The Engadget Interview: J Allard, Microsoft Corporate Vice President
By Ryan Block 
posted Sep 14th 2006 1:58PM
posted Sep 14th 2006 1:58PM
So, you guys have heard an awful lot about Zune already leading up to the press release, what can we clarify?
Well, we've been following it pretty closely, obviously, since we first started hearing about it. Obviously today is the big unveiling, and we wanted to get a better idea of Zune not just as a device, but as a platform, and where you guys want to take all this stuff. So maybe you can start off by giving us an overview of where the device is, and where you see it going both as a device and as a platform.Sure, I think it's a great question the way you phrased it because we actually really think about Zune more as a platform than a device; you used both those two key words. If you step back a little bit in terms of where we're going as a company and where we think we can move forward with the industry in the entertainment space, we have this idea of connected entertainment. You're too familiar with the transition from analog to digital, we think there's a transition that goes one step beyond that called "connected," where the community gets to have greater participation with their entertainment experiences. We want to bring that across all forms of entertainment. What we're doing with Xbox and Xbox Live in the gaming space, what we're doing with MS TV and the Media Center in the television space, and Zune is really our first foray into a deep connected music experience. The first product we'll introduce this holiday will be a connected one -- that's why we put in WiFi in every device, because we think those connected experiences are really going to signal what the future of the music industry looks like, and the future of television and film and everything else. And the community wants to play a big part in it. So while we're starting now and sharing between devices where you can share songs with your friends (3 plays for 3 days), and sort of get the recommendations of your trusted circle of friends and experience and discover new music. You guys know all too well 802.11 devices there are out there. Think about what else we can connect to. Think about all the other scenarios we could do, whether location-based, etc. The device itself is intended to be a future-proof platform that's part of this connected entertainment world where entertainment will become more personal, more interactive, and more engaged with community.
Could you tell us a little bit more about the connect aspect? I assume it's going to be users creating profiles? Something like Xbox Live, so you'll have a trusted circle of friends -- could you give us a little more depth as to what the experience will be like?
Xbox Live is a good example and I think it's appropriate: with Xbox Live we really took a very incremental approach. If you remember, we put an Ethernet adaptor in the console but it didn't ship with Xbox Live. Then we shipped Xbox Live, but we didn't have all the capabilities that you might think because what we really wanted to do was start a discussion with our customers, with the audience. So we shipped the Xbox with Halo and then we could start talking about what they wanted to see on Live. We're sort of taking the same approach here: the whole idea -- both for the music industry and for the consumer -- of finding and sharing music through your social network is a pretty new idea. Specifically at the device level it's a super new idea. So we're gonna start there and we're saying it's really about proximity -- we're saying if you're sitting in the room with somebody and you're having a physical social engagement with them in person, that's when you can exchange music recommendations. And then we'll get some customers who've had some experience with that and they'll say "where do you want to take it next year?"
We've got thousands of ideas and we're going to sort those ideas based on what our customers are telling us and what kind of experience they have with it. It could be that customers want to be able to make recommendations to their friends while they're on instant messenger and have instant messenger integration. That's the beauty of having 802.11 in every device: we can do that. We can do more device-to-device, or we can do more PC-to-PC, so the combination of the device, the PC software that we're doing, and the online service is going to allow us to really shape how the community and the social aspect of Zune marries with the music experience. It also helps in terms of moving the music industry's way of thinking about integrating social networking and peer to peer in a really healthy way that works for them.
If I'm in an internet cafe with my laptop on WiFi and I don't have my Zune with me but I have my Zune software client running on my PC, can I interact with Zune players?That's a direction that we think we'll likely go down. We're not starting there however, we're trying to keep the messaging and the experience simple. You and I are in the same room and I say, "Here's the soundtrack you love, check it out" and I push the send button and it gets to your device. Next year we can start going through some of the things that you hinted at that are very much what our customers are going to want.
So the other angle when it comes to connectivity is not only about the Zune device, but about how it's going to connect to the rest of Microsoft as a product of software and hardware. That's what a lot of people are wondering about because a lot of the information leading up to Zune was that it was a radical departure from what Microsoft was doing -- people thought that it wasn't going to play nicely with anything else.
Well we didn't say that!
[Laughing.]
You know, it's been our philosophy that digital music is just getting started. The world is gaga about iPods, but everybody in the world listens to music, not just 50 million people that have iPods. And so we're taking a real deep approach when it comes to music and saying, "There's an opportunity with this technology to narrow the distance between artists and their audience." What does that look like? And we're talking about a lot of different artists saying, "What can Zune be doing to change the medium for you in really exciting new ways? How can we get beyond just getting the zeros and ones off of CDs and putting them in people's pockets, and change that?" We're talking to consumers and saying, "How can we change the way that you discover new music? You know, we'd love you to find new people based on the music you love, we'd love you to find new music based on the people you love." How do we change that dynamic?
And you know, Zune is really about music, it's our deep dive with music first and foremost. Now, that said, the technological platform -- back to the earlier conversation -- and the way we're designing it, knowing that gamers love music and there's going to be scenarios where they're going to want to connect those two things. We know that people are going to be watching TV and want to have some kind of experience with their Zune and their music and the social community they've developed there and the types of video programming that they're interested in. I think there's a lot of opportunities for cross-pollinated experiences and we're building the technological foundation to do it. But right now, we're just starting with a real focus on music, and over time we'll light up more and more of those capabilities and ideas as the consumer gets a little bit more conditioned. Look, there are a lot of people out there who aren't going jogging with MP3 players. I go out for a run and I see Discmen all the time, I see Walkmans from time to time. I see people listening to wireless FM headsets and people are buying XM and Sirius radio. The world where consumers are right now -- relative to digital music -- is really in its infancy. We're going it take them along and prove digital music and try to take the digital music experience to the next level -- and sort of as a background thread and a lower priority for us right now: are those integrated experiences?
But over time I think there'll be a greater emphasis. Counter to Microsoft's DNA, the type of stuff that you hear from time to time, it really isn't. 20 years ago we said, "The business world is going to change because of technology and we have to get world-class at numbers, we have to get world-class at manipulating words, we have to get world-class at drawing pictures. And over time people are going to figure out that words, pictures and numbers all go together and will increase the focus on the Office-like experience. Well we didn't start with Office. If you remember Lotus Symphony? Lotus Symphony was an idea that was ahead of its time. We really needed to get numbers right, words right, and pictures right and then bring them together with the communication back-end with email. That's what built the Office proposition. I think you're going to see a very similar thing here where once interactive gaming and connected interactive gaming really takes hold and people really get their head around it and we take gaming mainstream; we do the same thing for digital music, we do the same thing for digital television -- IPTV and the like, and people really get their heads around it there's going to be all sorts of scenarios that connect those dots and the emphasis will start shifting to the integration across those things. But we have to be world-class in music, games and video before we put too much attention on what it means to put those things together. Great. Obviously the centerpiece here is going to be the digital music, the music and the movies, and games, too. But there's a lot right now of pre-existing content out there, users have their MP3s, WMAs from PlaysForSure partners, they have iTunes tracks. Where is Zune going to fit in with people's pre-existing media libraries? What is it going to support? What can we expect when we actually get a Zune and want to be able to use it with the media that we currently have?
We have really pretty strong commitment to being compatible with your existing libraries. We know we're not the first player in this space, and that there's a ton of media out there, and so we put a bunch of codec support in there. You know, iTunes by default rips in AAC, there's a lot of AAC content out there, so we'll play AAC natively. MP3s, obviously. Windows Media files, obviously. The video resolution is 320 x 240, QVGA resolution. And so we'll do H.264 playback as well, because there's a lot of content out on the web for video iPods. Lots of DVD ripping software out there that encodes to those formats, so the most popular formats out there, whether it's MPEG-4 or H.264, we'll support those. So, we really are taking a relatively agnostic approach to different formats.
For us this is not a format play, we're not trying to tell consumers what format they have to keep their media in. We're trying to embrace the most popular formats out there. We won't have every codec, we won't have an extensible codec architecture, instead we want to make it really, really simple, and we're prioritizing the media that's out there and the media our consumers have.
So up until this point Microsoft's digital music strategy has been largely to create an ecosystem and be a supplier of a DRM platform to manufacturers and online music stores. PlaysForSure was the thrust of Microsoft's strategy until the announcement of the Zune. How does PlaysForSure fit into Microsoft's strategy going forward? It doesn't appear that the Zune will be compatible with any PlaysForSure retailers. How does that affect Microsoft's current partners who rely on PlaysForSure?
I think there's two answers to the question. First answer is, this whole digital music revolution is really just starting. There's still a lot to be figured. We certainly don't think we have it all figured out, and we think there will be change. The second thing is that specifically when it comes to PlaysForSure, think about you might buy a Windows PC versus how my mother might buy a Windows PC. My mom calls up Dell and says, "I have seven hundred bucks, get me a computer. What's the best thing I can get?" She doesn't specify the keyboard, the monitor, the memory configuration. The conversation might get as specific as, "Do you think you want to burn DVDs?" Then she gets a product that shows up and it's all pre-installed.
There are other people that go to Fry's Electronics and hand pick the graphics card, the case for their computer, they build a Windows-based PC from the ground up. We have a solution for both of those things. We at Microsoft have a platform that is Windows, we have a solution for the crowd of consumers that are very deliberate about how they build their PC solution, and we also have a solution for people who just want turnkey. And I think that's how these two strategies complement each other. The PlaysForSure is still a program we're going to invest in, we still have a lot of partners there, and for a class of consumers who that want to have a hand-crafted media media experience and maximize their choice, we have an answer. There's another class of consumers that just want to get digital media, and they just want to be able to go to one store and have it all just plain, dead simple, and don't want to know what a codec is.
Wasn't that the point of PlaysForSure?Well, it's like asking a question about Windows -- and the point of Windows was to bring personal computing to the world -- some people are going to pick their PCs, they're going to pick their monitor, they're going to pick their printer, they're going to pick their graphics card, and combine the things that they've chosen. Other people just a want a system that's end-to-end -- all compatible out of the gate -- and that's what Zune does. Zune says there is no choice; you get a Zune device, you hook it up to the Zune service, and it just works.
When PlaysForSure was introduced, the premise was, we make it simple so that you don't have to worry about whether your player works with the music you're purchasing...
That continues to be the premise for devices that are branded in that category, and we think that we've clearly done a lot in that program, where there's a lot of devices out there, there are a lot of services out there, there are a lot of partners, and there are a lot of satisfied customers. We like that program. We've also found that there's a category of customers that say, "Give me a brand experience, advertise it to me on television; I want to be part of the digital music revolution, and that solution [PlaysForSure] doesn't work for me." So they're two complementary solutions -- not everyones gonna want Zune and not everyone's gonna want PlaysForSure. They're different paths there, and we're okay with both of them.
Thank you very much for your time.
Jonathan Ive would whoop his ass in a fight.
What's up with that suit? Is that velvet or plastic?
Ok well 20 minutes leads to a small book for engadget and i caught some gist of video formats so it soes video out of the box or what cuz if not im goin to buy and iPod and save sum dough.
still not a word about the price. Did you guys push it?
I'll take the Zune, ugly as is, for $150.
Wow, so 1 & 2 must really be impressed by the Zune if all they can do is make immature, snide remarks.
I like the Wifi angle. Imagine visiting a concert and being able to download the tracks right there and then onto your Zune. Or visiting a coffee shop and getting to flag a track you heard over the in store music system. There's a lot of potential.
Plus the advertising is much nicer than the iPod. None of this "I'm so cool it hurts" idiocy. The Zune advertising feels much more friendly.
Would be cool if that's the direction they took it, but guess what? That's not the direction they will go, IMHO. You can kick me if I am wrong, so long as i can kick you WHEN I am right.
I think the part about this interview that stands out to me is the PlaysForSure stuff. I honestly just don't get why exactly MS doesn't go ahead and make this device also compatible with PlaysForSure. I mean, it seems like one of the big points of PlaysForSure was to really try and counter the iPod, and make a bit deal about how if you had one of these music services, you shouldn't get an iPod because it wasn't "PlaysForSure" compatible. It seemed like at least a decent attempt at creating a compelling reason not to get an iPod, or at least to cause some doubt about the iPod (i.e. "Oh, hrmm, I might not be able to use my music subscription service stuff if I don't get a PlaysForSure device".).
I can understand MS wanting to emphasize the Zune software and "platform", but I just can't see how it would have hurt to include PlaysForSure compatibility. I read his explanations here and it still just doesn't make sense to me.
Stop..
You got 20 min with gaylord dude and and could not ask about the battery hours?
Shiit.. shame on you.
I've never understood the whole "share your music wirelessly" thing... Seriously, I've never even seen 2 people playing PSP against one another (and I live in a big city). [Nothing against the PSP, just an observation.] Will I be on the bus, see a cute girl and say: "Hey, wanna' know what I'm listening to?". Probably not! I mean, I usually lend my CDs to friends for them to listen to or send them an mp3 of a song I like...
the Zune looks really thick and bulky....you would have least think with all of Microsoft's resources it could be near as thin as the iPod and have 640 X 480 screen resolution
"what an evasive dick." --> are we upset that Microsofts gonna enter a market and fu*k over Apple the way they did sony? Stop being a fanboy its a new gadget simple as that no reason to be an a$$
"What's up with that suit? Is that velvet or plastic?" --> it's probably a 1000-3000$ suit can you afford it?
"Plus the advertising is much nicer than the iPod. None of this "I'm so cool it hurts" idiocy. The Zune advertising feels much more friendly." --> I have really got to agree with you here... it seems apples stuck on this "we're cool" motif even with it's MacOSX advertisements... it really gets old i mean how long has it been since they had a new type of commercial?
I mean i just always found it funny their making PC's look like business guys that are dorks and their the cool hipster... yet PC's have 99% of the games? How the heck does that make sense LOL.
"Ok well 20 minutes leads to a small book for engadget and i caught some gist of video formats so it soes video out of the box or what cuz if not im goin to buy and iPod and save sum dough." --> I think i read amungst this or in one of the other Zune posts that it does indeed.
Why can't you put a period after the J?
lol "thick and bulky" only a ipod fanboy would see it that way, i mean we havent even seen a side by side of the 2 and people are whining about it.
Also just because apple is letting you download 640x480 on the itunes7 software (that sucks now may i add read the earlier engadget post/comments)... it doesn't mean the ipods doing anything with it... it still has a tiny miniscule screen with crappy resolution and a poorly done navigation system... can we say listbox anyone? LOL
"I mean i just always found it funny their making PC's look like business guys that are dorks and their the cool hipster... yet PC's have 99% of the games? How the heck does that make sense LOL." - Point taken, but for what it's worth, "cool hipster" and "computer gamer" are not normally seen as the same thing.
I wonder if Apple knew this announcement was coming this week. It seems that Apple's announcements have put Zune in the shade.
Regarding PlaysforSure, I find it hard to believe that Microsoft doesn't have a roadmap. They know they're about to screw their partners (not in the good way either), and they just won't admit it.
Well if the guru can't explain the model and the relationship to PlaysForSure devices, then how is the consumer? Sounds like a case of hedging bets and throwing everything at the iTunes wall to see what sticks. It sounds more like desparation. The important quote is, "we're just starting this whole digital music revolution". Uh... in your dreams. You (Microsoft) started nothing and are prepared to trample your young (PFS) to try to catch a rain that has left the station.
Yeah...that guy doesn't look like he's thinking "I'm so cool it hurts".
You know what hurts? Being a consumer and having the world's largest software company think I'm an idiot. they lambast the iPod for not giving you choice, then they turn right around and deliver a non-choice product. MS is covering all the bases pandering to partners on one hand and devising a proprietary solution on the other.
"When they start seeing Zune users with wireless song sharing and DJing, the iPod may just start to look archaic."
I don't know, this is one of those things I think I'd really have to see to believe. Wireless song sharing does seem sort of interesting, but even if I buy a Zune and my friends buy Zunes, I don't know how much I'd use this (I'm especially curious if it is only for music you get through the Zune store). Right now I do buy some music on iTunes, but the music I'm most likely to want to let someone else listen to would be stuff I bought on a normal CD, more obscure stuff, etc.
I'm assuming that at least the DJ stuff would sort of do that, since I guess that is just to let someone listen, not keep it, so it wouldn't matter if they could DRM the music or not.
But honestly, I don't know. I'm definitely willing to admit its possible this could take off, especially if lots of people buy Zunes and it is easy to do (this feature of course does depend on encountering and knowing other people with Zunes), but at this point I'm not quite seeing it.
"When they start seeing Zune users with wireless song sharing and DJing, the iPod may just start to look archaic."
Do you seriously expect to see any grown ups sharing songs? I can see this feature being used in homeroom between two teeny boppers but I don't even share music with my wife. My music is my own space. I like the wifi option (like PSP) but not for music sharing.
Have to agree also the Sharing of music might not be heavily used... but it will be used.. my cousins constantly are swapping headphones and ipods to listen to each others songs while their over at my house its funny but annoying... if they could just stream to each other or lend the song they'd be happy :)
HAHA ya i know its gamer hipster... but he isnt exactly a hipster either ... but then again if hes a hipster wtf is he doing on a computer anyway? isnt he supposed to be out having fun?
I also have to agree with the ipod ending up looking archaic... Microsofts not just combating the ipod itself their combatting the image, with the third party partners and lots of addons they will have a market presence which is important... And even if the wifi is unusable or people dont really make use of it even slightly often, its a feature... something that u can be damn sure will be shown off in commercials and as a big feature, and things like sharing and community sell very well in commercials and advertisments
BIG QUESTION HERE... why all of a sudden is Engadget like the apple advertisement central? Someone said that engadget was being biased for the Zune, yet i'm seeing commercials and ads for the apple LOL
You fanboys are mean-spirited. Geez!
Take your iPod out of your rear and relax!
After reading this FUD. I have a feeling this guy really wishes he worked at Apple.
Zune is already the red-headed stepchild of the ipod market. I almost pissed my pants laughing when I read this line:
" First answer is, we're just starting this whole digital music revolution"
Sorry but Apple did that in 2001 when they introduced the ipod.
I wonder how much money MS will lose with each Zune sale, just to get it out on the market.
This is a FUD piece, well it did make me laugh.
Wasn't that the point??
primetime4: yes your right adults probably wont use that part of the wifi... but the fact is it cant hurt to have that functuonality their ... the wifi can be used for the other things by adults but when a kid or a teen wants to swap a song or broadcast to his friends then he has that ability, and the parents or adults that don't want it can well... just use the wifi for downloading songs and stuff
The tie in to LIVE is going to be real nice. That, the FM tuner, and the serious lack of itunes DRM has me sold. Oh and the brown is the perfect anti fashion statement color.
Ill stick to my PSP for movie/video content.
He looks like a young Mr. Clean.
This is bound to flop just like MS and their 'Origami' UMPC's.
"also have to agree with the ipod ending up looking archaic... Microsofts not just combating the ipod itself their combatting the image, with the third party partners and lots of addons they will have a market presence which is important."
But to make the iPod look archaic, you really have to do something pretty different. I understand that MS doesn't want to rock the boat here, but it seems like if MS wants to really make the iPod look archaic, they need to do something that is immediately and radically different and better. I mean, when the iPod first came out, it was basically competing with stuff like the Nomad Jukebox, that Compaq Jukebox thing, etc. as well as early Flash mp3 players like the Rio.
When it was first announced that Apple was doing an mp3 player (especially after a lot of pre-release speculation about some crazy new device/PDA/etc.), there was a lot of disappointment. The initial reaction was "What, an mp3 player? What's the point, there's already tons of mp3 players. LAME!". If Apple had just basically created something identical to the Nomad Jukebox or the Rio or something and slapped an Apple logo on it, it would have probably flopped. What made it stick, and become such a success, was that it was a real significant improvement. It offered some major benefits over what came before.... you had the benefits of the capacity of a hard drive based player without the size of the Nomad or the 512 meg limits of most Flash players at the time. And it offered a much improved way to manage your music, and a significant improvement on music navigation with the scrollwheel (still a defining characteristic of the iPod) compared to what it was like navigating through a Nomad Jukebox or a Rio.
But I think that might be what the Zune is missing. It seems a bit too much like "MS's take on the iPod with some design changes and some new features like WiFi", and less like "Microsoft's attempt to revolutionize the digital music player market."
Of course, it's possible it is too late for that, that we're at a stage now where the basic product has been defined (just as the Walkman basically did define what a cassette player would be like, and the Discman did the same for CD players), and all that is left now is different enhancements and functionality ideas.
In that case, I think MS has to really hope that this wifi sharing stuff takes off, because they can't get the kind of benefit from being able to release a completely new take on the concept of a digital music player, something which Apple did have with the iPod and has been able to take advantage of ever since.
"BIG QUESTION HERE... why all of a sudden is Engadget like the apple advertisement central? Someone said that engadget was being biased for the Zune, yet i'm seeing commercials and ads for the apple LOL"
Probably because Apple is running ads on the Weblogs network? Not sure this is hard to figure out.
Well, if WiFi is the big issue, I'm sure Apple will add it to ipods in the near future. I'll be interested to hear how the quality of the zune compares to that of the ipod. If it's not high quality and breaks or f's up too much no one will want to buy one.
I agree with the above comments regarding the smugness of the Apple marketing campaign. I totally agree that Apple computers are far superior to PCs, but the commercials are annoying.
"I mean i just always found it funny their making PC's look like business guys that are dorks and their the cool hipster... yet PC's have 99% of the games? How the heck does that make sense LOL."
Well, have you seen the guys playing those games? So, now it makes sense again!
The only way this eco-system thing (wonder where he got that idea) is gonna work, is by sheer marketing force by MS. The players looks like 3-4 years old already, the guy talking about them has no karma... there is nothing here really. Of course - like with Xbox MS is not going to let it fail... it is really a shame how a company with that kind of resources, power and knowledge just doesn't get it - even if it slaps them in the face every single day.
Things like this don't get cool by talking urban jungle marketing gibberish like this - they get cool because the thing has something to it. Just like Ericssons cellphones some years ago just did not, neither does Zune...
VERY reassuring to hear that MS will offer a Zune Pass. Contrary to recent rumors, they're still committed to the subscription service idea (although you can also just buy tracks a la carte) and that means PlaysforSure will have more time to develop. I would jump off a tall building if I had to go back to buying / stealing individual tracks after the nirvana of downloading whatever I want, however much I want that I have with Urge.
Yeah, I am fairly certain I've seen that suit recently, believe it or not. It's an Armani suit that retails at about $2400 CDN.
QUOTE:
"Also just because apple is letting you download 640x480 on the itunes7 software (that sucks now may i add read the earlier engadget post/comments)... it doesn't mean the ipods doing anything with it... it still has a tiny miniscule screen with crappy resolution and a poorly done navigation system... can we say listbox anyone? LOL"
First, I'm not sure I'd call the iPod's interface "poorly done"... but beyond that, you can plug an iPod into a TV and output that 640x480 video, which will end up making a big difference over the previous 320x240. That, alone, makes the resolution upgrade a very welcome new feature.
totally agree on the playsforsure non-compatibility. it simply doesn't make sense to me (as a consumer) and if I was a microsoft playsforsure partner on either the hardware or software side, I'd be pissed.
The only possible explanation is that they want to lock people in EXACTLY as Apple has done with iPod/iTunes. I guess you can't blame them for being tempted by that but I think it's short-sighted.
Also, any word on if Zune World (or whatever it's called) has a podcast aggregator of any kind? The simple podcast gathering and synching is probably the only thing keeping me using iTunes right now. Microsoft didn't add any kind of podcast gathering abilities in Media Center 11 and, IMHO, that was a HUGE mistake.
MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN - this looks sweeet. I've used Macs since day one and I still can't stand apple fanboys, they're the lowest of the low bowing down to Jobs and whatever spiel he feeds us AGHHHH grow up idiots. FACT; this device shits ALL over any iPod and you all know it - why get in a huff and spit your dummy out? retards
Good interview and questions on PlaysForSure. Funny to see him dodges the question on Playforsure, comparing it to Windows and 'choice' I guess. All this will do is confused the average consumers even more because Microsoft Zune will not be compatible with Microsoft Windows Player 11, PlaysForSure, and all the host of Microsoft partners and DAPs. It will only drive them even more towards the simple choice, iPod+iTunes.
Imagine if Apple where say we are no longer supporting the iPod ecosystem and developing a brand new player/service that will not be compatible with the iPod (not saying that PlaysForSure had much inroad but) it would cause confusion.
haha he shoulda been cast as lex luthor
Who cares about sharing?? There are supposedly over 50 million ipods out there, and on my daily commute I see about 20 of them. Not one of them would I want to share my music with. Even if the Zune had moderate success, say 5 million sold, you would be hard pressed to find another Zune player to share with.
I think sharing would be good without the restrictions, perhaps with data files. But unlikely to happen.
And with the wifi constantly on, it will eat up half your battery life.
Where is the built in Bluetooth????
So, does the fact that the Zune wont be PlaysForSure compliant mean that the device wont sync up with Windows Media Player? If so, it is a no-go for me. I surely will not be maintaining two (identical) media libraries on my PC!
Too bad, like the design and the interface...!
Chris: It might hurt to have that functionality there, presumably the wifi will be quite a drain on battery, and what if you can't stop it hunting for fellow Zuners?
Personally I see no attraction in song-sharing at all. I don't buy music of itunes/online because of the DRM, so me and my mates just swap CDs to rip when we want to share music. I have extremely particular tastes, so why would I want to listen to other people's music?
Same reason why I shuddered slightly reading that the Zune will come with music preloaded.. so (if I bought one) I'd have to delete that first before putting my own stuff on.
The Zune seems like a nice device, and the wifi thing could be interesting (it'd be cool to see wifi music zones or something (ZuneZone, haha) or even web access), but I dunno how it will fair against the iPod.
Yes, to the seasoned gadgeteer, Apple's ads seem like they are really working at being cool. But don't tell me that your average Joe Consumer doesn't read that as actual coolness, and how cool can it ever be to own something that is made my microsoft? Especially without the XBox brand name.
If I were MSoft, I'd have branded this along the Xbox route, and given it Xbox Live compatibility from the outset - a good standing user base, and that one leg of MS's business that can be seen as cool and going-places.
I'd love to meet the first idiot that buys this garbage and thinks its any good. LOLLL!!
"Plus the advertising is much nicer than the iPod. None of this "I'm so cool it hurts" idiocy."
Yeah, 'cause the bald dude with the earring and the shimmery suit doesn't give off that vibe at all.
That player looks hella thick. Battery life and price, please?
1. I welcome MS to the hardware/software combo space because competition is good, and it will force Apple to stay on their toes. We will be the beneficiaries.
2. If Apple has shown one thing, it's that people will pay a premium for smaller devices even if they have less storage. Everyone laughed at the nano (and its price) at first, and now they can't make enough of them. MS doesn't seem to have a competing product as of yet, and they will continue to be crushed in this area...especially if the Zune platform requires WiFi.
3. I don't think iPod commercials feel like they're too-cool-for-you. I liken them to Gap or Coke ads...they simply try to present their product as more of a lifestyle than a widget. This strategy has been used in countless ways for countless other products...Apple is hardly a pioneer in this respect.
Regarding the digital music revolution comment -- I listened again, and it wasn't transcribed properly. He said "First answer is, this whole digital music revolution is really just starting." My personal feelings about the product or interview aside, my impression from Allard was that he's very humble about where they're entering in space -- i.e. ostensibly in last place (for now). Sorry for the mixup!
I can't believe this. Like I said earlier, the Zune will play nothing that doesn't have Microsoft written all over it. And they speak of compatability and how it works with anything...as long as it's Microsoft. Xbox/360, PC (With Windows), PlayforSure, Zune Store, Windows Media Center. Probably no support for linux, or mp3s, or any video format (unless converted/streamed)...Typical.
WiFi sharing? This is a feature that will only come alive if the Zune somehow becomes ubiquitous. How many years must pass, and how many marketing dollars must be, before people begin to "socialize" this way? It'll be interesting to find out.
J. Allard really seems unable to explain where Plays For Sure fits in the scheme of things. That explanation of it, feeding the needs of the "PC-modders", is ridiculous. If you were an upstart business selling music, would you invest in this, as compared to the era Pre-Zune?
Just an observation... So far in the comments, "their" is incorrectly used more often the correct "they are" or "they're". I'm not normally prone to policing grammar but seriously... this many impassioned arguments of all the various "fanboys" would be made more resonant if they could just form sentences correctly.
LOL, sounds like some Apple fanboys are scurrrrred!
This will sell because it is packed with features and the upgrades will keep coming. People will like the idea of their device being upgraded effortlessly (kinda like windows updates now). It sure is nice of Apple to come out with a new player every year with fancy new upgrades, which force the consumer to buy a new one if they want to reap the benefits. And hell, I love my iPod, but it doesn't ahve a color screen. I refuse to buy a new iPod every year just so I can get the new bells and whistles.
People will buy this. Will it be more expensive than the current iPod video? you betcha. Will people buy it? you betcha. Go ahead and say "People will buy the cheaper product!" Well... I got news for ya kids... People didn't buy the cheaper product before... cuz 75% of the people out there have iPods...
"The Zune looks big and bulky!!!" ----- Compared to an iPod? Seriously??? Ummm... I am looking at a couple pictures of it right now... and the only conclusion I can come to is... you are retarded.
I'll bet MS's PlaysForSure partners are already plenty ticked off about MS coming out with the Zune. If it also played PFS that might be too much competition and cut too closely into their own market.
The Zune looks a little nicer than the prototype, but I don't see it taking off, much less the sharing factor being a big deal. And MS has enough cash to keep Zunes around for a loooong time, profitability be damned, just like the Xbox. The potential market is too delicious for them to give up after only a few years. But it does smell a little depserate -- it took HOW many years of failure for them to get to this point? I'm just glad we're not hearing "iPod Killer" bandied about as easily as before. That is gonna be one tough market to break into significantly. Me, there's no way I'd give up my iPod for one.
And enough with the iPod fanboy crap. The iPod is a great device with a fanastic design, and it deserves the adulation it gets.
BTW, brown? BROWN? And I thought "Blue Dalmatian" and "Flower Power" were bad ...
P.S. I love how this Allard dude talks about how the digital music industry is in its infancy. Riiiiight. When even my parents are loving their iPods, I'd say that we're past the infancy point. Somehow I don't believe that he really sees very many discmans and walkmans while running or at the gym...especially in Seattle! What he really means is that Microsoft is coming in way behind. God forbid they be the last one to the show. Actually, that's very much the Microsoft way! (And it doesn't always mean disaster for them.)
Wow, this interview sounded more like a politician dodging questions about a flip-flop than a product introduction. Anyone that says Steve Jobs tries to create a reality distortion field must believe this guy is trying to create an absolute alternate reality all together.
So here's my take away from this.
#1. Playsforsure is dead and a lie. It doesn't "Play for sure". It isn't easy as promised. It isn't seamless as promised. It doesn't work.
#2. Microsoft is simply copying the iPod from head to toe. Same business model. Same aesthetic approach. Same promise of simplicity and usability.
#3. It's got WiFi. For all the typical Microsoft "in the future" BS, it's just an ipod clone with wifi.
I believe J puts it best when he dodges the Playsforsure question for a second time:
to paraphrase: Playsforsure is like Windows. It's a platform for hardware partners that many people find just doesn't work. For people that want something that works, a closed, vertical model is needed....
...you know, like the iPod and Macintosh.
DUDE: we are in our infancy their are 4 billion people in the world and 20-30 million ipods? and supposedly that accounts for 75% of music players so what are we talking at most 50 million ACTIVE players (i say active because ipods have a huge failure rate so while they may sell alot only so many of those are actually working)
50million out of 4 BILLION ... yes we are in our infancy its as simple as that.
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LMAO did i just read that right someone said "Theirs no telling if this can survive without the Xbox brand name behind it"
JESUS, are you guys quick to flip... i remember a few years back people said "microsoft releaseing a game platform, ha its gonna flop not against big names like playstation and nintendo"
and now your dictating that only the xbox brandname could make this a success... if theirs one thing Microsoft is good at and the xbox proved it is that Microsoft can MAKE BRAND NAMES BIG. Zune will be a big name, not now but give it 6 months to a year just like the xbox it'll be the "new kid on the block" but it's gonna be a Name for itself, whats next microsoft comes out with some other new emerging product line and you guys are gonna say "its gonna flop without the zune brandname" LOL
It's just funny to see how things change over time LOL
and yes i call the ipod interface POORLY F*CKING DONE< why look at it its a white screen with some text that you scroll through, as i said its just a standard listbox with softened text.. thats it sad but true...
"this underpowered device can't compete with the ipod"
LOL this is histerical the device has a 400mhz processor and your calling it underpowered god i love reading stupidity.
"This will sell because it is packed with features and the upgrades will keep coming. People will like the idea of their device being upgraded effortlessly (kinda like windows updates now). It sure is nice of Apple to come out with a new player every year with fancy new upgrades, which force the consumer to buy a new one if they want to reap the benefits. And hell, I love my iPod, but it doesn't ahve a color screen. I refuse to buy a new iPod every year just so I can get the new bells and whistles."
You had me then you lost me. It's like the first part of this paragraph is going one direction, then by the end you've made a complete 180. You can't argue both sides.
""The Zune looks big and bulky!!!" ----- Compared to an iPod? Seriously???"
Factually, yes. Even just comparing the "big" iPod, the Zune is physically larger. This is not the first time we've seen it, remember.
And that's not counting the iPod nano or Shuffle, which put together pretty much dwarf sales of the full size iPod. MS still has no product to compete where the real action is right now.
And they're not going to compete with an 80GB product by putting out a 30GB product that's physically larger. Sorry, it just ain't happenin'.
The WiFi sharing feature is a feature in search of demand. To compensate for this battery-sucking technology, look at how thick they had to make the Zune!
The white and black models look fine, and their support for AAC and h264 is commendable (and unavoidable). However, the only REAL difference here is the WiFi "sharing," and I don't see people begging for this.
It is as if some committee of one-earring sporting video gamers got around a table and said "What's hot?? MySpace!! Social Networking! Let's do it!!" Umm... if I want a track, I'll download it. I need neither sharing nor FM radio to dictate my music for me.
Thats why their is a "shuffle/nano" competitor in the works from the Zune group... you guys seem to forget ... THIS IS THE FIRST OF MANY zune devices.
"#1. Playsforsure is dead and a lie. It doesn't "Play for sure". It isn't easy as promised. It isn't seamless as promised. It doesn't work."...
-It is seemless and does work as promised the fact is as he specifically states, some people don't want to have to hunt for which store they want, they want a store with their device all interwoven, and thats where zune comes into play its the combined tied together setup for that type... but it also plays the "other peoples stuff" simple as that. The fact is my mom doesn't want to hunt for a store to get music she wants to plug the device in and have access to a musical ecosystem immediately.
"#2. Microsoft is simply copying the iPod from head to toe. Same business model. Same aesthetic approach. Same promise of simplicity and usability."
- Hmm guess dell copys hp and hp copies ibm. i mean to think, computers with harddrives and lcd's sold at online and standard retailers, LOL
Just because microsoft chose a closed business model for this isn't copying anything its called one of serveral sales models... First apple owns the circular control, then it owns the rectangular media player... now it owns the rights to the store and player being tied together? GIVE ME A F*CKING BREAK
"#3. It's got WiFi. For all the typical Microsoft "in the future" BS, it's just an ipod clone with wifi."
- Hmm seems their "its for the future" normally works out, XBL wasnt big at first but the 360 saw it take off huge, TabletPC's werent big now they're starting to gain ground, WMC-PC's weren't existent then wow look at that now all the high class houses are getting them... So i'd say their track record is pretty darn good... Just because some tech like UMPC's and Spot watches havent taken off because the PHYSICAL TECHNOLOGY is not far enough ahead yet doesn't mean the concept isn't sound and solid, the problem is when they say future, people like you seem to feel the future is now and they mean right now. Theirs a reason UMPC's are 1500-2000$ it surely isnt because microsoft wants it that way its because the technolgical hardware isnt cheap enough yet. But microsofts future vision shows that eventually it will be (no duh) ... the same is with this entire wifi connected experience, i have no doubt that in 5 years, with several ALL COMPATIBLE zune devices, all talking to each other it will be a success...
You miss the point of him saying "wifi from the getgo for the future" This specific device may not be able to harness it to the full potential but in 2-3 years on its 4th to 5th generation hardware, the first generation will still be able to talk to the newer devices,
NOW IF APPLE decides to release a 6th gen ipod with wifi or some form of connectivity the previous gens are all fu*ked... not so with zune, from day 1 its future proofed to the new versions.
The number of total people in the world is irrelevant. There are 1.4 billion televisions in the world (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel-media-television). By your logic, that's only 1.4 TV's per person (a 35% marketshare). Omg...television is only in it's infancy!!!!1111!
What's important is how many digital players are owned or available for the number of actual potential purchasers. And when you're talking about the US market, it is HARDLY in it's infancy. We're talking about ALL digital players, not just iPods.
Jeff, what I was saying was the Zune will upgrade itself. And people will love that feature. I compared it to Windows Updates because when a major update is released, it just updates itself... you don't need to go buy a new computer. Every time Apple has a major upgrade, you need to go buy a new iPod. MS seems to have put together something that will last you longer than your iPod with this ability.
And I guess I simply don't understand why people think its so big. If its the same size as my current iPod (or close to it) with a bigger screen, that sounds fine to me... I will hold judgement on the size until we can actually hold it. Which you nor anyone on here has had the ability to do yet. Besides... if it were to play video, why would you want it so small, anyways?
"The number of total people in the world is irrelevant. There are 1.4 billion televisions in the world (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel-media-television). By your logic, that's only 1.4 TV's per person (a 35% marketshare). Omg...television is only in it's infancy!!!!"
Fine compair it to tv's 50million vs 1.4billion..... even with those numbers we are still EXTREMELY infantile... what are you missing
50,000,000 vs 1,400,000,000
Why can't portable media and video be as big as standard tv? Considering the ratio of people to TV and people to personal media should be closer to 1:1 considering personal media is a single user and tv is made for more than 1 person to watch.... so the ratio of 50m:1400m is kinda the definition of what he means by in its infancy...
If this was a apple device people would be praising it for its larger screen and nice looks, but since its microsoft its a bashfest... just as it was back with the xbox before it launched... its lame. simple as that.
I still find the playsforsure thing dubious.
Sure you can market the integrated experience, but what's wrong with just leaving the PFS compatibility in there for those that want it? You don't even have to advertise it. That would keep everyone happy instead of fragmenting the market even further.
Lets see Allard has the Xbox team doing dashboard upgrades on the entire xbox360 2 times a year... who knows what the zune team will be doing... and considering its 400mhz processor its got room for features :)
Autoupdates and interesting thing, and one which many overlook. But it will show how powerful it is in time... the xbox360 got new features, it got new backwards compatability upgrades (Can we say added codecs if high demand to the zune?) so who knows how the Zune dashboard will evolve.
Ok, about this sharing thing:
Scenario: A few zunes were sold over Christmas. Apple introduces the next iteration of the iPod (6G) in January with Wi-fi sharing. By March of '07, there'll be all these iPods that can share, and the Zuners will be looking hard for other zunes to share. They'll wait for a few months and if there are not enough Zunes around to share - dump it!!
The fact the they are now promoting a closed system is going against what they've been preaching all this while. They preach consumers wanted choice choice etc., and Apple closed system in the end will lose out. Now the same partners that went to bat for them with PlayForSure would get hit the hardest with MS entering the market with their own closed system.
Just reading the comments, you can already see the Zen, Archose users who used to praised anything Microsoft (Anything but iPod crowed) is already divided with their comments on this Zune/service. They will be left out of this new service if PlayForSure is not supported, which by his dodging the answer it wont.
If the zune doesn't support PlayForSure then screw that. I'm still interested in the Zune but I'd rather use something that supports PFS and works with URGE or something.
seriously this guy didnt answer even a single question properly. there were no lucid explanations. nothing about the spec details and price...
" We're talking to consumers and saying, "How can we change the way that you discover new music? You know, we'd love you to find new people based on the music you love, we'd love you to find new music based on the people you love."
I dont understand this at all. Arent we supposed to have individual music tastes..somehow I feel this rationale would not work.
"Look, there are a lot of people out there who aren't going jogging with MP3 players. I go out for a run and I see Discmen all the time, I see Walkmans from time to time."
- this is such a farce...I guess this guy jogs around Newark downtown..am not saying people just carry iPod..but seriously I dont see walkmans anywhere now..
Zune player - dimensions revealed.
None of the released materials give dimensions, but Zunerama just got the size and weight of the first Zune player:
Dimensions: 4.4h x 2.4w x .58d inches
Weight: 5.6 ounces
So a little thicker than iPod 80GB, and same weight.
This from an interview an hour ago with Chris Stephensen, MS GM/Marketing.
More data from the interview is at http://www.Zunerama.com
Just a quick comment. People are talking about all the new "improvements" that the Zune has over the iPod. Let me point out that other DAP's have had better (subjective) features for a long time (i.e. FM, internal voice recording, et. al.), but the iPod has still outsold them all. Why? More features do not guarantee sales. What can create sales is the entire user experience. I think that is that MS is heading for with their closed system. It hasn't been released, no price, no battery info, no solid details from the user-end. So why don't we all just wait and see and stop being fan-boys of BOTH companies!
This really doesn't seem all that apealing at the moment. To start out they only have one size, 30GB. If the rumer mills are true and they expect you to put down $300 for this, it wont apeal to to the hip crowd. Only the nerds and geeks. How do they think that is going to sell the player on its own. They need something else that makes them differant apart from Wi-Fi.
They made several mistakes with the Wi-Fi. Yes, it's an interesting aproch. But never the less you need to sell about as many players as there are iPods to acually find someone who owns a Zune. Like I said before, this isn't going to appeal to the hip. No way are you going to find preps walking around with a Zune. The divice in not sleek, small, and sexy. Thats why the iPod was so sucessful and worked well with being compatable with iTunes as well so it appealed to the not so technical amoung us. This again is where Microsoft needs to put thought into there player.
There is a reason that Apple owns so much of the market. And with 30GB and and looks that will not appeal to teens, the 80GB iPod for only $350 looks very appealing, with or without Wi-Fi. If Microsoft can duplicate that, and pop in something that makes it shine out from the crowd as well, than Microsoft could line themselves up for a recipe of success.
I see there being some value to sharing music back and forth especially if it can be shared without the 3/3 limitation for non-DRM music. One of my coworkers keeps trying to get use to listen to his music, I would have a lot sooner if he could have just sent it between mp3 players instead of emailing, downloading and then syncing to my ipod. I can't remember how many times I've told a friend you, "you have to listen to this band" and never get around to sending them the song. Even if it's covered by their 3/3 policy, it gives my friend a chance to acquire it himself.
I'm not sure how the aac/wma support will work for things not purchased off the zune store considering the large majority of aac files out there are attached to Apple's DRM and quite a few WMA files out there are attached to PFS.
It may take me a while to buy into getting another hdd mp3 player. I mostly use my ipod on the icelink dock in my car and use my treo for music/audiobooks, but I'll look into it when I consider changing that up.
First....I hate apple (being a network engineer you would know why)
Second....F*#& you "J" and the rest of the MS crew. Get the hell out of the hardware business, you just don't get it do you? Anyone remember the MS phone? No? Neither does MS. They refused tech support on the item when it was released. How about all the original Xbox problems?
How about the 360 problems (I am on my 4th, my friend is on his 3rd...and that's 4 with no warranty and no compensation, just a refurb360 for full price)?
When it comes to hardware never trust MS.
End of line.
hooooweeee, i doubt you have a mac now, but in case you do, you'll be interested to know that the zune is not compliant.
all the micro$oft champs on this board are underestimating Apple's momentum, cache, and design. the earlier announement now also makes them much more competitive in price and battery life (curious how those were the two features microsoft didn't announce today... ballmer's throwing many a chair around the office. that's for sure)
Design is important, stupid. Why not carry a laptop around with you? it can do a bunch more! because iPods play music wonderfully and look great at the same time. try and convince joe-teenage girl or techno-illiterate mom to buy zunes to replace newcomers in their PREEXISTING ipod ecosystem.
zune=destined to fail (at least this generation) --> too little, too late
come on apple fanboys go back to work. stop wasting time on every freaking blogs...
Chris, lay off the coolaid,
#1: including a power-hungry, space-taking feature like WiFi now for a yet-to-be-determined-or-asked-for future capacity in a consumer electronics device is just stupid. People want the smallest device possible for what they want to do now. This platform talk is wrongheaded. But let's watch the market decide, shall we...
#2: Clearly playsforsure doesn't work. Allard implies it many times right here in front of you.
"Zune says there is no choice; you get a Zune device, you hook it up to the Zune service, and it just works"
If "it just works" is a differentiating feature of Zune, simple logic tells you that the alternative in playsforsure doesn't work. (never-mind the legions of users and reviewers that have had major problems)
"We've also found that there's a category of customers that say, "Give me a brand experience, advertise it to me on television; I want to be part of the digital music revolution, and that solution [PlaysForSure] doesn't work for me." "
This line is such a bunch of marketing-speak BS, it makes me sick. This is all just marketing fluff of the highest order. That you choose not to see this stuff is unfortunately a sign of being blinded bias.
#3: I don't know how anyone can find this anything other than hypocritical, pathetic and angering. For the past five years, at every turn Microsoft has been screaming about "interoperability" and "choice". Every interview. Every digital media tradeshow and MS event. They're now releasing a closed system and trying to spin it like it's choice.
This is just classic MS partner killing. Just ask all the monitor makers that dumped millions into "Smart Displays" only to have MS kill it and leave them out to dry. Any company that partners with Microsoft is an idiot. I work at MTV Networks. I've had a fun time with "I told you so" regarding Urge. Believe me, nobody here is happy about this.
#4: You lost me when you claimed tablets were anything other than niche failure. And if you think Media Center is gaining traction as an actual livingroom device, you're not in touch with reality. So they've dropped the price to the point where people can opt for media center with little penalty. That doesn't mean they're putting their Dell and HP towers in their home theater racks. They aren't. They aren't using it. Just like most people don't use the embedded music functions in their celphones. So lets see... Tablet is a tiny niche with no hope of broad market growth, Media Center is just another bundled feature that most people don't use, Origami is a categorical failure, Smart displays never shipped, SPOT watches are a joke... man, MS is doing great in the hardware space.... oh... and Xbox is a financial loss so vast it would have killed most companies.
Finally, just ship the effing device and shutup, MS. How many pre-announcements can the world possibly tolerate. Ship it. Stop the vaporware. Stop the pre-pre-pre-anouncement leaks. The pre-pre-anouncement confirmations. Just get some damn products out the door.
Zune will be a distant #2 in a year at the expense of all Microsoft's "partners". Expect Creative to sue the hell out of MS. Expect the other media services to die. Expect even more MP3 makers to die as well.
i really hope the Zune is sucessful. imo, iPods are deserve the market share they have because there's nothing else out there that comes close. but being the end consumer we should want as many succesful DAPs as possible - it will only lower prices and add features for all. if apple had real compitition we would all have wi-fi, bluetooth, wide-screen DAPs for less than what we are payin now.
i think the potenital with wi-fi is enormous and if you can pull it off correctly before ipods do (and you better hurry) then you may be on to something. with that said i think these will go ever as well as the origami platform. and i don't get not being compatable with play-for-sure. like others have said it seems like MS is palying it safe and it's gonna be a p.o.s. platform
i will say, i think he's right by saying that this is the begining of the digital music revolution. iPod is still far from being a superior player (although compared to what's currently out there it is) we need someone to come along and shake things up like the iPod did five years ago, i just don't think the ZUNE is it. i hope i'm wrong...
For the sake of accuracy: Apple has shipped 60+ million iPods as of the end of June 2006.
Wow, that photo of Allard is obnoxious.
errrrrr.. Matt; I am on a MAC now; why would you say I'm not? eh? oh, I know - because I see the Zune for what it is, Better hardware than current iPods. Listen, you apple fanboys are everything that's wrong in the western world these days.. blind devotion to a corporation YES sorry to shatter your illusion; Apple is a corporation that wants to make sheeeyat loads of money and they make great products to do so. Fact is MS have produced better hardware here as far as Im concerned. So from that, Matt, you have deduced that I mustn't now be using MAC's but I simply MUST be a PC user; Oh dear, yet another deranged Apple fanboy rears his ugly head. I prefer MAC's to PCs for many reasons - one of them, indeed, being looks, however I beg of you fanboys to remember these guys are Corps. Why did apple go with Intel? To save shitloads of money and stay up with PC's - OH! Forget that it was Apple going back on years of rhetoric and hype, lets not crucify them for that NOOOOO.. idiots, the lot of you.
phew
Thank you
x
Funny how you can make such confident broad-stroked comments without ever holding one.
When did Phil Collins get so ugly?
I think one reason Microsoft isn't making Zune compatible with PlayForSure is that so they don't compete directely with the PlayForSure devices. Someone above said that PlayForSure hardware makers would be pissed, but why? Zune isn't stepping on those players toes because it stays away from PlayForSure.
Now, PlayForSure content providers might be pissed (Napster and the like) that they're content won't play on Zune, but it will still play on all the PlayForSure devices. As long as Microsoft continues to support the PlayForSure system (and there's no indication that they won't, after all, they have their own PlayForSure online music store (MSN Music at music.msn.com), then there's no issue.
The real people that might be pissed (well, not pissed, but reluctant to get a Zune) are people that already have PlayForSure content. This content won't play on Zunes without going through the process of burning the content to CD and then ripping that CD to mp3, wma, or aac (or a user can rip the DRM using the WM-DRM ripper, though I expect MS to eventually close that hole). But those users can continue using PlayForSure devices, to the happiness of PlayForSure device makers.
Live search to show up on Zune, to be countered by Google showing up on WiFi enabled Video iPod. This is prob why Google CEO just joined Apple board of directors. Apple/Google had better watch these crafty fellas out of Redmond.
"Other people just a want a system that's end-to-end -- all compatible out of the gate -- and that's what Zune does. Zune says there is no choice; you get a Zune device, you hook it up to the Zune service, and it just works."
hrmm, let's change a few words around there.
"Other people just a want a system that's end-to-end -- all compatible out of the gate -- and that's what a Mac does. Macs say there is no choice; you get a Mac, you hook it up, and it just works."
Those last two questions were answered very suspiciously. I think they really don't know what they're doing at Microsoft. If they realized how much more money they could've made with Zune years ago and skipped PlaysForSure they wouldn't have to pretend they aren't calling PlaysForSure inferior and lying about it. And contrary to what he said, the people who use PlaysForSure weren't supposed to be the same people who build their own computers. Normal people use it.
Will you ever get Superman?
One day. Patience and Kryptonite are the keys !
Well mr allard if you wanna know what i think , if you
want me to buy
this then you have to remove the 3play3day bull shit ... you've got
to let the device go out there and make its own . dont limit it
please, its already big and bulky dont act like ppl have to buy it
and live with the fact that the services are shitty are you
forgetting there is a more popular product out there.. This
thing has potential but you have to let it be what we want it to be
or it'll end up being just what it is, another mp3 player .
Did everyone forget that Apple invented WIFi? That if Apple has an MP3 player that revolutionized the industry and has other companies scrambling to catch up or scratching their heads wondering why they didn't think of that before? It's because Apple had the balls to try new ideas. The MP3 player was already a presence before the introduction of the iPOD, but it was how Apple raised the bar with simplicity and in turn the consumers expectations of what they want from an MP3 player. And like others have suggested the Zune isn't so much innovation as it is a reaction to a success that found a niche area that people wanted fulfilled and ran with it. The Zune is a shoe horn of sxisting formats, form and function with wifi thrown in to try and get a share of the success that is the iPOD. It's a reaction to a success that has taken off with about 6 years of a head start. Archaic is something that never changes, continually innovative is something that can evolve as the market place demands it. Thats where the iPOD is a success. It has evolved and each generation has improved over the next. And Microsoft is now playing their cards hoping that a wireless technology, that Apple invented in the first place, "duh" will take off, my gut feeling is they are sadly mistaken. An Airport express and an iPod and you're already streaming music in the home and sharing it with people in the home or cafe or dormatory. Sorry Zune fanboys but IPOD has already been there and done that and if the market is demanding it improves....well I'm sure the next evolution of the iPOD will do just that and more than likely get it done right, since "ahem" they did invent WIFi.
This is not an apple fanboy here. I do love the story behind Apple computers but believe it or not it's the pitfalls of Microsoft's technologies that line my pockets and pay my bills. If they weren't so bad at thinking they are so innovative I'd be broke. Keep up the good work Microsoft. I can use the extra money. Perhaps when the Zune and WIFi reveals the next security pitfall for Windows there'll be a new wave of coding and engineering solutions requires to secure Private networks against malicious attacks. I love it. Bring on the Zune. LOL
Do you guys realize the potential a this shit, if ms plays it's cards right this wifi shit could be hugh...
Walk with me.... You got your zune and your walking around the block and you past a wifi hot spot .. then an add comes into your zune that the new beyonce (OR who ever you listen to ) albums is available for download right then and there. You have some ms points saved in your zune so you opt to purchase the entire album all legal and all wire less with out connecting to your "pc". You play it and you send some of the hottest tracks to ur friends. they listen and keep the tracks for "however long they freaking want". you cant send the entire album cuz thats illegal now . but they listen and if they want they buy off zune.
#2} you go to a concert for some new and upcomming band, and you dig their music , after the while ure still there you get the option to download the entire playlist for a small cost as a contribution to the band.
#3)Cuz there are so many accesories that are going to be available for zune one could be a voice recorder, now imagine ur in class (im a student) and u wanna bug around your teacher you could rec. shit and send to the different class mates all in seconds.. the possibilities are endless.... MS THINK BIG MS THINK BIG OPEN THE GOD DAMN WIFI LET US DEFINE ZUNE... SINCE THE NAME DOSENT REALLY MEAN ANYTHING
I didn't know Lex Luthor worked for Microsoft...
Ok, call me stupid, but I just want some clarification on this.. when the Zune news first came out on engadget there was a lot of talk about being able to play all of the stuff you bought on itunes on the zune... so I read the article but he says how itunes rips to AAC (well I changed that to mp3 a long time ago, so I don't care about stuff I ripped) but I have bought a few cds on itunes, and I know they are in some special AAC protected format... Will I be able to play them on the Zune?
what amazes me most is people willing to give up CDs for this lossy Digital Rights Restricted garbage. Sharing that's non-sharing. Embedded batteries. And so on.
Interesting dancing around the issue of PlaysForSure. Nice way of telling your partners 'thanks for playing, but you're screwed'. LOL.
Invest in proprietary Digital Rights Restricted file formats, and you deserve what you get, really.
http://flac.sourceforge.net
http://www.vorbis.com
http://www.cowon.com
Does anyone know if you'll be able to sync your Zune with your PC using the Wifi?
Ok well the looks. not something i like but ok ..
wifi .. wow .. great but he what about itunes on your laptop in a place that has wifi with other users ?
then there is the bigger res. 640 x 480. how about playing it on your tv ? eah ?
wow alot of functions but do you have time to figure out what you should do to manage everything ? time is money.
now we are at money .. the 30gb is 50$ more then the ipod! so the 80gb ipod is just 50$ more .. do the math
yeah .. drm none copying .. have we lost the fact that they made a hack for that so you can remove it ? hmm
im missing the big picture of what zune should be better at then ipod .. radio ? well get one .. with remote you can clip on most things .. alot easier
friendlier enviroment ? huh .. you want Microsoft on everything ?
yeah wifi .. fun for virusses .. and other exploits .. bring it on. battery ? yeah suck it empty .. lets go o wait i have to recharge it again ? cool ..
now thats a hot product ? yeah right ..
i'll wait for the new ipod 6th generation. before i get a new mp3 player .. and no i dont have an ipod and dont love them that much .. but these are just the facts of the ipod vs zune ..
p.s wonder about how often it crashes :) ms you know ....
The guy looks like an egg in a suit.
If my head looked like that I wouldn't wear an earring and draw attention to it.
Funny how everyone is commenting on the weid looking fella rather than the contents of this article, but to be honest it makes more interesting reading.
btw - iPods rule.
"This is all just marketing fluff of the highest order."
Sure, this is. Same thing for every press release regurgitated here, every expo attended, every launch party, and certainly every time there's a giant wankfest at the Moscone starring Jobs. At least 80% of the entire consumer electronics industry is marketing fluff, but that's okay, because sheeplike consumers eat fluff and think it's steak.
Okay Okay. Here's the real deal on the zune. It's gonna go away as zune as it hits the market. Because as zune as everybody realizes it's too convoluted a device to really be easy to use it will zuner than later be relegated to the rest of the mp3 players that tried too hard to be more than an mp3 player.
Let me see. I'll listen to this song and walk over to my known favorite hotspot and see if I can't share someone else's song for the next three days. DUH. Oh and while I'm at it let me download the latest virus update and turn off the now required firewall patch that was pushed to it last week. And prior to that let me run this nifty little prescan applet so that whatever is getting pushed to me doesn't have a flavor of the ILUVU2ZUNE WIFi virus embedded. Wait a minute I'll need to login into this WIFi hotspot but I don't have a cingular account. Well let me see if the one across town is available or maybe I'll just go home and sync up. Damn it an hour has gone by and I haven't gatten any more three day only songs yet. Oh crap look at that car coming as I cross the street. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.h.h.h.h.h.h.hhhh......
My NASCAR buddies would say Apple's on lap 300 and kicking everyone's butt. Microsoft's on lap 1...they better have one fast car or be lucky! On the track, anything can happen.
Bubba
The interview was so vague it was almost insightful :-) I didn't understand the difference between Zune and PlaysForSure and his elaborations on both. One is a DAP (i.e. hardware device) one is an audio format (i.e. software spec). What is the connection (or lack thereof) between the two ??
Need I remind you....WIFi is a technology Apple gave the world. And maybe with the MS track record of lame ideas this may prove to be well... Another attempt that will fall short of the mark. After all the xBox ain't taking the country by storm. It's sort of just a fancy toy among others. Again the PS3 will put a spin on Media entertainment that will show why they've been doing it for so long and even with just the PS2 they are still kicking MS butt. Everyone want a piece of that pie and in order for MS to stop coming up with excuses to lay off more employees in order to keep the fat paychecks of the administration level coming, like the joker in this interview they'll need to jump on the all the successful players coat-tails in the media/electronics entertainment industry so they can get a share of the market.
I say,,,,Bring on the competition. And hopefully MS will do the only right thing they can do....come in with a low-ball pricepoint and force the other players in the areana to adjust accordingly. Because unless they do, this product really is zune to be forgotten.
Okay, let me say straight up that I'm a fan of music subscription services and PlaysForSure mp3 players. And I see this product as only helping Apple.
I don't see it succeeding in its present form because the only real advantage it offers over existing players is wireless sharing, and that's only of any use once the player reaches critical mass. Until then it's Just Another Music Player, but incompatible with Yahoo Music, Urge, Napster, Rhapsody, iTunes, etc. So why should anyone buy it?
The reason this will benefit Apple is it will be perceived as Microsoft backing off support for PlaysForSure, and it fragments the already small share of the market that Apple doesn't own. It just reinforces that an iPod is "the safe choice".
Which is a shame because, as I said, I prefer music subscriptions. And this was the time to strike, because Apple really isn't offering much of interest this Christmas. But this just sets back the cause of providing a viable alternative to the iPod platform.
Unless Microsoft prices it insanely low, I don't see the Zune getting much attention this Christmas.