leo, I think you are using that term correctly.
;-)
Thanks.
Everything about the Zune is lame, from it's buggy OS, to it's ricuously high price. More typical Microsoft bloatware.
Don't we get this same song & dance every year right before the holiday season? The great "iPod killer" that will force Apple into bankruptcy. Every year there's a product hyped on Engadget (though nowhere near this level) with everybody arguing about iPod pros and cons and how this new player can attack those vulnerabilities. The new player will have better battery life, the new player will have better features.
And the company coming up with the "iPod killer" for that year is going to do a better job than the company that tried last year. Because Dell has the production capacity and can offer a price advantage, because Sony created the Walkman and has the experience, because Samsung hired a former Apple software designer, because Microsoft has WiFi, J Allard and gabizillions of dollars to throw behind a marketing campaign!
Problem is, the iPod-hater-club never thinks of what Apple's working on at the same time. They only consider what Steve Jobs put on the market that previous year. Then Apple drops the iPod mini. Or the iPod nano. Or the iPod w/ video. iPod sales grow from the previous year. The "iPod killer," ironically, ends up the player with six feet of dirt over its (likely unintuitive) controls.
Then it's back to the drawing board, heads low. Another year of hateration for the comments section of Engadget iPod posts, another year of bitter anger. Another year of waiting for the true "iPod killer."
I am beyond sick of these idiotic iPod fanboys/girls. Face it, the battle is over. I own a 30gb black iPod video, and I haven't been impressed at all. Sure when I first got it, it was a great improvement. But after realizing how many flaws it has, I was ready to throw the stupid thing away. First off, terrible video battery (2 hours). Secondly, this thing scratches like insane. I can't even watch videos anymore because the screen is so destroyed. I only put it in my jeans too, it's not like im throwing this thing around and playing catch with it. I spend $300 on a product, I shouldn't have to go buy a $30 case that destroys how it looks. It's constantly freezing and crashing too. With Microsoft's new offering I can finally get a good sized screen, and WiFi. I don't see how you guys aren't impressed by the features, NOTHING HAS BEEN FINALIZED. I bet if Apple decided to incorporate WiFi all of you would be saying, "THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER!!!1111". Morons. You're all ignorant to the fact that Microsoft has a successful branding name here (Xbox), and it will use the same business strategy to take away the market share from Apple. You know Microsoft is a serious threat, and you're gonna take it hard. Finally I can have a decent music player and not be one of those iPod girly fags that think it's the greatest thing ever. Suck it Apple fanboys, the war has begun, and it's our move.
i would love to see the iPod get taken down (until the next one is revealed)
"I don't see how you guys aren't impressed by the features, NOTHING HAS BEEN FINALIZED."
What? We can't be unimpressed because we know nothing, but we are supposed to be impressed because we know nothing? Uh huh.
"Morons."
Yeah...
"You're all ignorant to the fact that Microsoft has a successful branding name here (Xbox), "
You're ignorant to the fact that Bach said that the brands will be kept different even if the product teams are the same because they don't want to dilute the XBox brand.
"and it will use the same business strategy to take away the market share from Apple."
Lose billions. Brilliant! Hell, even Rio and others who are now dead could at least make a profit on a device before they floundered with a "Killer" strategy; why can't MS profit off of anything?
"Suck it Apple fanboys, the war has begun, and it's our move."
Our move: coming in 3.5 months with one device in one country for only 4 weeks of the Holiday season... The Iraqi National Guard had better opening moves than that.
You idiot. They're going to have Live Anywhere, and Live Marketplace incorporated. How does that have nothing to do with Xbox?
You Apple fanboys/girls digust me beyond belife. The iPod is an awful product, it just became the cool thing to get for no apparent reason. Now everybody has it, and it's not cool. The trend is dying. I don't care what you say, Microsoft will come out on top again. And you'll be crying alongside Steve with that new scratched up iPod with the locked into iTunes scheme.
"You idiot. They're going to have Live Anywhere, and Live Marketplace incorporated. How does that have nothing to do with Xbox?"
You're the one who mentioned branding, not me. All I'm doing is citing the head of the program.
And as for features, tie it to a service that only reaches 18 million consumers/devices: that's brilliant! Apple sells 18 million iPods in two quarters, but the Zune will be a killer by having its best functionality tied to a userbase half the size of a year's worth of iPod sales. Brilliant.
Apple fanboys... to your battle stations!!!
This is just about the most perfect player! Hopefully it will be around if not a little cheaper than the iPod. I'm sure that someone will hack it so you surf the web too.
Leo, just about the "single mouse button" thing. Most Mac Pros have not been hampered by this for a very long time. Older Macs running the old Mac OS eventually gained support for multiple mouse buttons, and Mac OS X has always had support for multiple mouse buttons (because NextStep before it also had this support). If you plug in any multi-button USB mouse, right-clicking will work just fine and as expected. The only thing has been that Apple has always remained fairly committed to using single-button mice (and even with the Mighty Mouse, it's still sort of a weird approach to left and right mouseclicks), but this just means that people have needed to use a third party mouse, which isn't that unusual (frankly, on a lot of PC's the bundled mouse is usually junk anyway, so getting another mouse isn't that odd).
As others have said here as well, dual-monitor support is actually pretty simple with Macs. Actually, Macs supported dual monitors for quite a while before Windows gained that capability.
But will it play .avi files and record mp3 audio or will it be bastardized into something useless through DRM and proprietary rubbish?
What I find fascinating is despite the many many hyping of products by Microsoft only to let everyone down when release (Windows, Origami, MSN Music, Tablet PC, Spot, the Butterfly etc.), the fans are still licking their chops over yet another hyping. How about we let them prove themselve this time around eh, instead of being an extention of their marketing department.
I'd really like to hear more about the Zune Live service and the user interface. Also, I'm hoping for centrally stored user playlists and music so you can access content from anywhere (pc, windows mobile, 360, etc.) Hope they can pull it off...
@ Tiger check out allofmp3.com, it's awesome, choose your filetype and bit rate from like 32 kbps up to 300 I think, 2$ for a whole album sounds darn good to me!
Zadillo, thanks for explaining:
Amazing that we are still hearing people say Macs can only work with a one-button mouse. People actually refuse to buy Macs thinking such. My first Mac 12 years ago, I was using 2 button mouse, multiple monitors.
Follow the link for a little Mac envy runnig Windows XP, Mac OSX and Linux:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE1XQyT_IbA&mode=related&search=Mac%20Parallel%20
While I don't particularly like OS9 or OSX, I would say that Apple understands portable mp3 players. MS has shown no prowess at this whatsoever. PPC2003, PPC2003SE and WM5 are clear indications that MS thinks that mobile MP3 players should be as much fun as DOS. Don't get me wrong - you can do plenty with DOS but it isn't user friendly as Windows. (Yes I still use DOS for quite a bit of technical work but MP3 playing shouldn't be technical).
WMP10 available in WM5 is a POS. You have to go through FAR TOO MANY MENUS just to play a song or to select a group of songs. Playlists are unreliable and a PITA to set up. I think MS should work on making WM5 have a nice MP3 player before they try to convince us they know anything about portable media players.
The only thing that could hurt the Ipod at this moment is getting the idiotic public to understand the great benefit of subscription music. How many of us have heard the argument "but you don't own the music", as if we are not aloud to buy it, frequently for 20% less than ITunes sells it for? Until some company explains in simple terms how subscriptions work, the foolish public will continue buying a machine simply because it has a clickwheel.
The best product does not always win. The best advertised product does. When will all the non-Apple competitors finally realize this and hire an ad agency that understands this?
Brown?
I can see the ad: "The Brown Sound of Zune!"
Hopefully they can get this thing to get thru a song or two before getting a blue screen of death.
Ah, yes, the uniquitous "blue screen of death" comment, undoubtedly from someone who doesn't use a Windows computer.
I work for a small company that utilizes about twenty high-end computers, both Mac and PC based, and part of my job involves tech support. Our computers get a LOT of use, so we rely on them to be workhorses that don't fail often, if ever.
I haven't seen a single "blue screen of death" since we moved to Windows XP. I have, however, seen that lovely "YOU MUST SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN RIGHT NOW" message, in three languages, on our OSX workstations at least a dozen times this year alone.
I can't really picture a brown zune, unless it's wood grain.
I love screen dumps on tiger, they are a beutiful thing. We to have our share of macs running 10.3.7 and Windows 2000 server. We have about 40 boxes running server the rest of the workstation run xp. We only have 15 macs and three xserves. I will say that the macs do crash quite a bit more... of course they are used a lot more(processing floating point calcs and fly trap and graph, probably 22 hours a day) However, when the macs do crash we can usually bring them back up in about 5 minutes or less. Now when our XP and Server 2000 boxes crash I get paid overtime. So, if it was me I woud love to have windows boxes only since it really takes some tinkering under the hood to find the problem and fix it... most of the time, we just pray. But truth be told, I can't afford my boss to purchase macs, I don't want to lose my job... and I really enjoy sitting around doing pretty much nothing everyday IT is really just a big insurance policy.
I agree, apple ipod has no features per say. just plain old mp3 shit. Microsoft has a history of innovating to beat competition. They will offer the edge that is required to get the market share. For the end consumer this just means better pricing, more features ... i'm lovin it. Go Zune!
"it plays mp3's and videos and is locked into itunes"
Yep, and ZUNE plays mp3s and videos and is locked into M$'s itunes equivalent. How is this different?
Although iPods let you use MP3s and not just Apple's audio formats, wonder if ZUNE will let you use anything other than Microsoft formats (with added DRM probably).
How is this thing different than all the failed players from Sony, Creative et al? It can't be that it's Microsoft and they have millions of dollars cause Sony did as well. It can't be that they had a recognised brand name cause Sony did as well (Walkman) and one that was more closely related to music than Xbox.
So what's the difference? Why will this thing succeed where other players have failed? If you can't come up with a good reason then, as CTG said near the top of this page, the Zune is just another 'ipod-killer' that will get annihilated by Apple's holiday season offerings.
Also this thing is 30GB which is still too expensive and too big for the vast majority of people who buy mp3 players. The most popular sized mp3 player is uder 10GB. When are Microsoft going to start catering for the mass market and not for the geek brigade?
You act as if the price of an mp3 player is directly proportional to the size of the HD.
Um the price of an mp3 player is directly proportional to the size of the hard drive though. Like the 30GB ipod is cheaper than the 60GB. Or the smaller capacity Creative players are cheaper than the larger ones. What point were you making again?
Also you've totally missed my point which is that most people want a very small, flash based mp3 player that looks good. Features come a distant, distant second to all but the geeks. The nano and the mini aren't the best selling ipods (and therefore the best selling mp3 players) for nothing
1) it better be able to download podcasts directly over WIFI or someone should get fired
2) 30GB is lame. Come on, get with the program
I am so sick of my iPod. It crashes all the time, and the battery life is crap! That, and you see so many losers with them nowdays, it is emabarrasing to be seen with one!
I can't wait for this!
November 14th is very close to the PS3's release date! Perhaps MS hopes to steal some of the media's attention and consumer dollars away from Sony's launch. It could backfire. With everyone watching the PS3, the Zune's launch could go virtually unnoticed.
Wow..
I have alot of comments that I'd like to address-
First off - the two button mouse guy ...
You have been able since Mac OS 8(1996) been able to use a two button mouse or- take that left hand thats already on the keyboard and hold down the "" key.
(DONT BE A TROLL its BEEN 10 YEARS)
I bought an iPod so I wouldnt have to listen to the radio.. so FM is worthless to me, infact, I find it kind of offensive to have it stuck in my MP3 player.
..so Fm = worthless to me.
Features are great, but the iPod already has a stack of features that .. guess what .. NO ONE USES
I use my iPod for unprotected MP3s, always will.
No off the wall oddball formats, no atrac, no wmv, no mp4, no AAC. (I convert anything I buy before the first play)
Video is a great idea, but I dont wanna watch it on a tiny screen , i want it on my TV, guess what..
iPod dock>TV> done
Video games? iPods already have solitare, the little parachute game, and the Music quiz(isnt that more than comes on windows? Oh crap! No minesweeper), want more games- Buy a DS, the iPod is a MUSIC PLAYER.
I have several iPods, and in 4 years I can't say I've needed more than a battery replacment.
(you should treat it like a computer, not a cell phone)
The fact that the Zune coming with "13 first party accessories" is simply the fact that they couldnt find 13 3rd party accessories that will even BE made.
and to the connector guys bickering-
Apple licenses the "made for ipod" logo-
The connectors are available from FoxConn to anyone.
Anyone can make an accesory , its just up to Apple if you get the "for ipod" logo. (and thats just at a fee)
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=633
there is the link if you'd like to buy some. (im not affiliated)
My Guess is that the Zune will have a few unique accessories, but they'll be adapted to iPod , not vice-versa.
We've all gotten the "whats an iPod" question ..
"Whats a Zune?"- the microsoft iPod
My Zen M has been indispensible, I don't see anything here making me want to upgrade.
I'm so tired of ppl saying all the iPod is is an Image thing or Fashion Statement... BULL! Just because it's popular does not make it a fashion statement. I mean God forbid Windows ever be considered a fashion statement just because it's popular.
The iPod is simple to use and is well integrated with iTunes. iTunes alone with it's easy usability is what makes the iPod so well liked. I mean ever try Sony's SonicStage, that thing is so bloated and slow I don't understand what ppl see in that software pkg.
Not only that, but ppl want to OWN their music with DRM out of the way instead of most of these companies that put it straight in your face all the time and make you RENT your music and control your use of that music. Let's leave renting to apartment dwellers and not my music.
Wake up ppl, You don't have to buy into Microsft's underrated propaganda and slogans. Just remember one thing, MS loves to underprice it's competition to hook you in, but once everyone's in, they know they got you and that's when the prices go up and way up... Look at MS Windows, MS Office. Overpriced, Over-featured, Over-bloated... Who needs it when simplicity is just easier.