Five things Microsoft needs to do to fix the Zune
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 20th 2007 4:57PM
posted Mar 20th 2007 4:57PM
Last week marked the fourth month the Zune has been on the market, and its sixth month since being officially announced. We know the Zune was in development all the way back into 2005 -- so why the hell is Microsoft having such a hard time ironing out even the basic kinks, let alone adding features? Wasn't the whole reason Microsoft went into the portable media hardware business because only vertically integrated solutions seem to be able to guarantee a vaguely acceptable DRM user experience?In month four it's not cool for the Zune to still have bugs causing skipping in (DRMed) content, nor any of the other severe issues, bugs, and limitations that keep the product from approaching likability by a larger audience than the handful of thousands of Zune users out there today. (Let's not kid ourselves here, Zunes haven't been selling, and most people don't take the Zune seriously at this point.) We're not trying to hate, but we think it's about time Microsoft acknowledged that the ball's been dropped -- and then pick it back up. Stop promising bug fixes and vaporous new features, and stop talking about future Zune products when the current product is ailing. Here are five simple things Microsoft should do to fix the Zune right now, and even make it into a somewhat aggressive contender in one of the most cutthroat gadget categories. In order:
- Fix the DRM, syncing, and system bugs, and get firmware v1.3 out the door!
- Add useful WiFi features: wireless streaming to friends, Zune Pass (subscription) song transfer to friends' Zunes (á la MusicGremlin), computer-free downloads content downloads.
- Add podcast and vidcast support. It doesn't even have to be as comprehensive as the iTMS, just a basic RSS reader / enclosure scraper or something.
- Increase codec support. Go out on a limb and add open (read: free) codecs like FLAC, APE, OGG, XviD; if you really want to make your customers happy, belly up to the bar and license DivX.
- Drop the price. For most consumers, there is still a huge mental barrier in paying $250 for a Zune when you can pay the same $250 for an iPod. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but people really love the iPod. Make it $230 MSRP, and let that sink down to like $210 for online retailers. People will freak out that this player, that does all these things it does, is barely more than two bills.
Judging from their numerous fixes to the EULA in Vista I'd say Microsoft is listening to what you want. It's only a matter of time before such features are added. Further, pending the price drop from bulk sales it's possible the price will be dropped also.
its $210 on newegg!!!
I am happy with my Zune the way it is. Sure Microsoft will eventually add features but if they never do I'd be happy with what I have.
It is not like I am planning on keeping it 5 years. After a year I'll be ready to purchase another. I hope it will be the new Zune but it may not be, that depends on what is available.
What the Zune does, it does well!
So true. When I download my music and my TV shows, movies, videos etc. I don't want to have to transcode them to a format that the player can read. I just want to stick them straight from my Azureus downloads folder, directly onto the player. I don't care about wireless internet, podcasts, or whatever.. All I care about is vorbis, xvid, divx, flac, h.264, and those weird .mkv files that some HDTV rips of Battlestar Galactica come as.
So far, the only player than meats most of my needs is the Cowon A2, and perhaps a few Archos players, but they don't have enough storage, and cost too much!
Sorry to reply to myself, but I couldn't find an edit feature here.
If this widescreen multi-touch iPod ever comes out, I'll sacrafice some dough and I'll start transcoding now.
Either load the player with codecs, or give us one hell of an awesome gadget.
How about this Micro$oft: GIVE UP! You got your butt kicked by the iPod, just like Dell did with their pathetic Jukebox. The war is over...you lost. Deal with it.
Zen! I have a Zen Vision M, and LOVE it (the hardware). the syncing/organizational software it comes with and the way it interfaces with windows is CRAP, straight up.
The Zune was meant to be sold around $299. Apple suprised everyone at the last minute and lowered the price to 249. Microsoft had very little time to react and started selling the Zune at a loss at 249
We want linux on the Zune!
one word. rockbox.
they also need to release a good version
All I hear about Zune's a iPod's is how sh$t they are.
Has anyone actually considered buying a media player from a reputable company who's field is specifically solid state memory?
"Has anyone actually considered buying a media player from a reputable company who's field is specifically solid state memory?"
Not really applicable in a discussion about players that rely on a hard drive for storage.
Not that it'd matter anyway; solid state memory is not rocket science. Nobody buys the iPod mini because of how awesome its solid state memory is, and nobody who does have problems with it has problems with its memory. I mean, it would make more sense to buy a music player from a company that makes batteries for a living; at least that's a component that does cause issues for some people.
People buy iPod (e,Pod) mini's to avoid: socializing on public transport, getting peeved while doing a clerical jobs, bad fashion sense (who the hell uses a Zune with a MacBook, OMG! Eww!); and many many more valid* reasons.
I mentioned SS memory because it's another thing Microsoft could look at if they decide to release another edition of the Zune (maybe they designed one last year and will hope to launch it by 2010). The read speed is pathetic. If you're loading media onto the device you can take your time.
What's more important: the write speed for loading content onto the device, or the read speed for using it everyday? Rhetorical question.
It would also help if they released a redesigned version that wasn't as ugly as my dog's butthole. Seriously, the zune is one ugly piece of electronic equipment.
I agree about the looks. I finally saw one in the flesh and it was bigger and uglier even than the impression you get with photos.
I think it is fair to say that an awful lot of the iPod's appeal is the cool factor. The way people hang them round their necks with pride just to show everyone their sleek new nano.
Whilst all us Engadgeteers are obsessed with the alphabet soup of OGG, DRM and DivX the average consumer cares much more about its fashion statement. Obviously they want it to work, but after that all they care about is that it is easy to operate and impresses other people.
You look at some of the industrial design competitions and see some gorgeous designs of new devices, often done by students. It never ceases to amaze me that with MS's massive R&D budget they can't come up with something more like that.
How about Mac OS X support? Eh? That'd be wonderful, and maybe I'd actually buy one!
Unfortunately, it appears the Zune was DOA. I'm still happy with my Samsung YP-T9 4GB flash player. It can do video, pics, and it sounds great, and it's smaller than the iPod nano, and has a bigger screen, longer battery life, and the same price. What else could I ask for?
I'm so over hard drive mp3 players.
So you are over having enough space for a large collection? A lot of us aren't.
Well.. I do have 1.15 terabytes on my computer, and over 100 GB worth of data counting all of my mp3 players (I have 7 or 8.. too lazy to count them now). When I go on long trips, I'll bring my Creative Zen Vision:M or Archos AV400 or iRiver iH120, but for every day use (when walking to classes, flights, and long trips in the car), flash players are by far the best with longer battery life, smaller and lighter form factors, and enough storage for several days worth of my favorite tunes.
If they could just slim it down to ipods size and weight, maybe throw in a browser for that wifi and do all these things i'd buy 2 today and a few every holiday for gifts
I read somewhere that the next version of the Zune is featuring a smartphone which runs Windows Mobile O/S 6.0?? plus integrates with XBOX 360 to stream video from the game player to the phone...??? and tentatively planned to be released next holiday season?...
i tried posting earlier and didn't go through maybe the long link to Target.com with the $228 price on Zune. I saw a few places in the sunday paper with the $230 price.
Also I like my Zune just fine except for the missing gapless playback/burn function. it took iTunes time to fix that too but still long before zune even came out. It kills concert recordings.
This is *Microsoft* we're talking about here.
They don't pick up the ball, they spend billions in marketing cash to try to convince us that the ball is actually better on the floor, and that we should play with it there.
the best thing they can do is to just stop selling them... they are just throwing money away.. it's an FUGLY piece of crap and nobody's going to buy them (ok.. 10-15 people including gates, balmer and their families...).. when iPhone comes out then what are they going to do then.. Apple is so far ahead they are kidding themselves if they think they are going to catch up.. Jobs must have pissed himself laughing holding an iPhone in his hand when he saw the zune for the 1st time... i remember him being interviewed after the zune came out it must have taken everything he had to not just burst out laughing.. the zune is a joke time to put it out of it's misery.. just shoot it!
I don't think Microsoft is sitting on their hands right now feeling defeated and overwhelmed.
You KNOW they are in redesign right now... I think they actually came out and said they would have a second generation out by the 4th quarter (just in time for Christmas). It will be smaller, better looking, and will have additional features (my guess is some of the features listed in this article).
This is Microsoft. They will do whatever it takes to get market share. They have the resources to do it. They have the fanbase (although you wouldn't know it from this site) to make a dent.
That being said, I own an iPod and a Zune, and I like BOTH. I like the Zune for video, music, FM radio... and I take the iPod places where I get worried my player might get damaged/broken or something and i'm only listening to music (don't like the video and no FM on iPod).
Thanks engadget, us over at zunescene and other forums have been getting so annoyed with the lack of updates but seeing as they are only fan forums very little is seen of it and so not much will be done, whereas now you guys have commented on the lack of updates it opens up a much wider audience of the problem, more people knowing of the problems demotes sales so microsoft will be forced to do something about it. Aside from that B Gates himself reads engadget so something might get done, i hope. It is a serious issue and it really bugs us few who risked it and spent money on the zune when promised devotion to the product and received next to nothing. so thanks again, one step closer to a better zune.
How about unicode support for us foreign music lovers? I mean how many languages can the iPod support? How many can the zune support? Well, not many. I'm getting sick of all these squares on my song list.
Well, in 4 months I have yet to see a human soul walking around with a zune or even in class or on the bus. I have seen a few at Sears and Best Buy and that's it. Oh, and were did the commercials go? The ipod is about marketing the zune is about?? who, the heck even knows what it's for. Ask someone on the street if they have a ZUNE and 99.9999% will say WHAAAAT
open-source codecs on a Microsoft device I'd put in the 'impossible' category.
This would dampen their proprietary plans pretty easily. Don't expect it anytime soon (that goes for Apple and Sony, too).
In the meantime, I'd buy from a company who gets it, along with native drag-n-drop with no crappy software...like Cowon, among others.
Drag and drop is fine for a small collection but having a metadata driven database like iTunes is far superior for larger collections.
I agree with this post. Although my Zune is the bomb, I really would like the above outlive features/fixes and:
The playlist structure supports videos, but video playlists aren't enabled yet. Why?
Zune created audio playlists should already have been in it to start, I mean my old Nomad Zen Xtra did.
Please fix the video tags!
Please fix the video tags!
Please fix the video tags!
I traded in my Zune for a Zen Vision W. I wanted to have all the video codecs. The Zunes supported codecs suck. The Zen plays about everyting I can throw at it and it can record radio. Plus it was $50 cheeper.
I wonder if Microsoft will see this and actually consider at least 3 of Engadget's suggestions? Someone please give this article to Microsoft A.S.A.P. if they want to save the Zune name.
Microsoft noticed this already. :)
1. Fix the DRM, syncing, and system bugs, and get firmware v1.3 out the door!
-This is one problem i've never had with my Zune but i know lot of people have and yes V1.3 should of been out a long time ago.
2. Add useful WiFi features: wireless streaming to friends, Zune Pass (subscription) song transfer to friends' Zunes (á la MusicGremlin), computer-free downloads content downloads.
-very true. we keep getting promised and hopefully something will happen.
3. Add podcast and vidcast support. It doesn't even have to be as comprehensive as the iTMS, just a basic RSS reader / enclosure scraper or something.
- The Zune has podcast support but just tosses them in the the music. Yes they should have their own categories, this was something we were promised in january and still has yet to be done.
4. Increase codec support. Go out on a limb and add open (read: free) codecs like FLAC, APE, OGG, XviD; if you really want to make your customers happy, belly up to the bar and license DivX.
-I have no problem with the WMA/mp3 for audio, but video is ridiculous it should support MP4, WMV, and DivX Avi with no converting needed.
5. Drop the price. For most consumers, there is still a huge mental barrier in paying $250 for a Zune when you can pay the same $250 for an iPod. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but people really love the iPod. Make it $230 MSRP, and let that sink down to like $210 for online retailers. People will freak out that this player, that does all these things it does, is barely more than two bills.
-true, it would help, but until it starts selling, or until the 2nd gen comes out i wouldn't expect a drop.
And in final, I've been a Zune supporter since the announcement was made and i play an active roll in a few Zune communities and i'd like to thank you engadget on posting this. Hopefully it will help some since the Zune Team hasn't been listening to anyone else lately.
Thanks, Ryan, you raise some good points - I'll make sure folks on the team see this post.
Cesar
www.zuneinsider.com
6. Fix the damn software used to sync your music.
Damnit Microsoft, I love Windows, Xbox, Office, etc. but you frickin sunk with the Zune software. The worst piece of crap I have ever experienced.
Anyone know an alternative to it?
I agree. An absolute must for any player I buy is FLAC support and high sound quality. Also, the Zune needs to put that Wifi to use. If they made a Zune that could browse the net with Wifi, played FLAC, and was about $200, I'd buy it.
Yep the Zune's WiFi is nothing but a bullet point on a PowerPoint slide. After 4 months I still haven't located another Zune player. For all I know WiFi in my Zune is busted.
No Pod casting support or even a clock show this platform was not well managed or planned. Oh well there is always eBay and then an iPod.
Microsoft has sold less Zunes than Engadget has posted articles on the Zune .. go figure.
w00t. My spot on comments was lost..ok brick. here we go again:
*** Add useful WiFi features: wireless streaming to friends, Zune Pass (subscription) song transfer to friends' Zunes (á la MusicGremlin), computer-free downloads content downloads. ***
Where is ipod Wifi ? ey, wait it doesn't even have a FM tuner inside its pearl white and chrome scratch-tastic body. Uh ?
*** Increase codec support. Go out on a limb and add open (read: free) codecs like FLAC, APE, OGG, XviD; if you really want to make your customers happy, belly up to the bar and license DivX. *****
Does ipod supports any of those formats ? Just 1. Tell us which one.
**** Drop the price. For most consumers, there is still a huge mental barrier in paying $250 for a Zune when you can pay the same $250 for an iPod. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but people really love the iPod. Make it $230 MSRP, and let that sink down to like $210 for online retailers. People will freak out that this player, that does all these things it does, is barely more than two bills. ****
Ask Apple to drop the price on the nano and shuffle. My GF Samsung YPt8 and mine Insignia Video can do video and line-in recording with bigger screen than the nano and are cheaper than the nano..or even the shuffle.
(Mr. ETIRCOPYH. ETELED TI RO TI NAB.) Don't care. At least I know you read IT.
It seems that you failed to notice that this is an article about what should be fixed with the Zune, and not the iPod. Not that I disagree with any of your points, but bashing the ipod in a discussion about how to fix the Zune then feeling superior about having done it is a straw man argument and, frankly, makes you look stupid.
Your points show exactly why the Zune is a failure. If the wifi sucks why not get an iPod without it? If the Zune doesn't support more video formats, then what makes it better (other than that gorgeous battery draining screen)?. Why can't everybody just give them away for free? Really, these categories should be where the Zune blows away the iPod, not where we defend "well, the iPod doesn't do it either". There is no excuse for the Zune.
I don't care about the weight, the programing, or really the sharing (there's no one for me to share my zune music with since no one else has one). all i want is to allow me to have music other than that blasted, weird WMA format. i can't listen to 70 hours of my music just because i got it off of WMP 10 instead of Urge when it's just about the same! if the zune just opened up it's formating (not that they will 'cus thats how the make their money/screw the customer) then i would shove my zune in everyone's face. but how can i when all i can really use it for right now is for its radio.
Heres my 5:
1. Wireless syncing
2. Wireless connectivity with Xbox 360
3. Fix Drive problems in Vista
4. Various lag in the Zune device
5. DRM issues
Micro$oft will continue to spend money until their piece of hardware becomes relevant.
This is what they did with the 360. And although I don't think the 360 is that relevant given it's sales numbers compared to the PS2, the media seems to be inlove with the 360 for the time being. I think their just catering to the readership. The adoption rate for the 360 is already falling. 225K last month's not that great. They wanted to be above 300K/month. A price drop might do it.
Both projects are still in the hole. How much has M$ lost on both these projects? I know it's in the billions.
Oh ya, and one more, Zune software should be able to convert all video codecs, formats, etc, to a zune compatible format.
You're kidding, right? $250 is too much but at $210 people will "freak out that this player, that does all these things it does, is barely more than two bills."
Can I see your marketing diploma again?
--
Baseball for Nerds: http://www.scoutingbook.com/
If apple start supporting Vista soonish with iTunes, then MS and the Zune are totally screwed..
This podcast thing is a real brain scratcher. A novice coder could add podcast support to Notepad in less than a weekend...
So do it, and post it. I want to see.
#6 - Let people use the Zune as a portable drive - and here's a thought - since this is a Microsoft product - how about becoming the first one to support NTFS and FAT32???
You guys forgot one thing, Zune Marketplace & Xbox Live Marketplace integration.
What gets on my nerves is people are always quick to point out any short comings the zune might have while glossing over the Ipods short comings.
People get annoyed that you can't share your zune-tunes more freely. There are a couple others out there that are starting to do the sharing thing now -- but before Zune I never heard of one that did it period. Not IPod, not iRiver...none of them. It makes no sense. It has a feature no one else has -- it allows you to share some songs (depending on the licensing company) and yes, its shared. You can't keep it forever -- but it allows you to listen to it and, if you like it, make a note of it and download it yourself.
Some complain about the FM tuner. Again -- Ipod doesn't have it. Period.
Then people complain about the marketplace and how it doesn't have as many songs as itunes. Well, its been in business all of 4 months. Oh, and you can buy a subscription monthly to download at will whatever you want. I have yet to find a song that I can't download. Sure, itunes might have some obscure song from 1975 that was a b-side of a record that was never popular. But hell -- for the most part your mainstream music stores don't have it either. You probably won't find it at Target, Wal-Mart and maybe not even best buy. Yes, people try and complain about it. Oh wait...there is no other option with itunes than to pay per song, rip from a cd or illegally download your own songs and import them into itunes. You have more options with Zune -- download from their music store -- download from another music store, rip your own cds, import your own illegally obtained music OR get the subscription. Sounds like more choice to me.
Then people attack the directional pad for browsing music. I hear "Ipod is more intuitive"...how so? Going around in a circle with your finger over and over and over just to get down your music list doesn't sound 'intuitive'...you go around and around in a circle to scroll down a page. How is that intuitive? And then if you aren't careful you'll pass up what you are looking for...Zune lets you hold one button to scroll the list and puts a giant letter of the area you are now scrolling through. One click vs tens of hundreds of thousands of circles on the pad (depending on the # of songs) to get where you want.
They say the interface is cleaner on the Ipod. Cleaner meaning -- boring. With the Zune I can change it to whatever I want. Take 10 white ipods and 10 white zunes and put them into a room with only the screen showing and I'm sure most ipod owners wouldn't know which one is theirs - but I could pick out my zune in a second.
I'm not saying the Zune is better -- just that the arguments for the Ipod vs Zune are tenuous at best. The Zune isn't that much bigger than Ipod -- but when you consider it has wireless, a bigger screen, an FM radio and many more functions in it than an Ipod -- a little bigger isn't necessarily bad.
Everyone is free to like what they like -- no one can tell them otherwise....but when what you are comparing it to doesn't have ANY of the features -- its a moot point. Its like a completely bald man calling a man with a bald spot, bald. LOL -- who are you to be talking? You don't have ANY hair!!! :-) It makes no sense to me.
I hate to have to say it again, but it seems that you too have overlooked that this article is NOT comparing the iPod and the Zune - it is pointing out the Zune's flaws. Nothing more, nothing less. The iPod comparisons are, as you've said, moot - because there were none in the article (except mentioning the iPod in passing on the price point).
While I realize that -- I, too, was pointing out how can they talk about shortcomings of the Zune without pointing out that the sacred cow, the MP3 player that all are MP3 players are compared to has NONE of the features. Its like getting mad or pointing out that the new Toyota Camry doesn't have a record player or 8 track deck in it. Ok...? Name one that does. And they DO compare it to the Ipod saying that the Ipod is superior and it should drop its price to compete. I disagree. My Zune does more than the Ipod does. I can customize my screens, share music and listen to the radio -- 3 features that the Ipod doesn't even have. So when you compare it by price alone and 'prices being equal' -- the Zune does more for the same money and you have more options with it. I don't know why they should lower their price. More content and more options for the same money. Sounds like a no brainer to me.
I just feel that while they pointed out some pseudo short comings -- it should also be mentioned that while not perfect -- the Ipod and many other Mp3 players don't even offer it.
I guess it wouldn't have irked me so much had the article pointed out that there aren't many if any that do the things they have requested.
Give it up already. Sounds like you have a case of ipod-envy.
Intelligent comment.
"My Zune does more than the Ipod does. I can customize my screens, share music and listen to the radio -- 3 features that the Ipod doesn't even have. So when you compare it by price alone and 'prices being equal' -- the Zune does more for the same money and you have more options with it."
Can your Zune play songs gaplessly? Can it play lossless songs? Can it function as an alarm clock? Does it support unicode tags? Podcasts? Audiobooks? Contacts? Calendar? Games?
By the way, you can listen to the radio with the iPod with a separate accessory.
everyone and their mother likes to recycle and regurgitate the same criticism of Microsoft...it's getting so bad that i suspect soon it will be the "in thing" to like microsoft...you know, "it's in to be out."
give it a freakin rest. The Zune is a great player. i lived with both the ipod and the zune for a month. dropped the ipod for the zune.
"For most consumers, there is still a huge mental barrier in paying $250 for a Zune when you can pay the same $250 for an iPod. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but people really love the iPod."
I fail to see how that is stating that "they DO compare it to the Ipod saying that the Ipod is superior." Not to mention that they do have a point - features or not, the iPod has mindshare, and at the same price point, that will almost always win with Joe Sixpack.
"I guess it wouldn't have irked me so much had the article pointed out that there aren't many if any that do the things they have requested."
On that point, Engadget made sure to mention such products as the MusicGremlin that do allow proper Wifi sharing (and though they don't mention it, Sandisk's newest DAP has proper Wifi sharing and will even allow sharing of subscription songs between Sansas if you have the same subscription service). As far as codec support goes - Archos and other vendors don't seem to have any problems supporting just about every audio and video codec out there. I'd say Engadget has good reason to ride Microsoft on that point (and if you plan on mentioning Apple, yes the same could be said about that company - but that is for a separate discussion, as this article pertains only to the Zune).
the biggest short coming of the zune is that it's incompatible with iTunes music store... the defacto music download site... and it will never be compatible with it and this is why it will never succeed... MS missed the boat.
I still want one (did I say that out loud?) but I'm not buying the damn thing until they add DVR-MS support and provide a way to sync via Media Player 11. I don't want another damn music program on my computer. Media Player is far better.
Just the 5.5G and maybe the 5G iPod have gapless. And both account to what ? 20-30% of all ipods.
Can the shuffle play lossless songs ? Answer NO!
Umm...Zune supports podcast. I got the lattest podcast from Paul Turrot on my Zune.
does you ipod have Wifi or FM tuner or subscription service ?
/another ifanboy post debunked by some FACTS/
The nano also has gapless. The shuffle can play WAV and AIFF (which are lossless). The iPods can also be used as hard disks/memory disks to move data from one computer to another without registry hacks.
Have you done anything useful with your wifi yet? I don't need radio when I have thousands of songs on my iPod. As for subscriptions, I prefer to own my music and to pay for it once. That's why I buy CDs and I don't bother with online shops (until they offer unlocked lossless songs).
"Just the 5.5G and maybe the 5G iPod have gapless. And both account to what ? 20-30% of all ipods."
You've got to be kidding. What does that have to do with anything? Besides, 20-30% of all iPods = many more iPods than Zunes.
Can the shuffle play lossless songs ? Answer NO!
OK, this is pathetic. The shuffle is in a different market segment than the Zune. No apple/orange comparisons, please.
Umm...Zune supports podcast. I got the lattest podcast from Paul Turrot on my Zune.
does you ipod have Wifi or FM tuner or subscription service?"
No. Does the Zune have disk mode? Games? Calendar? Gapless? Screen lock? Etc.
One thing I would love to see is the Zune/Xbox Marketplaces go to USD format. I don't like this whole "Microsoft Points" format, it's very confusing and very useless, in my opinion. Keep it simple: use real money and make the stores connected with each other, so that there's ONE store with ONE account. Buy a song on Xbox 360 and it's reflected on your PC's Zune Software. Simple.
Had six guys out for a bachelor party this weekend. Almost every gen of ipod was there and one zune.
The zune was the winner hands down. Better feel, better screen, better features and the realization that the scroll bar on the iPod sucks for scanning through music.
Four out of five of us said we're buying the zune to replace the ipod (the lone holdout is a stubborn Apple fanatic so that wasn't surprising).
gee another anti zune story on engadget, I'm shocked!
I agree with most of the things you mentioned, I think additional codecs, price, and (for me at least)I need a bigger hard drive. I am waiting on a Zune until they hit at least 60GB. Also, it wouldn't hurt them to get a nano-ish Zune out as well, ...maybe it 4GB/6GB/8GB with a smaller screen, but some people like the smaller/more portable mp3 players a lot more than the bigger ones. Just my $0.02
there's already IMO an un-noticed, low-profile DAP that already beats both the iPod and the Zune in that it provides the best of both worlds: the Creative Zen Vision:M. It's low-profile because Creative never marketed the player like it deserved. It's been out for more than a year now, and it still is the King of the HDD-class, large-capacity DAP IMO when it comes to having stellar video capabilities in addition to great audio quality.
The only thing it doesn't have in comparison is the Wifi sharing of the Zune, or the gapless and games of the iPod, but it ties or surpasses both the Zune and iPod in every other feature mentioned above. Creative now has started using the single-platter 60GB HDD, so both the 30GB and 60GB are the same size. And you can find the 30GB ZVM's for below $200 on amazon.com these days, while both the 30GB Zune and 30GB iPod are still selling for closer to $250....
Are you high? I work on iPods all day long and have encountered very few that do not skip either through songs or right past them at some point in their lives.
And has no one noticed that since day one the only improvement that Apple has made in the iPod interface is the change from black to blue for the highlights? If Microsoft has accomplished nothing else it is the future of the iPod interface. Praise the Lord for competition; it's the only thing that drives companies to improve things. It's just funny that Microsoft is on the innovator side of the fence this time instead of the one that's trying to catch up :)
I have to agree with you on number 6 because it is awkward and poorly thought out, especially because they had a good working model to copy!
My friend bought one this past week; she broght it over and we filled it up with some tunes and vids. Really, it isn't a bad unit - I liked it, actually, particularly the video playback. That said, it needs wider video format support (at least Divx/Xvid). Podcast/vidcast support at WiFi hotspots would make it a nearly perfect player.
I own a nano and a Vision:M, personally. The nano I got for free; the Vision I bought.
why do people want wireless syncing?
if you don't plug it in, ho will it charge?
I had some very similar comments a few month back, especially regarding the wireless features, podcasting and the high price. Peep it out:
http://www.sumolabs.com/blog/what-microsoft-should-have-done-zune
Jordan
#6 get apple to make it
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http://www.WindowsVistaUserGuide.com
I completely agree with those 5 suggestions. And thanks for not zune-bashing this time. =)
Simple, Built in Bluetooth... so you can use wireless headphones.
Possibly the most frustrating part of the Zune software is that NON-DRM'D TRANSFERRED SONGS ARE STILL LIMITED. Honestly that completely kills any appeal the wireless transfer had for me. I tried it with a friend and got very pissed off when I saw that. Microsoft has NO right to add DRM to non-DRM songs!
While on software, the whole idea that I have to transcode videos to inferior, horrible WMV is a disgusting idea. Not because starting a transcode is a big deal, but because any transcoding software package I've found can only do it IN REAL TIME, so I have to wait for the ENTIRE whatever to play out. Incredible! Add XviD or DivX, SOMETHING better.
Also in my opinion, physically, they need to fix the controller. I know they feel like they have to make it as iPodish as possible but its not a goddamn wheel controller, so why is it round? Pressing up sometimes hits left or right because nothing is restricting you from accidentally pressing a little too left or a little too right when you just wanted to go UP. Poor design there, IMO. Oh, and the completely non-standard USB syncing/charging cable is a bitch too
hi i purchased a zune on ebay as im in the UK pretty much as soon as i could. i payed 160 GBP with postage, this is cheaper than i could ever have hoped as i was prepared to pay more. the device its self feels wonderful i got the black one with the blue double shot and couldn't be happier. the screen is awesome big and probably the greatest selling point i take it to school with me every day and if someone sees it there reaction is wow whats that and immediately demand info on the storage space and battery life compared to their ipods.. pretty soon they are asking where they can get one then i say the price... "160! wow i payed 240 for my video ipod!" there are now loads of ipod fans waiting to get one of these on the uk release as they are not confident about ebay.. i dunno why :P. there are faults but nothing that microsoft cant fix. i am confident this player is here to stay, oh and zune linux? hell yeah!
I had me Zune for 30 days and the LCD screen cracked. Apparently this is a problem with the Zune. I loved the Zune but because of this i had to buy an ipod shuffle as i cannot afford a big player again. microsoft won't cover this issue under warranty although it is a fault with the product (apparently the battery expands and puts too much preassure on the screen). I'd advise you not to get 1 until 2nd gen!