Ballmer: Zune to add video sharing ability

We don't mean to harp on the Zune for its faults time and time again, but we do it out of love for high-quality gadgets. That said, we'll be happy to give Microsoft some points this time; Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has just told Bloomberg that the company will be adding video sharing to the media player newcomer -- though no time frame was given. Further, he reiterated what we already knew, namely that the Zune will be combined with a cellphone at some point in the future as well. Ballmer went on to say that he's not worried about Apple's huge lead and market share: "I'm confident we can keep up. They [Apple] have brand and image going for them, and we have some innovative ideas." That's the corporate equivalent of trash talkin' to be sure, but honestly, it's a pretty bad comeback to Jobs' earlier dissing of the Zune. Fellas, let's bury the hatchet right here -- first one to build the iPhone / ZunePhone wins, okay?

[Thanks, Devin]

[jericho @ Nov 13th 2006 10:22PM]

This isn't half bad...it just goes to show that microsoft actually bothers to listen to the rants of the people...i'm expecting the 3x3 play rule is going to go into the videos as well?

[DM @ Nov 13th 2006 10:22PM]

Adding phone capability to these gadgets is just too trying hard. What's next? Camera?

[Brad @ Nov 13th 2006 10:27PM]

okay...first of all, sharing music is bad enough; cool idea, but no good way of doing it. Wireless file transfers are slow...VIDEOS? That woudl be terribly painful, who really needs to share videos anyways?

And okay...yes, Apple has the market and a great product, but who is Balmer to say that Microsoft is innovative? On what fronts woudl the Zune be considered 'inovative'

If they were so inovative, wouldn't they have brought something to the table maybe like...2 years ago minimum? I want to see this do well...

good luck to them.

[Who? @ Nov 13th 2006 10:30PM]

Innovative? How about making a platform on which many devices can work and that's not proprietary. I hope the Zune flops, but at least Microsoft tried something worthwhile with PlaysForSure.

Oh, and let's have a new blog post each time someone buys a Zune. Pretty please?

[Jeff Lewis @ Nov 13th 2006 11:03PM]

Dude - you've not been listening - this is 802.11g - 54Mbps. A song copies in like 3-5 seconds. If that's too slow - well, even a T1 line isn't going to be enough for you.

[shirizaki @ Nov 13th 2006 10:30PM]

It should read:

"At launch, we're releasing a firmware update. It contains divx playback and the ability to sync with WiFi. We're going to stick it to Apple by supporting every format possible. Let's see Jobs' white plastic pop tart play divx!"

That would put a Zune in my pocket.

[Who? @ Nov 13th 2006 10:32PM]

Here here! A toast to shirizaki!

[v_dogg @ Nov 13th 2006 10:35PM]

ya i really hope they dont put the 3x3 rule on video. but if they dont, then everyone is gonna be like "oh come on please share some of your videos cuz im too stupid to convert video myself"

[MannyV @ Nov 13th 2006 10:38PM]

What Ballmer is saying is "we can burn an unlimited amount of dollars for a ridiculously long time, and spend Apple into the ground."

Microsoft has burned through at least $5bn in losses for their home & entertainment division over the last few years, and the total will only go up after FY2006 (source: Microsoft annual reports, 2002-2005). Sony makes money off the PS3. Apple makes money off the iPod.

Microsoft, on the other hand, loses money on the XBox and Zune, but can afford to due to the cross-subsidy by the Office and Windows divisions.

If the XBox and Zune were separate companies, they'd be bankrupt by now. That's the benefit to being a monopoly: you can screw companies in other markets by spending them into the ground.

One can only hope that Microsoft shareholders will eventually get tired of wasting their money on useless ventures and demand that MS cut the cool, but money-losing divisions.

[Chris @ Nov 14th 2006 1:14AM]

LOL @ MannyV

"Sony makes money off the PS3."

AHHH HA HA HA HA!!!! That's rich.

No really though, where do you do your research?

[Shmoe @ Nov 13th 2006 10:52PM]

Just ad DVR-MS support and I'll buy. Until then, I'm waiting

[Reginald @ Nov 13th 2006 11:24PM]

"Just ad DVR-MS support and I'll buy. Until then, I'm waiting"

I agree. Since DVR-MS is a proprietary MS format, why not allow the Zune to play it since no other device reads them and I must convert them first?

Then, I could record my favorite TV shows with my MCE then seamlessly transfer them to the Zune -- just like an MCE Extender or whatever.

[Javaflash @ Nov 13th 2006 10:58PM]

PlaysForSure was/is/will be meant to be proprietary, aka. Microsoft and Microsoft partners exclusive.

PlayForSure was NEVER meant to be a platform or an open standard, EVER. Talk about misconception...

[sw @ Nov 13th 2006 10:58PM]

alright, who's gonna be the one to do it? can someone please step up already and officially put the zune on deathwatch? can we at least establish an over/under on this thing? i'm saying 28 months

[Dave95 @ Nov 13th 2006 11:03PM]

For from innovative! The only feature that's different on the Zune is wifi and Music Gremlin (the true innovator) was first to market with that idea, and done much better. http://www.musicgremlin.com/
Innovate by releasing a product that does well on it's own, not how much money you can lose for years on a mediocre DAP.

[enzo @ Nov 13th 2006 11:07PM]

I wonder if the DRM limits on the video will be similar to the way it works with music.
Does anyone know if a song can be re-shared to the same person after the three day expiration?
I wonder how easy/possible it will be to break/crack that limitation... They could have at least made it a week.

[DM @ Nov 13th 2006 11:08PM]

"Fellas, let's bury the hatchet right here -- first one to build the iPhone / ZunePhone wins, okay?"

That should be, " first one to build iphone/zunephone is desperate. "

[Dao @ Nov 13th 2006 11:08PM]

The Zune Marketplace is a rip off... Pay an extra fee to burn to a cd wtf? Why can't someone make it so you pay a fee and buy the mp3's with no strings attached....

[Silver @ Nov 13th 2006 11:20PM]

"Innovative ideas?" "Innovative ideas???" Should I laugh or cry at that claim?

"Innovative" like selling songs for 79 "MSPoints," which, BTW, actually cost 99 CENTS??? "Innovative" like giving a record company kickbacks for each piece of hardware sold, if only to sabotage Apple's future negotiations?

Pathetic. Microsoft are the greatest pack of weasels the business world has ever seen. Shame they've actually been successful.

[Picklesworth @ Nov 13th 2006 11:22PM]

All these media players and yet I'm still fine with a well-constructed Pocket PC / PDA.

With most of the good ones, the screen fills the entire device; want a click wheel? Nice software can give you one.
Calendar and note-taking applications are not just painted on worthless "features"; they actually work, and tend to have good synchronization with your desktop PC.
Speaking of synchronization... Wireless file sync (ie: Music dumped into your PDA as soon as you enter the house).
PDAs: Yes.
Mainstream MP3 players: No.

With the high prices on some of these MP3/Video players, and the fact that people seem to go through dozens of them for bigger screens and video playback, I really don't see the point.

If only there was some way to change the focus so that a wider selection of good PDA / Pocket PC stuff was made available...

[Jeff Lewis @ Nov 13th 2006 11:27PM]

One thing that I haven't seen confirmed yet - I've heard that the Zune doesn't offer any kind of hard drive mode. Since the Engadget staff has a bunch - can they confirm this?

To me - not supporting some kind of pocket drive mode = no sale.

[Matt @ Nov 13th 2006 11:29PM]

From the article:

"Gates said the Zune is 'very cool.'"

Man, what an endorsement! The hipsters will line up for that now!

[enzo @ Nov 14th 2006 12:35AM]

Hey I'm a hipster and I resent that

[iLLW!L @ Nov 13th 2006 11:54PM]

I seriously doubt that the majority of content owners (read: TV/Movie Production houses) are going to allow their properties to be beamed over with the "3 x 3" in place.

I can watch an entire season of The Office in 3 days. TV/Movies have a different replay appeal to them, when compared to music. Even a "1 x 1" system would be a problem for content producers.

The main push will likely be Music Videos and "Live" Concert footage.

Thoughts?

[Sam @ Nov 14th 2006 12:11AM]

LOL Microsoft innovative? Have they lost it? That is the LAST thing I would think. Actually I would give them brand image before innovation if you know what I mean.

[bgramer @ Nov 14th 2006 12:29AM]

"Developers! Developers! Developers!" (anybody remember his sweaty spastic rant?)

Ballmer doesn't get it. The Zune's gonna be a failure.

http://www.microsoftshitbrick.com

[MannyV @ Nov 14th 2006 6:07AM]

They will. They made money off the PS1, they made money off the PS2. In fact, Wall Street is expecting the PS3 to lift Sony's bottom line. Right now it seems expensive, but that's exactly what everyone said about the PS2.

Sorry Chris, maybe you should do your research first. Oh yeah, this is the intarweb - where the ignorant can finally be heard.

[mike @ Nov 14th 2006 1:22AM]

"What Ballmer is saying is "we can burn an unlimited amount of dollars for a ridiculously long time, and spend Apple into the ground.""

Hmmm.. not an MS shareholder I guess...

Apple has tons of cash, are you for real?

[eni @ Nov 14th 2006 2:02AM]

OK.. Maybe MS is not that innovative, but what makes Apple so innovative and great? What do they make that is so great? I do have to applaud them for pushing commodity hardware at fairly inflated prices. Their OS might look nice, but take a look inside, it's not all that great... Well for that matter Linux ain't that great either. (OK, I really like open Solaris...) I'm not saying that MS is great or anything but it's just so funny to see how many people love to hate MS and in the same time worship Apple, a company that is every bit as evil as MS. Would you guys give it a rest? All these arguments are just so pointless.

[Cameron @ Nov 14th 2006 2:13AM]

Just got mine ... and ... not compatible with Windows Vista.

Baby Jesus is crying.

[Nevermind the DRM @ Nov 14th 2006 5:15AM]

Include a video of Ballmer doing his Monkey Dance (tm) and I'm in! " I LOVE THIS COMPANY--AAARRRGGGHH!"

[H?n @ Nov 14th 2006 5:49AM]

I'm sure we can expect further improvements, MS will do what it takes to get a piece of the action.

[Ed T @ Nov 14th 2006 10:01AM]

MannyV I think you hit the nail on the head. Ballmer could care less about the tiny profits they might earn someday in this sideline business. They are just doing Zune to stop the trend of Windows users moving to OS X. If it costs them $300 million to keep one million Windows customers on the plantation, then Ballmer will be happy.

He and Gates run Microsoft like their personal lemonade stand, and they have no reservations about wasting shareholder money. Remember the SPOT watch and the WinCE phone? They still have five million SPOT watches sitting in a NJ warehouse, and $450 million worth of CE phones were bulldozed into a landfill a few years back.

[Anonymous @ Nov 14th 2006 10:29AM]

Ed, I think you might be mistaking the copies of the Atari 2600 game E.T that were landfilled in 1983 with phones based on Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile phones are in fact selling very well - considerably more than $450m worth were sold last year for example. Nevertheless, thanks for sharing your ignorant, poorly researched viewpoint. It added considerable worth to the discussion.

[Ed T @ Nov 14th 2006 3:15PM]

Wouldn't expect you to remember that far back anon - you were probably still driving around on training wheels. The WinCE phone was a project run by Microsoft with help from HP/Compaq for the hardware design. The phone OS software they cobbled together was so bad that HP engineers told them it could never be a workable product. Ballmer eventually fired the program manager and ordered all of the phones destroyed.

So before you claim to know it all, Google Microsoft, phone project, and Stinger. You'll find plenty of documentaion about this failed project, one of many since the Gates and Ballmer braintrust decided to "branch out".

[pork @ Nov 19th 2006 12:37AM]

MannyV you need to do a little more research about sony making money on the ps3. It is estimated that sony is loosing $240+ on every ps3 sold, where as microsoft is actually making $75 as per Market research firm iSuppli.