Zune, the odds and ends wrapup
At this point you're probably one of two parties: those sick of hearing about the Zune (may we suggest the following reading material?), and those who still want more information on what's going down with Microsoft's big launch. Now that the dust has settled a little, here's what we got.Further specs on the device [Much via Zune Thoughts' interview with Chris Stephensen]:
- 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.58-inch footprint (vs 30GB iPod's 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43-inches, and 80GB iPod's 0.55-inch thickness -- trust us, on a device like this a tenth of an inch is a huge difference)
- 5.6 ounces (vs iPod's 4.8 and 5.5 ounces for the 30 and 80GB models)
- WiFi is 802.11b/g, photo is JPEG only (right now)
- Zunes and their users will have names -- Zunetags -- building off the phenomenal success of Xbox Live model.
- Faster charge time than an iPod, but still no quoted battery life. It will not be user replaceable.
- Nope, no price or release on the device or anything Marketplace related -- which they told us yesterday they wouldn't be releasing (yet).
- CNET thinks that bit about Zune buying you out of iTunes is false, according to a statement issued by Microsoft. Could well be so, but it's not like they've announced everything Zune-related, so we'll have more to discuss in the coming weeks, assuredly.
- Zune supposedly won't be taking advantage of the device's video capabiilties by selling TV shows this year, nor will it play Media Center video files (DVR-MS files, we take that to mean).
- Microsoft went with brown on one of the three Zunes because "artists would and musicians would." We're not going to lie, some of us around here like it (key word: some).
- Zune will be backing concerts and shows, and is really working the music influencer angle (ya think?).
- The 3x3 DRM layer (share a song for three plays over three days) will supposedly wrap files of any supported type (MP3, AAC, etc.) in DRM during the transfer. Medialoper poses a very interesting question: what happens to Creative Commons licensed media when shared? Because adding DRM to CC media violates the license, you know. [Via Slashdot]
Zune interface demo - QVGA [H.264, 3.7MB], VGA [H.264, 15.1MB]
Zune sharing demo - QVGA [H.264, 2.5MB], VGA [H.264, 8.7MB]
So, are we missing anything? Oh, there's more after the jump.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Fuzz @ Sep 15th 2006 4:54PM
Wow . . . .
I'm underwelmed.
They also need to take a lesson or 2 on how to actually launch a piece of consumer electronics they plan to have take over the portable music world, cause trickling scant bits of info to the blogosphere ain't cutting it.
What the... @ Sep 15th 2006 5:01PM
It is working. If it wasn't people wouldn't be reading every article that came out and commenting on it.
I think MS has a shot. The device has a menu system that is better than iPods (assuming it is the same as the Gigabeats) and the device is aesthetically pleasing. I honestly don't understand people who say the thing looks ugly... it looks like Apple could have designed it...
It has a cool feature that makes people curious enough to buy it. If it's priced well enough (a big if...) they will easily take a chunk of the market share. The Gigabeat is a superior product to the iPod right now... I can almost guarantee the Zune will be the same or better.
Jeff @ Sep 15th 2006 5:03PM
From the C-Net article:
""Who would create a brown device? Well, artists would and musicians would," he said."
Huh?
File that under "things that make you go 'hmmmm'."
Who else thinks MS didn't release a price because they were caught flat-footed by Apple's price drops? I'm betting they had a price to announce and were caught off guard by Apple's announcement 2 days beforehand. Everybody expected Apple to announce new products and upgrades, but I didn't see many rumors of those big price drops along with the capacity upgrades. That would force MS back into spreadsheet/meeting mode to figure out whether they can afford to undercut or even compete on price.
Ryan @ Sep 15th 2006 5:03PM
Ryan:
The Zune movie links are reversed. Interface is sharing, and sharing is interface.
Ryan
Asher @ Sep 15th 2006 5:11PM
It's a neat bit of kit. Eventually iPod users will be even more like Mac users...a vocal minority that wrap up their egos in a piece of hardware.
Kroc Camen @ Sep 15th 2006 5:13PM
Can I buy one now?
No.
All features are suceptible to Vista-style cutbacks until launch.
Travis Bell @ Sep 15th 2006 5:14PM
I must be the only one who thinks the brown version is pretty decent.
Also, is it just me or does the trackpad seem too small to be as useful as the scroll wheel? I guess I will have to use one to know for sure...
Nodnetni @ Sep 15th 2006 5:15PM
I love all the pictures, they look so pretty, and touched up to look like it has such great graphics.
XiozTzu @ Sep 15th 2006 5:15PM
Yea they missed a big one!
Microsoft's Zune Won't Play Protected Windows Media
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cmusings/2006/09/15#a2498
glacia00 @ Sep 15th 2006 5:17PM
I'm in the market for a new DAP and will seriously consider a Zune if the final specs are right. It isn't available yet so it's understandable that details are "trickling" out.
I tend to buy based much more on specs than hype so I much prefer understated product releases. I know the "giggle giggle we got a secret" type of releases appeals to some but the majority of companies don't do a circus sideshow type release.
"a tenth of an inch is a huge difference" whatever Mr Caliper. I will say I'm not liking the unchangable battery. I also thought it was going to have a FM tuner? I know some people's faces split open when they read that but it's something that I use quite a bit. Hey I'm an NPR fan.
But if they have drag & drop that will be a huge plus for me. Let me treat a drive like a drive and not someone's opportnity to sell me something.
Elliot @ Sep 15th 2006 5:17PM
That's a lot of "no". No replaceable battery, no ogg, no drm freedom, probably no undercutting price. I feel like to really have a shot at competing, Zune needed to be 10 for 10, rather than 6 or 7. As anyone in politics will tell you, the hardest thing in the world to do is to beat a popular incumbant. You got to pitch a perfect game, and it looks like Microsoft didn't pull it together on that level.
kx @ Sep 15th 2006 5:22PM
Apple would never design this...
Apple is about less not more... the thick black border around the screen is stupid and distracting. Apple is about no seams. look at the nano.
Zune is just another Try-Pod.
grandmasterdibbler @ Sep 15th 2006 5:25PM
Wow awesome, kind of like what a Zen Vision W would have looked like if it ever encountered an iPod and the two created some twisted offspring.
So nothing to report here, is it just me or does the only reason people seem to be paying attention is because it is Microsoft?
Oh and @ What the..., I'd bet all of the people who comment, or even read engadget are generally tech minded people, not your average consumer (try and find 50 people in England who're sat at 10.30 commenting on a tech product!).
We'll just have to wait and see but right now the most popular MP3 players are small, simple, shiny, flash based players, not fancy, all singing all dancing bricks! (relatively speeaking of course.)
CTG @ Sep 15th 2006 5:26PM
"Who else thinks MS didn't release a price because they were caught flat-footed by Apple's price drops?"
http://appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2054
Digital Death @ Sep 15th 2006 5:27PM
If your buying a Zune (which I will be...maybe) then your wanting to set yourself apart from the 'dancing white headphone' crowd. Ipod has white, black, but no brown. Therefore buying brown will be a visual representation of differentiating yourself from the ipod zombies. If I can share music, connect via wifi, and if (big if) use this on either a pc or mac...I've been converted. **Note: I bought the ipod when it could be used on a pc. Now I have a mac and might buy a M$ player. Ironic.
mazola @ Sep 15th 2006 5:27PM
Zune: Putting the "Why?" in WiFi
George @ Sep 15th 2006 5:41PM
This version of the zune may not be the ipod killer but you people need to realize that this is the first device. If the wheel is actually a directional pad I am looking forward to wireless games to play against people. I think thats the direction the zune will go next and that is what i am waiting for. I am sure we will get another zune device in 2007 and possible multiple ones. The first one may not impress anyone too much but with wifi,xbox and games and all the possibilities i think the future of the device is in the long term. No one expects them to kill apple right away, just like they didnt kill sony with the first xbox and now look what is happening.
What the... @ Sep 15th 2006 5:41PM
It took about 24 hours before the PSP was hacked and you could surf the internet. Then the next thing you know, your PSP updates and you can browse the web.
I think being able to browse the web on my Zune would be pretty cool. Try that on your iPod. lol
Brian @ Sep 15th 2006 5:42PM
The thing I don't get about the Sharing thing is that either you're hoping that random people will stop you on the street when they see you sporting your Zune and try to foist their music on you, or you're hoping that you have the chance to share music with others, which is altruistic but not compelling.
In other words, you're not really getting anything out of having that feature. If I want to share music with my friends I'll just burn them a CD.
Elliot @ Sep 15th 2006 5:42PM
@Digital Death, I don't think anyone has ever mentioned being able to connect with that fancy wi-fi to anything but other Zunes.
Fabian @ Sep 15th 2006 5:43PM
Re Brown: Everyone makes something brown, nearly every day if you're lucky.
Re "scroll" wheel: It's not a scroll wheel. It's a 4 directional pad with button in the middle. It should be great for people who can't move their thumbs in a circle.
matt @ Sep 15th 2006 5:43PM
@ glacia00
You know NPR is one of the leading producers and distributors of podcasts don't you? I think just about every single NPR show is released as a podcast right after airing. NPR has their own channel in the iTunes podcast section and their website has a link to everything.
TeddyN @ Sep 15th 2006 5:45PM
This thing looks AWESOME! I want one more then I want an iPod! I never bought an iPod though. The graphs of money and desire never crossed paths. Instead I've got a Zen Vision:m
I really want a Zune though. Plus, it skips all this business of figuring out whether to capitalize the P in iPod. I think I'd get the brown one... It looks very nice to me.
maddcoder @ Sep 15th 2006 5:52PM
i'm seriously thinking about buying the Zune when it comes out. I already have an ipod it's ok to me. My coworker has the video ipod and i wasn't impressed. I like the zune because it'll make me stand out from the crowd of "iPod zombies". plus i can share my playlist(songs) with my friends. I'm sure there are thousands if not millions of high school and college students who would love that feature. think about it, they can share songs with each other in class or during breaks. ipods cannot do that, that's why wifi is cool. i'm not a MS fanboy because i like their products. I have an xbox 360, i like sony products like the psp and i'll be buying their PS3. oh yeah, i also like their FM tuner because now i can listen to NPR at work with the headphones on. about DRM, i don't care I don't buy songs anyways.
Jim D. @ Sep 15th 2006 5:53PM
I will definitely be buying one of these. I like the white one myself!
One thing that will really help this get off the ground is advertising which Microsoft will do heavily. I don't think I have ever seen an ad for a Creative or Sony player on TV or billboard - Apple really had no competition in advertising, now at last they get some!
I expect to see a lot of Zune over the holidays!
Mr G @ Sep 15th 2006 5:54PM
I actually enjoy the design... I guess I am just tired of the iPod. Currently has my vote over the current iPod just for the fact of a larger screen and widescreen. I was hoping for a true-video iPod, but since Apple didn't deliver this looks like a good alternative.
+ I dislike Apple for never pre-announcing products. I always have a fear that I will buy their product a month before they release a new one and discontinue the one I have.
Elliot @ Sep 15th 2006 6:01PM
@Mr G: Oh, come on. If you're reading Engadget, you've got a pretty good idea when Apple products are coming out.
RedBull Runner @ Sep 15th 2006 6:09PM
"One thing that will really help this get off the ground is advertising which Microsoft will do heavily. I don't think I have ever seen an ad for a Creative or Sony player on TV or billboard - Apple really had no competition in advertising, now at last they get some!"
I have seen several ads on tv for the sony players, they ran about a year ago, for the network walkman... had famous musicians or whatever there.
And that thing looks like they were TRYING to make it look like an iPod but not, know what i mean... like make it look like it just enough but not too much where they would get sued.
Oh well.. Its hideous.
suresh kumar @ Sep 15th 2006 6:12PM
im sorry, but this tossing off to Zune has gotten a bit excessive...
please please can you we resume normal service next week?
certainly the industry analysts, investments banks, blogs, BBC have been lukewarm to another iPod imitation...
so reality check, and back to normal service?
thanks.
maarte @ Sep 15th 2006 6:12PM
I don't like it.
Don't feel the need to 'share' songs with other people, not even wireless. Doesn't look like a feature that anyone but children would use more then once a week. And how can you browse through 10000+ songs with 4 directional buttons and a centre-button? MS, suprise me
tank @ Sep 15th 2006 6:15PM
I need to hold one before I can judge it.
greenfly360 @ Sep 15th 2006 6:18PM
Well I like it.lol I am getting the brown the first day it is released. I know it is thick but I am sick of everyone having an ipod. I like the fact that in the future it could download podcasts by its self.
I love the design and the UI is smashing. If the battery live is good I see no reason to fail.
mazola @ Sep 15th 2006 6:19PM
Do you get the feeling everyone is going to be completely bored with Zune by the time it ships?
bill @ Sep 15th 2006 6:26PM
The little print missed is the part about wrapping EVERY piece of music in DRM when you send it to someone. EVEN if it does NOT have DRM. So if you have a piece of music that is a Creative Commons license it will DRM it anyway. Which is agains the License of CC. Even if the musicians have asked NOT to DRM it.
So there....looks like another electronic loser door stop.
cybersattva @ Sep 15th 2006 6:26PM
"nor will it play Media Center video files"
Well there goes the only reason I was interested in the thing. Watching my DVR shows in an airport would be cool, but I'm not going to buy what I've already got recorded at home. Maybe version 2, eh?
glacia00 @ Sep 15th 2006 6:30PM
matt
Yes I know and not interested in podcasts. They just have never appealed to me. I would have said my local public radio station instead but I've run into so many people who are stumped by the term 'public radio' that NPR is easier. I like to listen to public radio as I work as it happens. My preference not pushing it on anyone so no one have the usual coronary whenever FM is mentioned.
And if you read my post about not wanting to be forced into using someone's software that's just an excuse to sell me something you would know I'm not an itunes user.
I know you probably love your Ipod and itunes and that's fine I'm not trying to talk anyone into anything but Apple just isn't for everyone. Please again no coronaries.
XiozTzu @ Sep 15th 2006 6:30PM
I may have my own opinion on this as do others but some of these posts seem like they are fake? Does anyone else sense this?
Maybe I am not used to MS product getting blind kudos.
Stephen @ Sep 15th 2006 6:33PM
The Zune absolutely does not look like it could have been designed by Apple. And I get sick when I hear people say the XXXX is better than the iPod. If only that mattered my friends! I am a professional marketer, and a feature set is only a part of what makes something sell. Total branding is everything, and Apple is an excellent example of branding done right. MS doesn't stand a friggin chance with that monster. I don't care how deep their pockets are, so many have failed before them! If they don't have other Zune offerings, and this is it, they are in trouble.
BTW- I don't own an iPod, or any other portable music player to be biased to.
wasp @ Sep 15th 2006 6:50PM
so there the zune going to wrap DRM on my mp3 filles f that i hate DRM . Down with DRM. and the music industry
wasp @ Sep 15th 2006 6:52PM
you dont have to get used to drm theres ways around drm an i will never buy songs with drm or will i put drm on my music filles DRM is design to screw the customer
glacia00 @ Sep 15th 2006 6:54PM
XiozTzu
"but some of these posts seem like they are fake"
You totally lost me with that. On some threads I would agree but there are both pro and con posts and none seem to be of the "Oh god I love this thing" variety. So does anything that doesn't trash it sounds fake to you?
At any rate I like it and only small parts of me are fake, mostly fillings in my teeth.
What the... @ Sep 15th 2006 6:54PM
"how can you browse through 10000+ songs with 4 directional buttons and a centre-button? MS, suprise me"
Simple... as you hold the button down it increases in speed... I can't be the only one that thinks this is COMPLETELY obvious. Have you ever played around with audio consumer electronics before? I have played with TONS of electronic devices where as you scroll through a menu the scroll rate increases. They've been using this technology for years with CD players... for example... fast forwarding through a song... this is old technology.
"so there the zune going to wrap DRM on my mp3 filles f that i hate DRM . Down with DRM. and the music industry"
Get used to it. It isn't going anywhere. Sorry. We all hate it... you'll just have to learn to adapt...
"Do you get the feeling everyone is going to be completely bored with Zune by the time it ships?"
No, I only have the feeling that you are sick of hearing about it. This is a hot topic right now. You like your iPod... I like my iPod too... but my 4G ipod is almost obsolete now... and the only way to upgrade is buy a new iPod and give Apple more money (that is there motive). I think I, and many others, would like to try a different route. Perhaps a device that will be upgradeable via WiFi.
I think the biggest concern everyone has around here, is that there iPod isn't going to be the "it" player anymore. Don't worry. People will still think you are cool and have money when you walk around with your iPod. lol
Soonerpet @ Sep 15th 2006 7:08PM
"I think I, and many others, would like to try a different route. Perhaps a device that will be upgradeable via WiFi"
What do you possibly think you can "upgrade" on the zune due to wifi that the ipod can't upgrade by its simple firmware updates it already has?
Ig @ Sep 15th 2006 7:16PM
Zune doesn't have enough features to make me want to jump ship just yet. However this is a first generation version and it's safe to assume Zune will be improved over time. If Microsoft is smart they'll listen to feedback from people who buy it and use it, and they'll implement features that their customers want in future versions of Zune.
If at some point Zune begins including support for Ogg and FLAC, I will strongly consider buying one. Until then I'm quite happy with my iAudio U3.
Rodman @ Sep 15th 2006 7:38PM
I thought for sure the Zune packaging would look like
this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_dJEM1w9cg#
Aaron @ Sep 15th 2006 7:53PM
I'm pretty sure it only DRM's your songs when you transfer them via wi-fi for that (kindof silly) 3-day trial deal... even if it DRM'd every song you transfer to the device... uhhhh... well you still have a copy of it on your HD non-drm'd ;) Some panicky folks here.
I think this thing has a chance to be popular.. there are a lot of people who love to hate the iPod because it's popular... but still (hipocritically) want to be part of some major brand and haven't invested in SanDisk or Creative or whatever.
Plus the wi-fi will attract some geeks, as well as the new MS fanboys created by the fairly succesful Xbox and XBox 360.
Personally I'll keep my 5g iPod and wait for version 3.. always safe with any MS product ;)
dave95 @ Sep 15th 2006 8:23PM
Ballmer probably broke a couple more chairs when he heard Steve reduced the prices on iPods.
You guys are not seeing the hypocrisy in this company. Both Gates and Ballmer in a few articles months ago were saying they were not to satisfy with their partners products, they are not doing a good enough job whatever. Now enter this Zune player that can't even compete with many of their 'partners' DAPs. They said Apple's closed system will lose-out to choice. Now enter their own closed system.
To those that wants something different from the iPod, support Creative, Archos, Samsung and the many others that will be affected first before v.3 really comes after Apple. You know before they get enough suckers to buy this first version which will get them enough feedback and most importantly MONEY for R&D to create the real ZuneV.3. The one feature they've been promoting (wifi) turnes out to be a lackluster effort that will drain the already rumored low battery.
And how do you Zen users feel now that Microsoft is leaving you in the dust and locking you out of the Zune universe. I would develop distaste for this company.
Jeff @ Sep 15th 2006 8:37PM
meh.
this thing will come and go.
Jake @ Sep 15th 2006 8:52PM
It won't play MediaCenter recorded video files (dvr-ms)? Seriously? That would make absolutely ZERO sense.
If that's true, I'm goint to boycott this thing for just being stupid as hell. It's bad enough they won't support PlaysForSure (really stupid of them) but if they won't even let you play back files you recorded on a MediaCenter PC that would simply be too much.
Actually, I can't believe that is accurate. Hey, Engadget, are you guys sure about that one? Makes absolutely no sense.
glacia00 @ Sep 15th 2006 8:54PM
Rodman
Did you know that the video really was made by MS. They have much more of a sense of humor about themselves than some other companies.