Listen up, Zunesters (someone out there
did buy a
Zune today, right?), we've got a job for you: bookmark this page, because we want to hear about the first time your Zune gets freaky with someone else's Zune. And we mean in the wild, too, like when you're out in public. Microsoft is really big on introducing all of us to "the social" with this thing, but remember that Metcalfe's Law cuts both ways and without other Zune users around the WiFi in the device is pretty much useless. Which is why we're dying to know how long it takes the average Zune user to actually get, uh, "social" with his or her new player -- will it be weeks, or even months, before you run into someone else with one? However it happens we want all the tawdry details of your Zune's promiscuity; maybe you can even tell us about the people you met in the process.
posted Nov 14th 2006 2:51PM
wow, it's like side-talking all over again!
well i havent tried to connect to another user, because i cant get the zune software to install because....IM RUNNING THE VISTA RTM!!!!!! I called zune supoort and they must live in a time bubble cause they said..its still a beta OS...like they never heard of vista...way to go MS, so very, very sad.
Um, I thought the corporate version wasn't even going out until end of nov.?
So unless you got the corporate version they are right.
And if you got the corporate version...why would you need to install the zune software on a corporate box?
Thrwan:
Just because Vista is out of Beta, doesn't mean they need to support it yet.. its to be realeased for another month or so, which means you're running an illegal copy. You're actually surprised they wouldn't help you?
How on earth could you expect tech support to help you when your OS can't be legally purchased? And if you are legitimately entitled to be using Vista, surely you have a contact at MS for things like "How do I get this gadget to work?"
thrawn - try running the installer in compatability mode, it should work.
if you run the setup.exe in compatibility mode it will work, i did it
I hate to say this, but Vista isn't out yet. RTM means released to manufacturers. That was the 8th. They promised it would be available for developers (thoes with MSDN) within a week. As of 30 seconds ago its still not on MSDN. So either you work for a manufacturer (I doubt it) or you have a pirated copy.
Quit your bitchin.
just boot up in windows, you must have a copy somewhere.
Dear God, please let this be the last Zune article for today.
You should start a betting pool... for how long until someone makes a virus that can hop from zune to zune.
It wasn't funny the first time that joke was said, and it sure as hell ain't funny this time. Stop making virus jokes!
Have a sandwich you unoriginal basturd.
Is it possible MS can issue a firmware update that will allow the Zune's wi-fi to be true wireless or would that take to much?
they already said they would include extra features as demand suggests with future firmware updates. so i guess you just need some patience.
seriously, its people like you who make discussions lame. stop dissing people and actually come up with something to say
I didn't say that his topic wasn't stupid, i just said that it's a waste of time (the people who have to read it) to be saying things that don't matter to YOU personally. Oh ya, i realize that saying this is a "waste of time" but if you stop then thats one less thing later on that someone has to waste their time on.
You should have got two of them so you can share with yourself.
enough with the zune....
1. Plugging in the Zune to your PC says that the first thing needed is a firmware update. I noticed that without the firmware update, WiFi---if you can even call it that on a Zune---doesn't work.
2. The one I purchased at a Fred Meyer store lists the device as "IPOD HARDWARE" on the receipt. Classic!!!!
The number one use for this feature will be to send Tub Girl or Goetse with filenames such as "Fun pic!" to fellow Zune users.
Absolutely classic!
Although in the states they passed a bill stopping people from misrepresenting content didn't they?
I,ve been trying for over 2 hours to get my media center pc to download "Update Rollup 2". Zune software will not install w/o it. arrgh!!!!
I once had this problem, even called MS about it, and they were prepared to be quite helpful, but I couldn't wait. I ended up fixing the problem on my own, although they did offer me some important info.
If you'd like the solution I ended up using, I sent them an email with a step by step on what I did. let me know if you're interested
So two viruses walk into a bar, and one virus says to the other virus...
"boy im glad i joined the social!"
Zune looks like crap, it really looks like a big screen surrounded by a cheap plastic case. And it's made by microsoft so it's definitely NOT going to have bugs in it, right?
To be honest, I really can't imagine people sharing their music with random strangers just because they both have a Zune...
Do Bluetooth cellphone owner send their vCard to random people just because they can?
"Do Bluetooth cellphone owner send their vCard to random people just because they can?"
Yeah, in Japan :\
well, this could be the begining of some very weird digital flirting. you see a girl and you send her a song you like, and if she likes it, she'll send smthin back and stuff will go on from there.
yeh, welcome to the social ... a very very Geeky Social :)
....sound of crickets chirping
I would think people savvy enough to read engadget.com wouldnt be purchasing a zune, let alone on its launch day. Then again I've been known to give the common engadgeteer the benefit of the doubt before...
Sorry this isnt happening. I dont buy garbage. The zune is a bad joke... You know the ones that when you tell people that just stare at you like they wanna kill you.
My girlfriend and I both bought zunes today at Best Buy. After we installed the software (worked flawlessy on xp pro on both our notebooks). We started downloading the crap out of the marketplace with our subscriptions. I just met her a hour ago at a coffee shop and we sent each other some songs to test everything out. A bunch of people kept asking us what we were using and what the hell we were doing. It was pretty cool. I am not a big fan of the 3 x 3 plan, but if you have the subscription package on marketplace, its not a big deal at all since all songs are free (just your $15 fee per month).
You met her an hour ago and she is already your girlfriend? I however don't doubt you when you say that you "downloaded the crap out of marketplace", I am sure that it is nothing but crap. You must be self employed to have so much time to dedicate to buying a zune, filling it with stuff and wooing chicks at coffeeshops. Self employed, or an astroturf salesman.
I don't wanna hate the Zune. Really, I don't. Even still, you can't tell me someone other than Bill Gates is signing your paycheck. I don't believe one word of your post.
@ lupinstel
you are a fricken idiot. If you wanna bash please read properly. He wrote:
"My girlfriend and I both bought zunes today at Best Buy"
"I just met her a hour ago at a coffee shop and we sent each other some songs to test everything out."
Hence meaning they went and bought them and then met up at a coffee shop later with their zunes...idiot.....
Even if it may be fake, at least make sense when your insulting him....
Jeff, ummm, so if someone has a good experience with a Zune, they must be lying and being paid by MS? Come on, it is possible, and probably likely, for consumers to have a positive experience.
Hmmm....
Smells funny. Me thinks you are working in Redmond alot these days. Something smells brown and its not your Zune my friend.
The 3x3 plan is the biggest thing I do not like about the Zune, but I hadn't considered the buffet plan to offset that. Interesting take on the Zune, but I still can't see myself buying one.
"I am not a big fan of the 3 x 3 plan, but if you have the subscription package on marketplace, its not a big deal at all since all songs are free (just your $15 fee per month)"
Well if you are paying a fee in order to download the songs then they aren't free. Hense, the concept of you paying money and then being allowed to download. I get free movie rentals (i just have to pay the rental fee).
"I am not a big fan of the 3 x 3 plan, but if you have the subscription package on marketplace, its not a big deal at all since all songs are free (just your $15 fee per month)"
Well if you are paying a fee in order to download the songs then they aren't free. Hense, the concept of you paying money and then being allowed to download. I get free movie rentals (i just have to pay the rental fee).
Did you witness any girl-on-girl action yet?
Not a apple fanatic or anti microsoft/zune but I have to admit that one was funny.
I bought two soons and they got social with each other. Does that mean I got it own with myself?
its pretty clear its a pirated copy...
as for the zune... the virus thing is pretty funny, and interesting... did microsoft install any form of antivirus software on it? as for firmware updates to enable full wifi... i wudn't be suprised if someone pulled out a firmware that turns the zune into a pda in less than a week...
i might be more interested in getting one if they add a virtual keyboard download and access to the internet
Wireless with other zunes only how lame..... it could connect to a home wireless network to download music/video from Zune Marketplace or your C:/.
Software is a bit Gody when it comes to linking to the xbox 360 as in it does not work.
And you cant use it as a removable drive like iPod or Achros......
i think i will get a zune. i want to be part of something bigger than I. when i say "I" i referring to I-pod. i have a 60GB ipod video and its getting old to me now.
Another Microsoft troll. Are you testing marketing slogans? "I want to be something bigger than I" --- sounds like something some marketing firm came up with for MS after getting paid a cool 100K or so.
I went down to CC today and almost bought a Zune. I'm currently using a Gigabeat S and have had an Ipod previously. I already didn't like that the Zune wouldn't work with my recorded TV from Vista media center like my Gigabeat, but I thought it might not be that big a deal since it does at least play h.264. Also, to use the Zune, I would have to cancel my subscription to Urge or use other means to get my music on the Zune, which is a pain in the butt. Plus, there is no way I'm getting my wife to get one of these things so we can share the music. Even with all the tremendous disadvantages the Zune has over my Gigabeat or Ipod, because I love buying new stuff and wanted a big screen, I was going to get one, I figured I can always return it. But then I saw for myself how hugely huge this thing is! It's ridiculous. I walked back out of the store. If they did everything else right, if it at least had the capabilities of my gigabeat, I might have bought it even with the size. But the hugeness along with everything else, I just don't get it. They make a device so big it's only good if you want video, then they completely cripple all it's capabilities.
I picked up a Zune today and I think it rocks! I am mainly interested in it because it is not as fragile (surface) as the iPod, the bigger screen and most importantly the 360 integration. The Zune PC software streams your entire library very nicely. So I no longer have to maintain my itunes and media player libraries.
After using the Zune this afternoon I must admit I am very very impressed. It has a beautiful screen and a very intuitive and FAST interface. The zune zips between categories and through song lists, etc. It really is a great product imo. I could care less that it doesn't have games, contacts and other iPod stuff. That stuff isn't useful for me personally.
Cheers
You know what that Wireless feature might actually be good for the Zune. There has been a countless number of times on Campus where I see people asking me or other people for ringtones, pictures, and sometimes videos (well it usually isn't with just strangers, more so within circles of friends, duh). Since most phones today have bluetooth or infrared, the transfer of media between phones has increased dramatically. I think this wireless feature will be really cool.
So "Jay T", what is your Microsoft employee I.D. Number? Seriously, swapping songs from class to class on a college campus? It sounds like some sick unrealistic advertising scheme.
P.S. - Do you have ANY idea how long it would take to transfer a song file via infrared?? Be reminded this is the same way your T.V. talks to your remote.
"Dear God, please let this be the last Zune article for today."
It's the SECOND article of the day. Considering it's the friggin' LAUNCH day, there should be even more articles.
How do you think we, non-Apple fanboys, feel when there are tens of articles about the iPod on days when Apple holds press events? I for one am looking forward to more Zune coverage.
There's been 5 articles on the Zune in the last 24h, starting with the unboxing, which is not bad for coverage.
Actually, I enjoy having so many articles on the Zune, not because I like it, but because all the comments people write make an awesome source of entertainment!!
There's everything from jokes ("two virus meet in a bar") and horror stories ("my computer crashed!") to love stories ("I luv my Zune") and drama ("my iPod died")!
Thank you Engadget readers!!
i meant zunes, not soons. my bad
hey morons....clue up! whether or not vista is "officially" out yet or not is immaterial...youre telling me yoou accept that MICROSOFT doesnt have their software for theit MICROSOFT player ready to go with MICROSOFTS new os that has been in development for years? get a grip, its pathetic.
Maybe it's cuz my town is very rich and everyone is an anti-mac user in this small little town...but I got atleast 3 ppl in my social!
What if I want to allow friends to send me files but not people I don't know, can the Zune do that or is it an all-access or no-access WiFi? If it's all or none MS doesn't get that there are plenty of people writing malicious software - which is odd considering 90% (or more) is targetted towards their OS and applications.
Basically I should be able to have WiFi options for it to be worth while - everyone, contact me first, just friends, no one.
It'll probably take a little while for the advertising to sink in, and then a little more till people actually buy them.
Here, I watermarked your image for you. http://img270.imageshack.us/img270/9210/engadgetzunenoameu7.png
I wanna be like G Raph...! He meets all the cool chicks. Oh, wait. She was already his gf before they bought zunes..? Aw, that doesn't count.
I just bought two of the brown ones and expect to fire them up when I get home from work.
wow you a dumb ass seriously. he was already going out with her. they wanted to go to the coffee shop. and he and her wernt at the same place and them met each other there. you for one are a retard
i have yet to lose my z-card, but then again i don't have a zune so it's kind of impossible.
I was wondering about this and can't find an answer. If you send unprotected music from one zune to another. what happens after the 3 play / 3 day rule. Lets say it was a track you made yourself, not possible to buy. does the track just get disabled or erased ??
There are legal ways to get Vista. For example, "thrawn" could be the seven-year-old son of a Microsoft co-president.
So little Jimmy Jr, you are gonna have to wait a little while before your Zune will work with that Antivirus-free copy of Vista that daddy has been bragging about.
The wireless features is really interesting. But if Microsoft really wanted to be social, they'd use an established, open protocol, like rendezvous/bonjour. Making this all proprietary is anti-social in an increasingly discriminating world - especially their target, teens. I predict another tremendous flop.
You wouldn't get a virus on a Zune. You'd get a social disease.
/so surprised no one else has made that joke.
G Raph met up with his girlfriend in the coffee shop. He did not meet her an hour ago. Is that so difficult to understand?
Why can't everyone just post Zune-related stuff?
If Zune fits in your pocket, I don't think it's too big. It may be bigger than other players, but it's not too big.
my roomate got a "hip" zune. microsoft really knows what young people want. you can tell by the installation screens. the only thing i want in life is to talk to stangers about swapping the love version of r.kelly's latest song. Larry David would be proud. (thick sarcasm)
btw... if iPods could get social what would they say???
G-Ralph
I have a serious question for you...how does the 3 x 3 work with a subscription plan? Is it still 3 x 3 and it is flagged to add to main playlist next time? Is there any difference between this scenario and a normal song?
This is interesting because because what would be cool is if you could at least just trade tracks that in essence you already have access to but didn't know about.
you are right. the best thing about the zune is the readers/writers on this site.
I can feel the vacuum sucking influence of empty promises and desperation...Burn through the cash Redmond... you're going to need every dollar you can get to even touch Apple.
i agree with the other guys comment. no ones going to want to share their music with complete strangers. not even high school kids. ive had quite a few pdas in my time and yes i live in new york. thier are a countless amount of people on the train that have some sort of wireless device be it cell phone pda or gaming device and no one cars what the other has. people dont talk to random strangers anymore and this isnt china. mabye when im long dead somenthing like this will catch on but its not happening now
you know, if you have a mac laptop and use itunes, you can share your library with other people in the area...i've already been part of that social.
Good Point, it works for PC laptops running itunes as well. This is the direction I imagined dap's moving. The best thing about itunes is that if the person allows it, you can browse their entire collection and find new music. Now when our DAP's let us do that, then maybe I'll go and talk to the other Zune owner at the other end of the bus.
tumpak...lol, great Larry David reference too
Oh, and as for the virus jokes, harsh on me all you want, but I am waiting breathlessly for such a thing to happen. I can't friggin' until someone says "Oh no! The virus has gone airborne!" 'cuz, c'mon.. admit it.. that's funny.
Have you even considered WHY Windows have been exposed to a huge number of virus attacks? Come on, give my your best explanation, strike me with your brilliance.
Think of the Zune branded WiFi Antivirus software....goobs of additional cash to be made
It's my understanding that the 3x3 rule applies to anything you send to another user regardless of its origin. So sending that set of tasty licks you recorded last night is verboten.
so what your telling me is that if I have a Zune, then I can find out if anybody else in the room, bus, train..., has one and jack it from them when nobody's looking? Sweet, then I can give it to a friend.
Could endgadget please delete all the Microsoft-written spam posts. They're really irritating and there's been a ridiculous number of them. They're pretty easy to spot. Usually they go on about how nice it feels or how cool it is, or make a point about how much other people were "drooling" over it.
Thanks in advance.
>if you have a mac laptop and use itunes, you can share your
You don't have to have a Mac laptop to do this. Or in fact iTunes. Lots of players do this (but no one uses them so, I take it back, you do need iTunes!) but it proves the point that actually people DO want to share their music with complete strangers. Lots of people I know already do this. The idea that it would be something you'd want to do in person isn't as crazy as some people are making it out to be.
Sharing music wirelessly is so lame.. until they enable this feature in ipods. Then everyone will be asking.. "Want an iNvite to the iSocial?"
Quit the bashing. It's not like engadget is doing minute by minute press coverage like they do for all mac events.
p.s. I have a 30gig 5th Gen and I do love it. & I'm a PC user.
Sharing music over iTunes is different, though, because it doesn't require the host's attention. If sharing is enabled, you just see their library and play their music. With the Zune, you have to actively approach someone and ask them for music. You can see what they're playing, but you can't just grab the music and hear it yourself. I don't see people approaching strangers and doing this.
I do, however, see people trying to send nasty photos to strangers like someone else suggested. Wifi Sexual Harassment!
it's been thirty years and bill gates is still having trouble being social. Man, if I were you I would have 50 billion reasons to be social, not just one zunelicious piece of hud.
"Welcome to the social" - worst marketing campaign ever.
As has already been mentioned here (or in Pogue's review)... the idiotic 3x3 swapping makes one of their advertised uses (a guy in a band sharing his music with new people he just met) obsolete unless the 3x3 limitation doesn't apply to music that isn't available for sale.
In theory, it is a fantastic use. As a DJ I'd love to just be able to share new tracks and new mixes I've done with people I just met. But if it deletes itself in 3 plays (or going one minute into the track 3 times), what's the use? Here's to hoping Apple sees the potential and crushes Microsoft at their own game.
Also, for your consideration... Zune Viruses = STDs (Social Transmitted Diseases)
My understanding is that any cd's you rip are then encoded with the Zune DRM. Can anyone confirm this?
IF so, weak, weak, weak.
they aren't, It's just like WMP you can rip as an unprotected WMA or you can Rip to good old MP3. Sounds kinda like iTunes. AAC or MP3 granted they do let you rip to 1 or 2 more formats (Wav and Aiff?) but Apple "Lossless" is just high bit rate AAC just like Windows Media "Lossless"
Windows Vista RC1 was available to download off the microsoft website but the license for the rc1 runs out in june, then you have to buy it. i'm using it now and it is pretty awesome.
That's a great point. We all know of "stupid" things that weren't stupid once our guy/gal started doing it. The wireless exchange feature is new and it's different. We'll see if the next iteration of the ipod has something like it.
I rushed into Best Buy seconds after the doors opened this morning and yell to the Geek Squads "WELCOME ME TO THE SOCIAL Biatch"!
They kicked me out!
When is the last time a Toshiba MP3 player succeeded?
I'm sorry I didn't engage the clear intellectual stimulation that is "microsoft devices have viruses." It's comments like those that make discussions lame.
I really can't see the reason for Zune.
I have a PocketPC with *VGA* res screen. It has Wifi and Bluetooth. With "orb" or other "sling box" like service on my home PC I can stream anything from my entire 50+Gb of MP3 colection or movies where ever I have wirless conection. I can buy a 8Gb CF card for it for ~$120 which holds enough local movies and music for any trip I can think of.
Windows media player 11 now supports very easy to use syncing of movies and music direct to the SD/CF card of a pcoket pc via Activesync.
I have uncripled wifi access - I can do web broswing, msn messenger, ftp etc. etc.
Hi, maybe a solution for everybody with a zune which software doesn't work correctly.
Run windows update, a see you can install zune sofware 1.1.
I am from the Netherlands, I can't buy a zune. (don't want one, I have an ipod :P)
Hopefully it will work,
greets
Ok, ok.
Clearly this device isn't about the killer app (social wireless) but the killer hack. Imagine true web access/voip/file transfers on a device like this. Or games to share, etc (say, old school games for the 360...). Once someone creates a rockbox-type firmware hack for this (and when this, as all non-apple players, finds a price drop), this device will carry the same appeal as the modded original xbox (seiken deitsu 3 anyone?). It won't be cool, but it will get the job done like nothing else out there.
It will be a lot easier to take off weird 3x3 restrictions than it was to put them in, plus, I suspect the people most interested in "sharing" will have no problems since non-DRM music is unrestricted.
All this device needs is a bigger hard-drive, a critical mass of talented users, and some time. Well, that and possibly linux ...
Introducing, "Zune Condoms." Because you don't know where other Zunes have been. Limewire? Aquisition? BearShare? or the AIDS of the technology industry, BIT TORRENT!!!!!
Zune Condoms are 99.9% effective in preventing unwanted Zune intrusions. Zune Condoms L.L.C. is not responsible for the .1% of intrusions that will make it through.