Stores selling Zunes early
We don't know exactly how many stores are now accessory to the heinous crime of pre-launch gadget sales, but it looks like Microsoft is one customer closer to overthrowing the nation of iPod courtesy of the Zune-gun-jumping Best Buy at Union City Landing shopping centre. Best part: already the crashing has begun (see above). It's going to be an interesting week.

























or it just might be a joke
Creative ZVM > Zune > ipod. That's all for now.
The iPod on Mac shipped with iTunes, and I remember it works right out of the box. You're right that the PC version shipped initially with MusicMatch.
I'd say that the majority of people installing the Zune software would get it working right away - this person's failure is probably related to his setup only.
The ad campaign for the Zune is so transparently sexual it's practically like one of those prostitutes that are easily recognized by the fact they're not wearing pants.
Seriously. We have girl-on-girl AND o-face action in that picture. They're pulling out all the stops to beat the iPod.
There aren't only bugs in the installation process. There are a few groups supposed to be pre-installed on the zune (bittersweet, cansei de ser sexy, ..) that are showing their grievance regarding Zune/Universal on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/unzune ... This is going to be a fun starting week indeed!
Hello from seattle LOL :P
i for one, welcome our DRM'ed overlords.
i'm still buying too many ipods though.
Ipod killer? Is that a joke? Should be ipod wanna be!!!
Well he got problem. I am not and software working very good from the start. Stop saying this is Microsoft fault.
people need to stop comparing the zune to the 1G ipod, one came out and was a completely new concept, the zune is coming out years later and isnt doing much that is revolutionary. this isn't competing with the 1G ipod its competing with the 5.5G
The ipod definitely wasn't a 'completely new concept' when it came out.
Anybody else think the girl in the installer screen is having an orgasm? At first, I thought she was screaming about the installer not working. The two making out doesn't help the pic either, it just makes it look like a Microsoft-funded orgy.
I second the caption contest for that picture.
Like everything else made by Microsoft, it's wise, even necessary, to wait for Zune SP2.
I think you mean version 3. Like DOS 3.0, Windows 3.0. Now they just change the version names so we get confused, like NT, 2000, XP are all the same code base.
So Microsoft's gone from blue screen to 'blue' screen.
It appears that she has ruptured her spleen.
Probably that will happen if you get vista before lauch...lol
Good lord will you geeks go out and get yourself a real woman (or man) and stop creaming your pants over a picture of a girl.
The reason i really like the zune is because you can upload music from another friends computer if the have a zune too. Thats the one thing I always hated about Ipods,you couldnt get others peoples music.
Wrong.. another iPod hater who as obviously never owned or used one. There are a number of utilities available that allow you to do this. YamiPod v1.0.1 for one. You can also use the iPod as a portable hard drive if you like.
that's because micro$oft has been all about stealing from the very begining!
Yampipod is third-party software. Sure, it's free, but a different version is needed for Windows, Linux, MacOSX. Try getting granny to use it even on a single windows-based machine.
Software is totally unnecessary to transfer music to and from prooperly-designed Mass Storage-compliant portables; it transfers just like data, yet is playable in the unit as music.
Zune don't. iPods don't. Sony Walkmans don't. Many others do.
Using any form of added software as a *requirement* (not some optional thing you can use if you want) is lame and restrictive. Everyone knows how to use their os to drag-n-drop/copy and paste without additional applications, and the device should be an extension of that, IMO.
well i tried installing the zune software but it came up with an error saying my OS isnt supported but im using vista RC2 is this just a tad strange??
Has Microsoft gone Porno? That girl is definitely being taken care of below!
can someone upload another copy of the software since the box.net site is out of bandwidth?
No the iPod itself was not a completely new concept, but add the ease of use compare to what was out at the time, the size, the coolness and the storage for the size and then iTunes. What you got was a completely new way of listening and purchasing music. They changed the mentality of consumers and the whole market and helped pushed everyone faster into digital content.
Now take Microsoft with the Zune...........besides the crippled wifi, is there anything groundbreaking here. And would Gates fight to keep music at .99 the same way Jobs has? With their deal with Universal (Universal get $$ for each Zune sold), I really don't think so. They are more than ever in bed with the RIAA
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/8/5/58555b76-c739-442a-91ed-f9c650df70bc/ZuneSetup.exe
reading all the zune-hater comments here is hilarious. what a bunch of retards...
What do you expect from the Official Steve Jobs Circle Jerk...err, I mean Engadget
I think what the screaming girl on the picture is trying to tell is that her Zune is really too big to fit in her.....pocket
I've got a sneaky suspicion it might be better to wait until everything is up and running on MSFT's end before installing the Zune. Looks like you have to connect to a site to finish the installation and the site's not completely up and running yet.
Why's everybody think you can't copy other people's music on your iPod? As long as your iPod's on manual update you can get music from any other computer with iTunes. Been able to do this for at least two years (when I got my first iPod). You just can't put that music on your computer from your iPod (no shock there... same thing the Zune does).
I'm confused by that too. I'm constantly pestering my friends to let me hook up my iPod to their computer so I can jack all their music. How is that new?
saw them in the stock room at work 2day sooooo wanted to take one
In the Zunerama forums, people who've pulled down the install file from where the guy uploaded it, are reporting that the Zune software:
- installs fine in XP. People are downloading already and pulling songs through the 14-day Zune Pass free trial
- doesn't install in W2000. (Yeah, W2K isn't listed as a supported OS for Zune).
- doesn't install with Vista. This is surprising, and I expect we'll see an update soon. I just hope it's a Zune software update, and not a Vista update!!
Harvey
http://www.zunerama.com
i downlaoded the Zune Software from that dudes website, and i am thouroughly impressed with it.
EVERYBODY knows how to drag and drop files, eh? I know my mom barely has a grasp on the concept. Granted she's nearing 60, but the elderly own computers too. And its surprising how many people don't know about simple things as cmd-a/ctrl-a... or how to use cmd/ctrl to select/deselect different files as a group. God knows how fun it is to manually weed 1,000 songs out of a 4,000 or so song library. Having something autosynch and just throw all the songs on there is in no way friendlier for the tech-unsavvy.
I must have that keyboard. What is the name of that sexy piece of hardware?
I can't believe that Microsoft is giving cuts to Universal for this. Microsoft is like that kid in school who brought extra lunch money for the bullies to steal. It makes that poor Japanese girl scream out in anguish that we customer's have to pay more so that anything remotely related to music can be paid out to Universal. Next we'll see Microsoft paying Fender and Marshall royalties. Ugh Microsoft, 2 years ago this thing could have been a contender.
Hold on, see we don't have to pay more. Microsoft is really the kid who had sooo much money, that if a bully took a couple hundred out of his pocket, he didn't notice. The advantage of Microsoft having money coming out the wassu is that they can make all kinds of deals and pay everyone and their mother tons of money, and nobody notices. I bet each Zune they sell is costing them a bunch of money, just like the Xbox.
see, additional apps can always be included for ripping/ all-in-one-ness/ absolute newbies. My main complaint is the restrictive *requirement* for software for something computers have been doing for AGES natively. Copying files natively. The requirement should be made OPTIONAL. Not a must-have just to get playable music on the device.
Sure, there is a percentage of the market that can't do copy/ paste / drag-drop, god help them. But I would argue that having them learn a separate app just adds to the difficulty, overall.
When it comes time to recover from a failed HD, most users don't know what the hell to do either. It adds totally unnecessary layers of complexity. One-way transfer restrictions, authorisations of hardware to software, for 99% of the target market this is ultra-confusing rubbish. And the inability to share their files with friends in an easy "just like data files" fashion is the worst.
It is totally foreign to what anyone has learned about computers having things encrypted on the actual playing device and the companies themselves not supporting two-way transfers.
In case you are interested you can check photos from the Zune
Marketplace, View a full video walkthrough and even download and install
on your PC the Zune Software from our site.
http://www.zune-online.com/news/zune/zune-software-48.7-mb-rar-file.html
http://www.zune-online.com/news/zune/zune-marketplace-walkthrough-video.html
http://www.zune-online.com/news/zune/we-installed-zune-marketplace---view-screenshots.html
-- Zune-Online.com Share your Zune Experience!
Is the Zune a vibrator? Now that I think of it, it sounds like it!