Official Pink Zune gets 100,000 unit production run
By Conrad Quilty-Harper 
posted April 7th 2007 11:10AM
posted April 7th 2007 11:10AM
Yes, that light pink rectangle you're looking at is an official shot of the Pink Zune, in all its magnenta-ish glory. We all knew it was coming -- and we've seen the rather more garish 100-unit hot pink Zune before -- so this isn't exactly the biggest news 'round these parts. No, if Microsoft really wanted to impress us, they'd take their minds off planning a targeted, 100,000 unit production run of pink cases and set their mind to really fixing the Zune. One of the fixes is sorta down already, but there's at least four more things that we think need to change in order for the social to get more members. Last time we checked, a Zune in a lighter shade of pink wasn't one of them, and neither was one in red. 
ask any average person on the street what the hell a gigabeat is and they wont have a clue. they know what ipods are, and they are more likely to know what a zune is that the other brands. this is who MS wants to sell to- the average person, not the people that read a million reviews online and know all the little niche and quirky products.
the great majority of buyers are not techie and will not really care too much beyond 1) who makes it 2)what does it look like (color/size/display/etc) 3)does it play my music easily and well. they know its MS and they know it will play music well, so really they will be buying on looks and appeal. MS cant change the whole form factor but they can give more colors to appeal to more. people will buy more ipods because in their minds the apple fits the criteria better, but the zune will eventually catch on once they see a few of them in person.
no not all people will get one, i didnt-i personally think its too big..and i already have 2 ipods, but to say its going to completely fail just because you think brown is an ugly color and you hate MS shows why you arent in microsofts marketing and development team (and no, its not because you dont WANT to be in it, its because you cant)
I love how whenever there is a post about the Zune, every post that could conceivably be construed as negative towards either the Zune or Microsoft immediately gets tagged as low ranked. And anything positive is highly ranked.
Apparently, we now know how Microsoft is spending some of it's marketing dollars. Paying people to track blogs... what do they call it? Astroturfing?
Good call. I was going to say exactly the same thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zune#Criticism
Zune sales HAVE been slow. And pink is supposed to correct that? I guess we'll see.
Earlier today on Amazon the black Zune was ranked 55th in sales, well below a variety of iPods and a couple of Sandisks.
The brown Zune was ranked 321st while the white stood at 414th. The pink is $40 bucks more and, well... pink with a big black circle at the bottom.
Source:
http://www.jangle.net/Electronics/MP3-Players/Most-Popular/Page-1/=Search/Save.aspx
http://www.jangle.net/0/All/Most-Popular/Page-1/Zune=Search/Save.aspx
Of the 12 girls that come by my desk everyday They all said they would not buy it, and that it looks really ugly and what is that big black dot in the middle...why isn't it white?
I hate how everyone that's anti-Zune always uses DRM against it. Like it's DRM is more evil than Apple's DRM. And everyone thinks that MS is dropping support of PlaysForSure. People have tested it out and Zune supports PlayForSure playback but you have to sync it through WMP. MS just doesn't advertise it because they'd rather you buy from Zune Marketplace.
By the way, Apple iTunes isn't the only market that has made a deal with EMI to provide DRM-free music. And I'm sure Zune Marketplace will serve DRM-free WMA. WMA isn't ALL about DRM, I rip all my CDs to WMA because it just sounds better than MP3. The Zune software or hardware do not automatically add DRM to DRM-free songs. Zune also supports AAC, so the DRM-free songs from iTunes will work on it, too.
People are so ignorant. DRM isn't even a factor or a short coming of the Zune, so everyone should shut up about that. If you want to compare it to other DAPs, go ahead and compare it's support of formats, it's ease of use, it's design, and then you can pick the best for you. DRM is a stupid argument. So sick of all of you who are so cliche about that.
"3plays-or-3days" digital rights restrictions are an issue. The wi-fi feature is basically useless because of it.
Not being able to use your device in disk mode is a very basic issue, too. No-name Chinese knock-offs can even do that.
RIAA-approved devices are generally not what people want.
"3-plays or 3-days" doesn't add DRM to files. It doesn't make the wi-fi useless. What makes it useless is the lack of people to swap stuff with. Free trading is only going to help piracy and they're trying not to. This does not seem like a short coming to me.
The rest of the stuff you mention I will agree with are features that it is lacking.
I have found the zune to be one of the easiest players to use, and like its interface easier to navigate than the iPod or Creative Zen's interface (which are pretty much the same).
Some one else mentioned earlier that so many people stick to the iPod because it's interface is so easy to use. The reason people stick with the iPod is because EVERYONE has one, and it's like the only thing people know about.
"Everyone know iPod mini is for girls!"
My sister (like most girls I hang out with) has smaller hands.
The Zune is larger than an 80GB iPod, blockier, and isn't deemed as easy to use and "hip" as Apple's product.
30gigs doesn't matter when most girls (who would be prone to pink accessorizing) keep only the more current songs on their player. And when it's too big to fit your smaller purses. And men, please know that most women often use a purse that is too small to fit a Zune when said purse is occupied by cell phone, compact, keys, wallet, etc. Maybe not in their daily life, but definitely if their gonna go out on the town. Where they most likely would share their new music with friend.
So please tell me, which one is a girl more likely to buy. A pink Zune, or a cheaper, smaller, cooler, pink nano?
I don't wanna sound like I dislike the Zune, but just because you drop a pink product doesn't mean girls will buy it. There are other factors besides "ooooh, that'll match my Pumas!"
"but definitely if their gonna go out on the town" I meant "they're". Rookie mistake.
"Where they most likely would share their new music with friend." friends*
Really Bob? To be honest, most of the people I know who feel that way are the polar opposite of the psychographic market than what you stated.
I'm not saying you're wrong. It just seems that it's more multidimensional than either of us previously thought.
kingofwale, Most of the target audience for ALL MP3 players are teens. Infact I don't think that any MP3 player company even cares about the tech savy people. We're only about... 10% of the market? most consumers are mentally retarded when it comes to technology, they just want what they believe is new. Take the DS, as an example. To the consumers it's something completely new. But to people like me, it's just a really dumbed down PDA with the screen cut in half, and a far slower processor, no Blutooth, a/b/g wifi etc.
The point is, that the pink zune will sell, and quite well, if not better than any other zune, and most people who will be owning it, will be teens.
one word... YUCK! This thing sux whatever colour it is!
>kingofwale, Most of the target audience for ALL MP3 players are teens
fact check, I AM a teen myself. What drives Teen's purchasing power isn't pink or any other colour, it's peer-pressure.
that is exactly why Apple is doing so well and will continue to do so well, they've captured that market. unless they do something horribly wrong, they won't lose it until some other company does something WAY cooler.. (maybe wireless link to facebook/myspace)
Zune has what? 2% of market share and yet to sell over 1 million units. when you're being outsold by even PS3, you KNOW you're in big trouble.
I wasn't really planning on getting a Zune, but this locks it:
"Not being able to use your device in disk mode is a very basic issue, too."
Why would they not let you use the Zune as a USB hard drive? That is one of the best features of the iPod... I use my iPod as a disk drive to move files between work & home almost daily. I also have portable copies of Firefox, Putty SSH, Filezilla (FTP program), and Thunderbird (email) on it... I can launch those from any Windows machine that has a USB port and have my most-used programs with all my settings already in there. Really handy, and now I don't have to lug a laptop on a trip just so on the off chance work needs me to SSH in and fix something....
Great feature, this should be standard on all DAPs.
@Bryan Flocks
That is so true. Good job.
@Leonard Nimrod
I guess that that utterly witty post proved you really ARE a nimrod. Can you honestly not think of anything better to argue about the zune than the brown color? I'm guessing you're one of those racist Apple users.
@kingofwale
Your first post was almost spot on. M$ SHOULD market to people that actually know what they're doing when they sit down at a computer (and by know what they're doing, I mean they can console into a Cisco router and configure networks, not log in to AIM) instead of marketing toward n00bs and girls who just buy pink stuff because they think it's cool. But your second post reeked of disinformation. I have a Zune. It is a great piece of hardware compared to the 2G 2ndGen iPod Nano that I had before. The only thing wrong with the Zune is the software. And what does DRM have to do with anything? If it bothers you that bad that your music has DRM on it, then use the analog hole to get rid of it.
@Zadilo
"What is ultimately important with a music player is that it does a good job of its primary function; playing music. And that comes down to having a good interface for managing music on the player, and for navigating through it and playing it while you're using the player. One of the reasons a lot of people continue buying iPods is because they do like the iPod's interface itself, and the iPod/iTunes integration."
1. You contradicted yourself by saying that people base how good an mp3 player is by it's management of music, then saying that people like the iPod because it integrates with iTunes. That didn't make any sense.
especially because:
2. The Zune's interface for music management is basically the same as the iPod. It has different menus, but the concept is nearly exactly the same. Take a look at the structure
Zune:
Music>Artist>Album>Song
Video>Video Titles
Pictures>Folder>Picture
iPod:
Music>Artist>Album>Song
Video>Video Titles
Pictures>Folder>Picture
They are exactly the same, so if you complain about one, you're complaining about the other.
"Honestly that's my biggest problem with the Zune. It's just that so much of it seems to be about "matching" the iPod..."
Not sure how it matches the iPod when it took Apple 5 revisions to get video to play on the iPod, and Microsoft got it right on the first try, if you ask me, Microsoft made more progress by simply RELEASING the Zune than Apple has all this time that it's been UPGRADING the iPod. If M$ can do that in ONE REVISION, I can almost guarantee that there will be far more than the iPod when the next revision of the two products comes out. And here's another way that the Zune isn't matching the iPod. The Zune has WiFi. iPod doesn't. The Zune has radio BUILT IN. The iPod needs an extra accessory for that function. The output resolution of the Zune is higher than the output of the iPod when using the TV Out feature. It doesn't have that annoying scroll wheel (I thought it was cool for a while, but it's really annoying after using a device that you can navigate using simple button presses.) Of course the Zune's screen is FAR bigger than the iPod's. And the Zune has a much more attractive appearance than the iPod's, which has stayed almost EXACTLY the same since the iPod came out. At least the Zune's appearance stands out a lot more than the iPod so that if Microsoft decides to do the same and keep it for four more revisions, it won't look like a cheap rushed effort like the iPod. The iPod (HDD versions) has a thin aluminum casing for the back of the device (much like the MacBook product line) that is easily scratched and dented, sometimes causing VERY costly damage to the unit if it is dropped.
I'm tired of typing so I'm just gonna end it there, but basically, the Zune is far better than the iPod, but the software needs to be better. Other than that, you can't attack the Zune without attacking the iPod.